Audio problem with Logitech Z 506 5.1

[MyNamelsDan]

Not sure if this is the right section to post.

I've had these speakers for years and never really got a problem apart from trying to make all of them work without actually using 5.1 but i managed to do it.
A few days ago they stopped working on my pc for no reason, i didn't change anything.They work fine on my phone.
Sometimes when i deactivate and activate they work for 1 second and stop.Also when i keep changing the volume on both speakers and pc they work for 1 or 2 seconds and stop. Work fine on the phone. So im guessing its a program/compatibility thing with the pc but don't know what.
This what i already tried:
-Made sure everything was connected right, and it was, was working fine a week ago and i didn't change anything.
-Reinstalled realtek drivers, didn't fix the problem
-I always have headphones and speakers connected at the same time, just need to active speakers and they work. I tried to deactivate headphones, disconnected them. Speakers still don't work.
-I use EqualizerAPO to make headphones sound better, but never activated it for the speakers. Never had a problem with it but still, i deactivated equalizerAPO, changed some settings just to make sure. Still didn't work.
- Tried a bunch of other recommended things. Nothing worked

If there's anyone that could help, i'm offering virtual cookies . ty

[Bombastinator]

 found the manufacturer page

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/surround-sound-speaker-z506

This one would go in audio I think. I could try taking a poke I suppose. I doubt I’d be any help.  I know a little (not a lot) about old audio.  Not so much about digital equalization and modern codecs. There are people that know lots though.  Might have to wait a bit for em to show up.  @JZStudios seemed to know a lot.  Only name I got.

 

GL

 

[Sharif]

You'll need to clarify on what you mean by " trying to make all of them work without actually using 5.1"

 

If you are implying you want to use a 2 channel source to played duplicated on the rear and front channels, just use the single green cable and disconnect the other 3. The speakers themselves have a little up mix mode some people may or may not like.

 

Another version would be a simple upmix by the driver without any weird stuff that is done by the hardware itself. This will depend if your audio driver will allow it, connect all 3 cables and set the channel output to 2 channel only.

[MyNamelsDan]

1 minute ago, Sharif said:

You'll need to clarify on what you mean by " trying to make all of them work without actually using 5.1"

 

If you are implying you want to use a 2 channel source to played duplicated on the rear and front channel, just use the single green cable and disconnect the other 3.

 

The speakers themselves have a little up mix mode some people may or may not like.

 

Another version would be a simple upmix by the driver without any weird stuff that is designed by the hardware itself. This will depend if your audio driver will allow it, connect all 3 cables and set the channel output to 2 channel only.

All that i figured out a long time ago, and i didn't even use it that much anymore. Used regular green cable for normal stuff, and 5.1 for bluray movies. 

The problem that i have right now is just no sound if connected to the pc, with green cable or with all 3. 

[MyNamelsDan]

I should also mention, i just left a music on while i went to the kitchen, and randomly the speakers worked for 2 seconds and stopped. This happened 2 times. 

[JZStudios]

3 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

 found the manufacturer page

https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/surround-sound-speaker-z506

This one would go in audio I think. I could try taking a poke I suppose. I doubt I’d be any help.  I know a little (not a lot) about old audio.  Not so much about digital equalization and modern codecs. There are people that know lots though.  Might have to wait a bit for em to show up.  @JZStudios seemed to know a lot.  Only name I got.

 

GL

 

Hey now, I showed up for someone with a similar setup. I've never had a z506, but I did have a different cheap pair of Logitech surround speakers. Never had any issue with them and connected them over 3 or 4 3.5mm cables.

 

So I guess standard troubleshooting is asking how the z506 is connected to the PC, and whether or not the same connection port and cable works fine from another source.

If it's 3.5 and the same cable/port on the z506 works on a phone, I'd try a different port on the PC, like the front headphone jack. It's possible there's some electrical problem with the output jack.

Worst case scenario, modern 5.1 (Or stereo) sound cards are pretty cheap. I'd also check the output port on the PC with headphones.

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Hey now, I showed up for someone with a similar setup. I've never had a z506, but I did have a different cheap pair of Logitech surround speakers. Never had any issue with them and connected them over 3 or 4 3.5mm cables.

 

So I guess standard troubleshooting is asking how the z506 is connected to the PC, and whether or not the same connection port and cable works fine from another source.

If it's 3.5 and the same cable/port on the z506 works on a phone, I'd try a different port on the PC, like the front headphone jack. It's possible there's some electrical problem with the output jack.

Worst case scenario, modern 5.1 (Or stereo) sound cards are pretty cheap. I'd also check the output port on the PC with headphones.

Sorry for making you a victim of my limited knowledge base. 

[MyNamelsDan]

12 minutes ago, JZStudios said:

Hey now, I showed up for someone with a similar setup. I've never had a z506, but I did have a different cheap pair of Logitech surround speakers. Never had any issue with them and connected them over 3 or 4 3.5mm cables.

 

So I guess standard troubleshooting is asking how the z506 is connected to the PC, and whether or not the same connection port and cable works fine from another source.

If it's 3.5 and the same cable/port on the z506 works on a phone, I'd try a different port on the PC, like the front headphone jack. It's possible there's some electrical problem with the output jack.

Worst case scenario, modern 5.1 (Or stereo) sound cards are pretty cheap. I'd also check the output port on the PC with headphones.

yes it a 3.5. Unfortunately that's the only port i have. The front one has a problem and i never tried to fixed it. Also never used it. 

I have a xonar dx somewhere in the house, don't know if it's still alive. I'll see if tomorrow i can put it inside and test it. Just really weird how the speakers just stopped working randomly, without me messing up with sound settings or updating drivers. Could've been a windows update maybe?

[JZStudios]

17 hours ago, MyNamelsDan said:

yes it a 3.5. Unfortunately that's the only port i have. The front one has a problem and i never tried to fixed it. Also never used it. 

I have a xonar dx somewhere in the house, don't know if it's still alive. I'll see if tomorrow i can put it inside and test it. Just really weird how the speakers just stopped working randomly, without me messing up with sound settings or updating drivers. Could've been a windows update maybe?

Possible. I'd try the jack from both ends, and plug a sound source into the speakers and some headphones into the PC and ensure both are working. It could be one jack or the other.

I think if it was a driver issue it probably wouldn't work at all, and if you're only running stereo I don't think it should be an issue.

[MyNamelsDan]

5 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Possible. I'd try the jack from both ends, and plug a sound source into the speakers and some headphones into the PC and ensure both are working. It could be one jack or the other.

I think if it was a driver issue it probably wouldn't work at all, and if you're only running stereo I don't think it should be an issue.

I think i finally fixed it, after trying for 5 hours. 

There was a big windows update available, updated it, speakers still wouldn't work. I uninstalled and installed countless drivers, didn't work. Some people with the same problem were talking about realtek audio control but i didn't have it since windows 8. Found the .exe file but it would open and close right after. Tried other fixes and nothing. I don't really know what fixed it cuz i did multiple things, but i think it was either ccleaner or other program that i downloaded to fix drives(can't remember the name because i already deleted it, didn't really trust it). It deleted multiple realtek files, i'm talking like 30 realtek drivers or something. After that realtek was fully uninstalled,with no hidden files. Installed new drivers, restarted and finally it recognized my speakers and had sound but only stereo. Still didn't have realtek control panel, but found the .exe file and this time it fully opened after installing microsoft net framework 4.5 and some other stuff(i had it before but i guess windows update fucked it up). Changed some options on the control panel and i now have stereo and 5.1.

I'm sure it was a window update that messed the drivers up. Time to remove all the bloatware that windows installed again. 

Not gonna mark as solved just in case something happens. If nothing happens after 1 or 2 days i'll mark it as solved. Thanks anyway for trying to help.

[JZStudios]

6 hours ago, MyNamelsDan said:

I think i finally fixed it, after trying for 5 hours. 

There was a big windows update available, updated it, speakers still wouldn't work. I uninstalled and installed countless drivers, didn't work. Some people with the same problem were talking about realtek audio control but i didn't have it since windows 8. Found the .exe file but it would open and close right after. Tried other fixes and nothing. I don't really know what fixed it cuz i did multiple things, but i think it was either ccleaner or other program that i downloaded to fix drives(can't remember the name because i already deleted it, didn't really trust it). It deleted multiple realtek files, i'm talking like 30 realtek drivers or something. After that realtek was fully uninstalled,with no hidden files. Installed new drivers, restarted and finally it recognized my speakers and had sound but only stereo. Still didn't have realtek control panel, but found the .exe file and this time it fully opened after installing microsoft net framework 4.5 and some other stuff(i had it before but i guess windows update fucked it up). Changed some options on the control panel and i now have stereo and 5.1.

I'm sure it was a window update that messed the drivers up. Time to remove all the bloatware that windows installed again. 

Not gonna mark as solved just in case something happens. If nothing happens after 1 or 2 days i'll mark it as solved. Thanks anyway for trying to help.

Nice. I've currently got a dual boot setup to find out if I want to swap to Win10 when Win7 dies... but I'm thinking I'm just going to stick with Win7. Win10 has too many problems and driver issues and shit just doesn't work. I haven't even tried my headphone output on Win10 to know if it works or not.

[MyNamelsDan]

2 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Nice. I've currently got a dual boot setup to find out if I want to swap to Win10 when Win7 dies... but I'm thinking I'm just going to stick with Win7. Win10 has too many problems and driver issues and shit just doesn't work. I haven't even tried my headphone output on Win10 to know if it works or not.

I really like win10 but ye sometimes a simple update fucks everything up.Had almost the same problem when i was using my integrated graphic card, update would download the wrong driver for it and i would have full screen tear on games. I always have updates disabled but i guess windows 10 forces updates on what they think are the most important ones. 

Speakers have been working fine for now, but i get random crackling noises when i open a chrome window or something else. Had this problem happen before tho, just didn't have the time to fix it yet but i remember it was simple.

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, MyNamelsDan said:

I really like win10 but ye sometimes a simple update fucks everything up.Had almost the same problem when i was using my integrated graphic card, update would download the wrong driver for it and i would have full screen tear on games. I always have updates disabled but i guess windows 10 forces updates on what they think are the most important ones. 

Speakers have been working fine for now, but i get random crackling noises when i open a chrome window or something else. Had this problem happen before tho, just didn't have the time to fix it yet but i remember it was simple.

Heh.  I’m having that problem at the moment. I updated my gtx970 driver, and apparently the new one turns the card off during boot.   

[MyNamelsDan]

On 12/6/2019 at 4:58 AM, Bombastinator said:

Heh.  I’m having that problem at the moment. I updated my gtx970 driver, and apparently the new one turns the card off during boot.   

Sorry for the late reply, don't know if your still having the problem but, maybe enter in safe mode and delete all the driver files? That's kinda what i did, but i didn't have to go on safe mode.