My onboard sound isn't working pls HELP if you have time @wendell and @ryan

My gigabyte x79 ud5 has the realtek alc 898 codec I am running Windows 10 Drivers are installed when I plug my headphones windows doesn’t recognize them I tried plugging different headphones same problem and windows says that optical audio is plugged and it’s not

Have you gone to the web site of your motherboard to see if they have updated drivers for Realtek audio.

The mobo is old so they stopped updating it

Since they stopped supporting the board you are probably shit out of luck. I just looked up the board you said you had and found this link Windows 10 Audio drivers.

I got this Sound Blaster Z series, 2 weeks ago to fix my broken Z97 Realtek audio.
It sounds better than the on-board audio without being crazy expensive.

The only downside is I didn't know it has very bright red LED's. I wrapped them with tape to dim the lights. Standard audio cards start at about $40.

So it isn't a driver problem, but a problem with Windows 10? I took you look at the sound card you have and I think I know what is going on. The on board audio is broken, so you went and installed an PCI sound card. Well the reason your headphones don't work is because there isn't any way you can attach your headphones to the PCI sound card. I am not one hundred percent sure I am right, but I would bet that's the problem.

I have no idea, but turning off the on-board audio in BIOS and replacing it with something nicer certainly fixed my problem. One thing to consider is the Sound Blaster drivers seem to be refined more frequently and the Sound Blaster control software is MILES better than what Realtek audio provided.

OF course Sound blaster card would be better than the on board sound. That why on your more expensive boards they don't use Realtek audio codec's.

That depends on the Sound Blaster you pick.
IDK if the inexpensive $40 FX series cards are that much better than Realtek audio.

So should I buy a sound card or what
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling and there is still no sound

I would wait a few days before making up your mind, I am currently installing 10 in a virtual machine to try and see if maybe the problem is in Windows 10 you may just need to change a setting in Windows 10. I have a simulator problem with Windows 8.1 not recognizing my headphones, when that happens I just need to unplug and re plug my headphones and change the setting in Windows 8.1. Trying to come up with the same procedure for Windows 10.

Thanks man I really appreciate it

No thanks is necessary, I like to try and help my fellow forum members if I can. You might still need to buy a new sound card, but less see if we can get your problem fix without spending any money first.

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I think I have come up with a procedure.

First Step plug in your headphones let Windows 10 find its drivers for the device.

Second step click on the window pitcher on the bottom left corner.

Third step type audio in the search bar that pops up.

Fourth choose manage audio devices.

5 select your headphone device and make it the default device.

If you follow the above steps that should fix your problem. If you run into any trouble just let me know.

  1. Right click your sound icon down by the watch in the right corner.
  2. choose playback devices.
  3. start some random sound file and see which of the listed devices shows sound activity.
  4. choose that one as your default.
    depending on your mobo, and GPU, and which ever device you may have in your system which has a HDMI/Display port.
    A sound device pops up in your device stack(my current setup has like a redicules 11 sound output devices). occationally it happens that these devices are chosen wrong(Actually it happens alot), as standard devices, linux does this as well, hell sometimes you have to choose specific 5,6,7.1 output device here aswell, which isn't annoying AT ALL
    But i do not think your sound devices are broken, but more likely the sound is just redirected to the wrong device.

Sorry I didn't update you
Yeah still nothing

Sorry I don't know what else to try, but to buy a new sound card, maybe someone else has a idea.