How do you redirect PC sound to SPDIF on port replicator

This varies depending on which version of Windows you are running.

If you are running Vista, try this:

Start, Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Manage Audio Devices.

You will get a window with three tabs. On the Playback tab, you should see "Speakers" and "Digital." Click on Digital, then click the button that says Set Default. The green check mark should move to the Digital device.

You may need to close and re-open programs like Windows Media Player to get them to see the change.

Please write back and confirm whether this was successful for you. I am trying to accomplish something similar on a D830 without a port replicator, just using the Dell properietary "dongle" (part # 310-9336) that plugs into the round 7-pin jack on the back of the laptop, and it has not been working for me. I may need to get a port replicator if you can confirm that it works for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm on XP, I'll see if the systems are similar enough that I can do it with your instructions. JD

In XP I can get to a similar place, on the Audio Tab, Has Sound Playback. It is set to USB Audio CODEC, only other option is Sigma Tel Audio (which the sound recording device is using). But no where, even under advanced, do I see an option for digital. Perhaps I need to install an additional device driver? JD

Yes, you want the SigmaTel Audio as your playback device. That is your laptop's built-in sound card. You should probably unplug the USB sound card altogether.

Since you are using XP, I will copy the following instructions, which come courtesy of Jim-the-Most-Helpful-and-Knowledgeable-Master-Of-All-Things-Audio on this forum:

Enabling S/PDIF in the Windows Audio Driver
1 Double-click the speaker icon in the Windows notification area.
2 Click the Options menu and then click Advanced Controls.
3 Click Advanced.
4 Click S/PDIF Interface.
5 Click Close.
6 Click OK.

As for Vista, I know that my instructions in my previous post are correct, because I finally broke down and bought a Port Replicator off some guy on Craigslist tonight, and wouldn't you know that S/PDIF audio worked perfectly on the very first try! So there must be a problem with my dongle or with the 7-pin jack on the back of my D830.