U2713H, no sound from audio line out?

Hi onthequiet,

I will be glad to help you. Request you to let me know which speaker are you trying to connect to the system. Also request you to connect it to the HDMI port and check if it works.

You may also try the following steps:

(1) Click on the sound icon on the toolbar.

(2) Now in the playback tab check and select either display port or monitor model that is listed here.

Do reply with your answers.

Hi,

I have an hdmi cable and have tried this with exactly the same sound results... ie not working  (display is limited to 1600 x 900 as expected)

I have tried two different sound systems that have a line in and its important to note that both these work when connected directly to the computer. These are a) X-mini and b) iHome studio series (bongiovi acoustics)

hdmi is selected as the output in the system preferences->sound

It reads:

Select a device for sound output.

I have selected: Dell U2713H  HDMI

It says underneath "The selected device has no output controls"

Thanks for helping!

Hi Kiran,

Are there any other trouble-shooting steps or does this sound like a broken audio out?

Is there any way to test the audio out directly from the monitor without feeding the sound in through the hdmi or mini-dp cable. Is there a way to create a test sound from the monitor itself... ie a test sound that should come out through the speakers if they are plugged in?

onthequiet,

The audio out on that monitor only supports "two channel". What audio signal are you sending through mDP or HDMI? (Stereo, 5.1, 7.1)

Is there any way to test the audio out directly from the monitor without feeding the sound in through the hdmi or mini-dp cable.
* No.

Is there a way to create a test sound from the monitor itself...ie a test sound that should come out through the speakers if they are plugged in?
* No.

I am just playing a youtube video so presume stereo?

Actually,  the audio cable from H2713h line-out to the speakers was originally part of a 5.1 setup (2 x tweeters, 2 x speakers and a sub-woofer). Its just 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm audio cable though. Would this be a problem?

The other x-mini speaker I tested with could possibly just be a mono speaker and I plug it directly into the line-out port. Again, its a standard 3.5 mm connection.

Do you think this could be the problem?

Normally a computer has an on-board audio chip, maybe a realtek hd audio chipset or something similar ,so you need drivers for this chipset. Also a computer can have a grahics card with hdmi or dp and since either of these interfaces can handle audio, you also need graphics audio drivers for this card. These drivers will allow you to handle audio via the chassis front or rear audio connectors and via the HDMI/DP cable.

You can check what drivers are loaded using device manager (in win7, type 'device manager' without quotes in the start menu search box and select it from the list, then click on 'sound video and game controllers, then right click on realtek and/or nvidia or equivalents and select properties - or whatever similar action one if you use win8).

Then you need to be able to select which output sound device to use as default, so right clicking the speaker icon on the task bar will give you an option to select the playback device. Select the U2713 monitor and set as default. You can also click properties from the same sound playback window and check that you have DVD quality set within the advanced tab (while pressing the test button within this advanced tab will send sound to the default sound device and you should hear some tones).

And remember that some sound chipset drivers will auto configure/select if you have a 3.5mm plug inserted into the front or rear chassis audio connectors so best to remove them when testing the monitor audio output.

Oh, and best to test your speakers using any consumer audio device with 3.5mm connector, like radio, ipod, etc to ensure the speakers actually work.

[edited to remove last paragraph as op already tested speakers]

Something seems to be wrong with the image and I cannot edit the post. If you click the post and scroll wayyyyy down to the bottom of the page, you should be able to see it... at least I can.

Thanks

@ Chris M

I have found another pair of stereo external speakers (tested working also) with 3.5 jack and plugged them straight into U2713H line out. No joy... so don't think this is the problem. As HDMI did not help btw, I am just using Mini-DP to Display Port now.

@ skylarking

I am using a Macbook Pro Retina 15". I just set the System Preferences -> Sound to Dell U2713H - Display Port as shown in the image below:

Sound src="/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3529/5025.LittleSnapper.png" border="0" alt="" />

Thanks for the continued support to try and help me here.

Brian

In the lab, we only test on Windows computers. On those, we get audio out of the U2713H jack when using DP and HDMI. We are guessing when it comes to untested apple hardware. Is our Dell mDP-DP cable connecting directly into the macbook or is our cable connected to an apple converter then into the macbook DP?

Hi Chris,

Two new points to consider:

Point 1:

I have just run a test:

Macbook->HDMI cable->Samsung Television (UE40EH5000).

I am watching a film on on the Macbook and can confirm that sound is being transmitted through the HDMI cable to TV. The only setting  I needed to change on the Macbook was

*Set HDMI  as the output in the system preferences->sound

I also did this with the monitor connected up but no sound. So, it is really strange that sound is being output to the HDMI cable and yet the U2713h is not outputting it through its line-out.

Point 2:

I have purchased the U2713h as a new item (opened box) on eBay. It is brand new / mint  REV A00 with a warranty running from Jan 2013. Anyhow, it clearly stated on the eBay ad that the Dell mDP-DP cable was missing. So, I am not using the official Dell cable. I bought this one instead:

www.amazon.co.uk/.../ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

If you think this could be the problem, then I am wondering if it is possible for me to obtain the genuine Dell cable somehow?

Point 1 concerns me a little though. I know the Macbook is now outputting sound through the HDMI... that's for sure. For the first time I'm wondering if there is a hardware fault on the U2713h line-out. BUT... cables can be strange and I am wondering also if the U2713h is not 100% happy with the cables (hdmi and mDP-DP) that I am using? I thought HDMI was a standard though... how can it work with the Samsung and not your monitor?

Thanks,

/Brian

Skylarking,

Thanks for taking the time out to reply.

The mDP->DP cable was included with this monitor: See the "What's in the box section:

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

The guy I bought it from also informed me the original mDP to DP was missing.

I did have a look for audio settings on the monitor's settings, however, there do not seem to be any such settings in the U2713h. The following review shows screenshots of all the menus and these match mine (It will just save me taking screenshots of all the menus) http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2713h.htm

I'm pretty certain the Macbook Pro Retina's default setting (I bought it new from Apple and certainly didn't change it from default) is to output sound in stereo. See the following but there are many more examples: discussions.apple.com/.../4450049  . I will follow up and confirm that this is set to stereo.

To your point about an accurate specification of what type of audio is supported. If there is a specific type of stereo codec that is supported, then it would be good to know what this is for sure! I would have thought the monitor was just taking a stereo input signal and passing that straight to the line-out!

Chris?

* Using the Dell supplied DP to mDP cable, we connected the mDP to the laptop and the DP to the U2713H. You could also go DP to the laptop and mDP to the U2713H
* We then connected the USB Upstream cable from the U2713H to the laptop USB port
* We then connected external speakers to the the U2713H green Audio out jack
* We then opened the Sound control panel, clicked Dell U2713H and then clicked Set Default-Apply-OK. A green arrow appeared on it and the sound worked

Brian,seems different regions may have different inclusions in the box. The U2713 user guide i have a copy of did not reference any DP (or mDP) cable [:?]

As for my post, i don't know what happened to the DP wiki link which i thought i added but the link does state that an audio signal is optional (1–8 channels, 16 or 24-bit linear PCM; 32 to 192 KHz sampling rate; maximum bitrate 49,152 kbit/s) and can encapsulate compressed audio formats in the audio stream. I guess this means that the linear PCM data can contain compressed audio and that the receiving device must be able to decode the compressed format. The DP spec says nothing about what the compressed format can be.

2 channel linear PCM (LPCM) is commonly known as stereo. There are no specific types of stereo though different sampling audio bit depths (16 or 24bits) and sampling rates (44.1 or 48Khz) are commonly used by CD or DVD. The real complexity is when compressed formats are disguised as LPCM. 

And Dell says nothing about what stereo audio bit depths/sampling rates are supported and what compressed formats can be decoded from disguised LPCM streams by a U2711 or U2713 !

What may be of interest to you is that the mDP wiki states the following: While the DisplayPort specification is capable of supporting digital audio, the older 2009 line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros are unable to provide an audio signal through the Mini DisplayPort, and only do so over USB, Firewire, or the audio line out port instead (the April 2010 line of MacBook Pro, and late-2009 iMac and later, however, supports this)

So it may be that your issue is not because of any problem with the U2713 but with your Apple laptop if pre-2009(ish).

Still, Dell must resolve the serious lack of detailed specifications of their products.

Chris, please feed back to management that their needs to be much more detail within the specification sheets for their products. And if you can test the U2713 capabilities further, please test some different audio formats sent by the PC to the monitor and report back the results.