FB,

This post is over a year old, but thought you might still be alive and kicking!

I'm a little surprised at the lack of "diagnostic integration" with Dell's usually robust diagnostics.  I've been searching the forum for answers to the MMS 5650 issues and there are surprisingly few options for folks trying to diagnose their sound issues.  A few years back when I was working with computer based audio, I seem to remember some audio diagnostics that could isolate and test each speaker in a 5.1 or 7.1 configuration.  It seems there are a lot of folks with the "rear speakers" not working complaint.  Do you remember or know of a program that can do this?  It's been too long and I can't remember what or where it is.  Do you know if the rear speakers are controlled by the "center speaker controller" or do they get their input through the "black surround" output from the computer? 

In the control panel there is a "configure" for the speakers on many audio systems (and in all Vista and Windows 7) that allows you to set what type of speakers you have (e.g. 5.1) and then it will send tones to those speakers so you can check them.  In Vista and Windows 7 the Sound panel, playback section allows you to select your speakers as the default playback device and there is also a "configure" button for doing the testing I noted. 

That is the only thing I know of as far as "diagnostics" for ANY type of speaker system and from ANY speaker or PC vendor.  Speakers are not something they can easily write diagnostics for as there are different sound "cards" and different speaker systems.  You also have to take into consideration, although there are "standard" connections to the PC's sound outputs, how the sound is routed and amplified internal to the speaker systems can be different and general diagnostics cannot cope with that.  Even the Configure tests built into Vista/Win 7 can only output on the default output port but there is no way to know without additional testing with a known good speaker or headphone whether it's the port or the speaker system if a certain speaker output is not heard. 

 To make the speakers "smart" and be able to run diagnostics would require adding a processor chip and other logic and thus make the speaker systems price considerably higher.  Computer speakers are, unfortunately, "throw away" units if they fail.  Other than "high $$" systems, it would cost more to repair than replace as most computer components today. In addition most are not made to be repaired and it requires "breaking" the units open since they are sealed.   Most repair facilities have a 2 hour minimum labor charge and considering many are over $50 per hour and a speaker system under $100 (most systems) to just having someone "look at" it will cost more than a new system.

 

Hello there. I had a Dell Dimension PC for a number of years with 5.1 Dell Home Theatre speakers which worked perfectly. The PC gave up the ghost recently and I have just acquired a new Dell Inspiron 560 PC - as the Home Theatre speaker system had been working perfectly, I was expecting just to plug it into the Inspiron which has integrated Realtek audio.

There's sound from the front speakers, but nothing from the rear speakers. I have configured the set up in the sound panel, and during the test the sound comes clear as a bell from the rear speakers, but after the test is complete  the system still produces no sounds from the rear speakers when attempting to play music . Here's the weird bit - some of the music DVDs that I've tried out produce sound from the rear speakers. But CDs don't produce any sound from the rear speakers.

I'm certain that all the connections are OK. The fact that sound comes from the rear speakers during the configuration test seems to confirm that there's nothing wrong with the speakers or the connections.

One thing that may be of importance is that when I configure the speaker set up, I get to a screen that says that configuration is complete by pressing the 'finish' button. When I press the 'finish' button it takes me back to the 'configure' screen where  the 'apply' button is greyed out.

I'm sorry if I haven't explained all that very well, but any advice or suggestions would be gratefully received.

I'm having the same issue; i.e. no sound from rear (& center) speakers.  I have an XPS running XP.  After trying them on my new HP, I reconnected the MMS 5650 5.1 speakers, which had previously worked properly.  I have configured the advanced sound and audio properties to 5.1 surround speakers.  XP has no way to test this configuration.

Updating the driver for Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM) resulted in blue screens until uninstalled and reinstalled it.  I had to reboot with the last good configuration.  Any ideas?

Wow, someone had the solution but don't remember where.  Use Creative> Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 > Creative Diagnostics, and click "Test Speakers".  Pick the 5.1 Speakers in the drop-down for speaker configuration.  Worked like a charm.

Still puzzled about the blue screen after updating driver, though.

Wow, someone had the solution but don't remember where.  Use Creative> Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 > Creative Diagnostics, and click "Test Speakers".  Pick the 5.1 Speakers in the drop-down for speaker configuration.  Worked like a charm. Still puzzled about the blue screen after updating driver, though.

Now I understand more about it, Thanks for your analysis! It is exactly what I need.

What do you mean remove the service tag.. it is a violation of the forum rules..

What service tag are you referring to I don't see anything like that..

Rob