win8 Weird Windows 8 Power Management Issue

[neo1911]

I am facing a strange a rather annoying problem since the time I installed RTM version of Windows 8 Pro.

I have a habit listening to my favorite music in iTunes on my PC which feeds Audio to Onkyo HT-R380 receiver via HDMI cable and another HDMI cable connects to my Samsung monitor (Samsung monitor is the main display).

The power options are default:

Now the problem: I leave the computer while continue to listen to music. But after 10 min, the Samsung monitor display turns off as per power options. But the music also stops at the same time.

I almost broke my head to solve this but it's been bugging me for last 2 months.

I have Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 and I tried all the Windows 8 X64 drivers released so far by Nvidia. Currently on latest WHQL 306.97.

Any help why music stops when screen goes blank?

PS: This issue never happened in Windows 7

[The Evil Overlord]

Under your power options, do you have the balanced, high performance and power saver options like 7 does?

I only ask as it might be worth setting it up to high performance, then trying to change the monitor and sleep options :)

edit

Also are you using desktop speakers?

Some Samsung monitors I think come with built in speakers, like my hp and acer monitors do, and before I bought my desktop speakers, and ran my audio to them. (when my monitor went off due to those settings, the sound went as well)

Edited November 23, 2012 by Dushmany

[neo1911]

^^ Doesn't work under high performance as well :(

No desktop speakers nor does my monitor have internal ones. it's Onkyo 5.1 HT system.

[ArialBlue]

Does it happen if you use something made by Microsoft to play your music?

[The Evil Overlord]

^^ Doesn't work under high performance as well :(

Sorry, that was all I had :(

edit.. oops, statement withdrawn as I got confused and replied to ArialBlue by mistake

[neo1911]

Does it happen if you use something made by Microsoft to play your music?

I have removed WMP and Music app as I don't like too many apps doing same thing to clutter. I will try installing WMP. But iTunes does all sync and all with phone so it's the main audio player.

Edit: Same happens in WMP or Music App. :(

[neo1911]

No suggestions?

[zhangm Supervisor]

In the Nvidia Control Panel, what options are listed under Display > Set up digital audio?

[neo1911]

In Nvidia Control Panel the following options are there:

In Windows Sound properties:

[zhangm Supervisor]

I have a habit listening to my favorite music in iTunes on my PC which feeds Audio to Onkyo HT-R380 receiver via HDMI cable and another HDMI cable connects to my Samsung monitor (Samsung monitor is the main display).

Clarify. Is the monitor in question connected via HDMI or DVI?

[neo1911]

Clarify. Is the monitor in question connected via HDMI or DVI?

Monitor is connected by DVI and Onkyo & TV is connected by HDMI.

Here is a video of the problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr8Bk_fSHI

[zhangm Supervisor]

The only thing I can think of is the Nvidia drivers. Do you have NVIDIA HD Audio Driver installed in your Control Panel list?

[neo1911]

Yes HD driver is installed

[zhangm Supervisor]

If you haven't already tried, uninstall it, reboot, and see if anything changes. It is automatically installed with any driver package downloaded from Nvidia's site, so it's not like you can't un-do getting rid of it.

[neo1911]

I uninstalled it but then i get no audio from HDMI.

[StarkWiz]

I went through your setup and video.

I have few questions as well as suggestion as below:

1. Do you still have Windows 7 ? I would like you to test the same thing as in the video you posted where your samsung monitor, TV and onkyo av receiver are all connected to your pc and turned on. And check if it gives any issue as I think it might be related to Onkyo settings as below.

2. I think your TV is turning off the audio. I noticed that there is a setting in Onkyo which lets TV control the audio output in Onkyo. Can you check what happens while your TV is off and just Samsung monitor and Onkyo is on ? (Check Onkyo Manual Page 34 for settings)

I hope this helps.

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

When your monitor is turning off it's more than likely killing the HDCP connection and therefore kills the audio. The Dell sound bars will do something similar if enabled, but it's off by default.

[TheGreek]

When your monitor is turning off it's more than likely killing the HDCP connection and therefore kills the audio. The Dell sound bars will do something similar if enabled, but it's off by default.

I agree with this. It kills the conncection. So your hdmi cable stops transmitting the audio too.

[neo1911]

^^ yes. This issue simply does not exist in Windows 7. Everything works flawlessly. This issue happens even if I keep my TV switched off. As soon as monitor turns off due to power settings, the whole audio stream to Onkyo receiver switches off and back on when mouse is moved.

I dont know if this Windows 8 "by design" feature.

[StarkWiz]

I think Windows 8 considers Onkyo as 2nd display device, even when the TV is off. Try switching to single display mode, using WinKey+P. That might probably disconnect you from Onkyo but not sure.

Also, did you check the HDMI audio settings in Onkyo ? Or look for option by which it would be recognized as HDMI audio only device to your PC.

From the audio options screenshot you posted it appears to be detected as display device for sure and that is correct but its causing issue in Windows 8.

[xendrome]

Is there not an option in your menu settings of your monitor to keep audio on during sleep or low power mode?

[neo1911]

Is there not an option in your menu settings of your monitor to keep audio on during sleep or low power mode?

No.

I think Windows 8 considers Onkyo as 2nd display device, even when the TV is off. Try switching to single display mode, using WinKey+P. That might probably disconnect you from Onkyo but not sure.

Also, did you check the HDMI audio settings in Onkyo ? Or look for option by which it would be recognized as HDMI audio only device to your PC.

From the audio options screenshot you posted it appears to be detected as display device for sure and that is correct but its causing issue in Windows 8.

I checked HDMI audio settings in Onkyo. But there are no configurable settings there and again, same setup works perfectly in Windows 7.

[Brin33]

Hi sanke,

I think the monitor is the wrong way to investige this as the other screen is going off as well. Is the computer going to sleep?

I have a similar issue, Mine seems to go into power save mode after 5 mins regardless of what I set the power options to.

If you leave the PC for a bout 10 seconds after the screen goes off does it still start up instantly? or has it gone into hibernate or sleep mode? I see you have it set to Never sleep, but mine ignores that at the moment! So it sleeps when the monitor goes off.

(I have Windows 8 pro, upgraded from win7. I was wondering if there is another power save menu in win 8 that is overwriting the win 7 options I had set before the upgrade.)

Brin