5.1 Sound doesn’t work on my LibreELEC HTPC

Hello everyone!

I’ve completely finished my HTPC project and the last step was to setup a 5.1 stereo system, which failed to work: only 1 port of 3 works, two others don’t.

All of the speakers work properly, and the problem is with my computer: either software or hardware. I assume it should be software, since there should be no reason for two port randomly be ‘broken’. HDMI works well: both graphics and sound.

I want to try to fix this issue, but I have no idea where to start. Do you guys have any suggestions?

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My motherboard is:

ZOTAC ION ITX G Synergy Edition Atom 330 GeForce 9400 M-ITX

There are three ports, and only the one in the middle works.

Part of the log with possibly relevant technical info is below.

Possibly relevant Notices:

• Starting Kodi (18.2 Git:18.2-Leia). Platform: Linux x86 64-bit
• Using Release Kodi x64 build
• Kodi compiled 2019-05-04 by GCC 8.2.0 for Linux x86 64-bit version 4.19.36 (267044)
• Running on LibreELEC (official): 9.0.2, kernel: Linux x86 64-bit version 4.19.36
• FFmpeg version/source: 4.0.3-Kodi
• Host CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz, 4 cores available

Possibly relevant Warnings:

• CSettingsManager: missing version attribute
• Pulseaudio module module-allow-passthrough not loaded - opening PT devices might fail

I found no relevant Errors.

I’ve read:

• Audio quickstart guide
• PulseAudio

and I’ve tried both Settings as:

• 5.1 + Passthrough OFF
• 2.0 + Passthrough ON

In both cases no 5.1 sound.

So, again, where should I look? Is it a Linux thing (LibreELEC is built on top of Debian, isn’t it?), is it just a Kodi thing (so I should try to reconfigure some settings either from menu or from config file?), or is it something else?

Sound Over HDMI

I'm very new to the HTPC topic, so I was unaware of the thing you can use HDMI just for sound till — literally! — yesterday. By ‘HDMI works well: both graphics and sound’ I meant that when I connect my HDMI cable into TV, the TV outputs both audio and video. What I'm trying to achieve is to connect a regular 5.1 PC speakers (I have just lying around) into the motherboard.

I may consider switching to HDMI sound, but I assume it'll have me switching to another speakers (=buying them, shipping them, much more complicated for me at this point). Would appreciate the links or suggestions towards this, I may be totally wrong and maybe there is a $10 converter, I don't understand much with sound.

The MB Seems Not to Have a 5.1

At this point someone suggested me that this motherboard doesn't look like it has 5.1 Analogue Sound. I've read on the online specification (not from the manufacturer though) that it has 7.1 output, but I assume that is from HDMI. I was very sure I've read it has both 5.1 Analogue Sound and 7.1 Digital (HDMI?), but this was from the Announcement Post years ago, even before the motherboard was released.

So at this point I tend to believe this motherboard just doesn't have 5.1 Analogue Sound Output. While 3 jacks is enough for 5.1 (front + back + central/sub), all the other 5.1/7.1 Motherboards I have have 6 ports instead of 3.

Possible Solutions

If that's correct and the motherboard doesn't output 5.1 Sound from Analogue Output, I have not so many options:

1. Change the motherboard: I have one with 6 ports, but it's obsolete (GA-K8N51GMF-RH, AMD Sempron 3000+, with 2GB of DDR1 RAM)
2. Buy a PCI-E connected Sound Blaster with 5.1
3. Switch to HDMI-sound, but I would not consider this option, if it'll be expensive and involve a lot of extra work.

The Question Transformed

So, if consider the solutions written above, my initial question could be transformed to:

1. Will the obsolete hardware be useful, say, if I'll add a relatively modern GPU here? As far as I understand, I don't need RAM (my current HTPC uses barely 500 MB of RAM with LibreELEC and playing 1080P videos), and I don't need CPU (which is not as horrible, comparing to Raspberry Pi, for instance: it's x86/64 and beefier clock speed), since all the job is on GPU. Am I right here? Would LibreELEC work on an obsolete PC with modern GPU? (I'm going to try that out, since I have the motherboard and GeForce 560 Ti lying around).
2. Will any PCI-E Sound Blaster will work well on LibreELEC (hence Linux)? Should I ask in Linux Hardware related communities? I don't understand a difference between a cheap $10 Sound Card from AliExpress, a $15 used Sound Card bought locally, or $50 Sound Card bought new, from a reseller here in Europe.
3. What are the options for HDMI sound in general, and are there anything considering my setup? But as I've pointed earlier, if that's expensive / involves too much work, I would better consider this for the next setup I'm going to have with 4K, the next year at least.

Would it better if I'll rephrase these questions to another threads, as initially this one is about my inability to turn on the 5.1?

To mark this thread as resolved we may come to understanding whether LibreELEC would work fine with 5.1 out-of-the box on a proper hardware: which has 5.1 analogue output, with external Sound Blaster, with HDMI-connected sound. Or whether there something needs to be done in terms of Settings/Plug-ins.

Thanks a lot for the help!

Thank you, I will test that, but just in case it's a software (audio drivers) problem, what is the best way to explore? Where should I get the drivers? Is it a plug-in thing, or is it a Linux thing?