Question : Problem: Very Bizarre Problem. No audio from center speaker.

Hi guys,

I have a problem I 've been trying to figure out for quite some time now. Basically, I have no audio coming from the center speaker of my 5.1 audio setup. It comes and goes with no apparent reason at irregular intervals. I have tried everything I could possible think being in the IT support business myself but nothing worked. My current setup follows:

Inside the Box:
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz 1066 FSB
M/B Asus P5W DH Deluxe
RAM Kingston HyperX 2 x 1GB DDR2 PC8500 1066MHz Non-ECC CL5
VGA Asus EN7600GT Silent/2DHT 256 MB
Audio Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum
HDD 2 x Western Digital 160 GB SATA
HDD 1 x Western Digital 300 GB SATA2
PSU  Enermax Liberty DXX 500 CrossFire
DVD-RW Samsung

Outside the Box:
Keyboard Logitech  diNovo Edge
Mouse Logitech MX Revolution
Speakers Logitech Z-5450 Digital 5.1 Wireless Speaker System
Webcam Logitech QuickCam Sphere MP

I am only mentioning the peripherals cause they might be important in a way I cannot imagine. Anyway, as mentioned above I cannot get any sound from the center speaker no matter what I try. I 've tried everything as far as software is concerned and that included different players (Media Player Classic, VLC, PowerDVD, Nero showtime) and various codecs (ffdshow, ac3filter and other directshow filters I cannot remember). I reinstalled windows countless times, tried old and new drivers for audio and motherboard, installed Vista and Linux and in every case the problem was always there.

I then turned to hardware tests. I changed almost everything. I tried a different sound card (Audigy 2 Platinum), different speakers (Altec Lansing 5100), new audio cables, new motherboard (Asus P5B Deluxe), different CPU (Pentium 4 3.0 GHz) and different RAM DIMMs (2 x 1 GB HP PC5300 DDR2). Nothing solved my problem. The only two things I have not changed are my VGA card and my power supply. Now, since I have spent a fortune trying to troubleshoot this problem I am asking you if there is ANY way that the VGA card can be responsible for that? I can imagine that the PSU could not give enough power to the system and this could result in various problems so all my money is now on the Enermax despite the fact that 500 Watts of power should be more than enough for my configuration.

Do you guys have any ideas or things I might try? Any help would really help me since this is SO frustrating.  

Answer : Problem: Very Bizarre Problem. No audio from center speaker.

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