Steam Link - no audio

[Scottzorus :3]

I setup my Steam Link and there is audio in the steam link UI. When I connect to my host computer I can see all my games and play them, but get no audio from big picture mode or from in game. I read that changing my host audio settings to 16-bit and 48khz may help. That didn't help. I'm running DVI on my host machine, does it matter that it's not HDMI? I'm streaming at 1080/60ish so I don't think it's a connection issue.

Anyone else have an audio issue? It's not surround sound that I'm trying to hook up either, just sound in general. I'm open to any suggestions.

[john]

I've pretty much given up on my Link...just too much hassle and unplugged it after my last post. I just plugged it back in and audio works again. I'm not sure what the magic trick is. The main things I can think of is that I stopped using the Steam client beta, have default audio playback set to speakers but the digital output set to "default communications device" and, of course, something in the patching may have made it work again.

[Obliviousan]

What?

[Vaxorth]

I was having issues with the Link not having audio the minute that I would start streaming Big Picture mode. Now, I do have a sound card in my system because I need Optical in and Out with my setup. I was reading other issues that people were having with sound cards and no one was getting anywhere, even trying to set the audio bit rate to 16-bit/48000 Hz. So for months I gave up and stopped messing with it all together... until last night.

I have been trying to find a way to stream to my TV in the living room while all of my devices stay in my office (PC, XB1, PS4) I tried a Steam Link to start, an Nvidia Shield, a Lenovo Stick PC (That was fun....) In the end, they have all give me grief somewhere down the line. Anyways, last night I thought I would start up my laptop and try Steam's In-home Streaming one last time. Of course the audio didn't work the minute my laptop connected to my PC (same symptom as my Link). I was at my wits end when I thought I would try a Hail Mary before I was going to rack out: I switched the output on my PC from 5.1 surround to Stereo and... it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ worked.

This had me intrigued to no end so I started looking around for tons of options that I could do so that I wouldn't have to switch it to stereo every time that I wanted to use the streaming feature. and I came across one little check box in the depths of the Windows's Sound options: "Give exclusive mode applications priority."

This little check box can be found under Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Sound>"Default Playback Device" Properties>Advanced. The minute I unchecked this box (and bit rate was 16/48000), I was able to start up Steam Big Picture on my Link and glorious sound came bursting through my speakers on my TV.

TL:DR - Try changing bit rate to 16/48000 Hz AND ensuring that "Give exclusive mode applications priority" is unchecked.

Hopefully this is able to help someone that might have been as stuck as I was....

[john]

Originally posted by Vaxorth:

TL:DR - Try changing bit rate to 16/48000 Hz AND ensuring that "Give exclusive mode applications priority" is unchecked.

Hopefully this is able to help someone that might have been as stuck as I was....

Thanks for the info. Mine is set to 24/192000 and exclusive mode boxes are ticked, but its working so that's something to mess with the next time they break it. Actually your post brings up a point that the problems are less likely with the Link and more likely with BPM.

[Ando]

I have a very similar issue, some games sound doesn't work with SteamLink. Also on an Asus Xonar DG sound card.

Games that don't work include Borderlands, Borderlands 2 etc. Other games like Rebel Galaxy work fine.

I have raised a support ticket but no luck yet.

[Rab Mac]

There is another issue that took me a week of googling to find out as well.

After a re-install in Win 10 i couldn't get any audio on the Client Computer. I updated my drivers, checked all the audio settings, changed the frequency on audio on the host and the client PC's. No success.

Finally after checking the streaming logs on the Host PC I found that there was a line in the log that read:

"Audio is disabled: DirectSound CreateSoundBuffer: Invalid parameter"

Googling this took me to a reddit post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgamingtechsupport/comments/4a98wc/steam_inhome_streaming_audio_issue/

"Hi there, I had the same problem like you for months now and I finally found the solution! I encountered in the streaming log file that the steam client wants to use DirectSound when you want to use 5.1 sound. Unfortunetly DirectSound isn't part of Windows 10/8 and 7 any more.. Well.. nevertheless as soon as you install the DX9 redist package erverything should work fine ;)"

It has a link to DX9:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=8109

After installing this it all worked fine.

[Greedy Fly]

Installing DX9 on the client PC worked for me!

[UnfrozenCavemanGamer]

Originally posted by CapnMikeM:

Originally posted by Jimpansenjoe:

I found another solution to this, at least it worked for me. In the windows sound option the steam apllication sound was set to zero so I just put it up and then I had sound on steam link. Maybe this helps someone too.

I'm probably over thinking this, but where exactly are you making this change? As soon as I start a game, I get no sound. Prior to that, I get sound when moving throughout the Steam Link UI. Hoping this is a simple adjustment but unclear where you're doing this.

This is my issue too. I get sound in the options menu but once I launch big picture mode I get nothing.

[GalakStiv]

Seriously loosing patience here.

As other, I have sound on the TV while i'm in the Steam Link menu, but as soon as I connect to my PC and start streaming, there is no sound anymore.
By default the sound from my PC comes from the HDMI output of my graphic card (it then pass through an amp and goes to my sound system)

I tried :
- unmutte the PC => The sound comes out the PC like normal (but not on the TV)
- set the built in sound card as default output device in windows option => doesn't work either
- tried connecting a usb headphone (windows default output automatically switch to it) => doesn't work either
- uncheck the priority for exclusive mode (and 16/48000 bitrate) => doesn't work either
- installed DX9 redist => doesn't work either

it sucks u__u

[Paesan]

My sound was working fine until tonight. Now, I can't get any sound in any game. The system itself makes sound, but when I launch a game, silence.

I looked into the windows sound control, I didn't see a digital through like the post above, but I disabled the default speakers so i couldn't come through my PC anymore.

Could it have had something to do with the Steam update? It was working fine until I updated my client.

[ReeNoiP]

I'm having some issues as well. Used to be that I would occasionally have to unmute, but now I have to switch my default audio device to "digital audio" instead of "speakers" when I want to use my link, and back again when I want to use my headset. It's a minor annoyance, but still. It used to just be a matter of starting up the link.

I suspect part of the reason is updates to windows 10 messing with the way audio works. I started having trouble just after update KB3213986.

[LoveisPain]

Originally posted by Scottzorus :3:

I setup my Steam Link and there is audio in the steam link UI. When I connect to my host computer I can see all my games and play them, but get no audio from big picture mode or from in game. I read that changing my host audio settings to 16-bit and 48khz may help. That didn't help. I'm running DVI on my host machine, does it matter that it's not HDMI? I'm streaming at 1080/60ish so I don't think it's a connection issue.

Anyone else have an audio issue? It's not surround sound that I'm trying to hook up either, just sound in general. I'm open to any suggestions.

hey guys, had the same issue.
Here is my solution - for sound via 3,5mm jack:

get an external audio interface or adapter (usb to 3,5mm) and plug it into the steamlink. The 3,5mm into your Soundsystem, boxes.
Done.

In my case its an old DJ mixer with interface (Control Instinct Hercules blabla). Easy Peasy
hope i could help
<3

[Gruf22]

Fix for me was to right click on the speaker in the task bar bottom right>right click recording devices>disable anything enabled in there (mine was a bluetooth device) Fixed it for me, but I am running it with a bluetooth speaker in a different room to my PC as my monitor has no speaker, Hope that helps somebody, frustrating tracking down that obscure fix, Steam support SHOULD provide the fix but no, I will do the work for them, poor show

[DasKraeken]

I recently installed my old Asus Xonar DGX and it gave me no sound. I tried all the solutions above but the ONE thing that worked was installing these unified drivers. Tried all the other things mentioned in this thread. I'm hoping this saves peeps some time as it took me a while to figure this out.

http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/

*spelling

[dreamlake]

Originally posted by Rhaiah:

I have also run into this issue. My PC uses an ASUS Xonar DX audio card. I attempted many of the solutions mentioned above, and here are the results:

- Unmuting my PC speakers didn't work for me. The audio just funnels out of my computer speakers instead of my TV speakers.
- Updating my ASUS Xonar DX audio drivers didn't work for me. It worked for a little bit, but the problem returned once I restarted my Steam Link.
- Setting the S/PDIF Pass-Through Device as my default communications device didn't work for me.
- Plugging a headset into my PC worked for me. This only works, however, if the headset is plugged into my PC when I turn on my Steam Link. Switching audio outputs while my Steam Link is turned on doesn't appear to work.

I hope that Valve has noticed that many of us are using weird and inconvenient workarounds to resolve this issue. Then again, these are band-aids, not actual solutions.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Thanks for the tip. I've got a Xonar DS and plugging some crappy earbuds into my onboard sound output miraculously worked for me.