Sound devices reversed, can't get sound to my headset whatsoever

Technical Support
1

This video should explain the problem in details:

In short, My headset doesn’t show up in the Playback Devices for audio, and setting Default communication devices is not working either.
Since last night 29th of august, i havent been able to use my main headset channel (Game Sound line) in Overwatch at all.

This is not an issue in any other application, Discord works fine, Spotify works fine… Civilization VI works fine etc. etc. But Overwatch is broken.

The hardware consists of:

RØDE-NT-USB Microphone
Astro A40 MixAmp set to PC-Mode including a sound mixer knob.
Astro A40 Headset - Game Sound Channel with 7.1 support & Astro A40 Headset - Voice Sound Channel In Mono

1 Like
2

I’m having the same problem too.

3

Sadly this is still a problem, and nothing has happend in 23days besides Arani also experiencing this? Not much support here.

4

Hey there Pingu,

I’m sorry we weren’t able to get to you sooner, but I have been taking a look into this for you. Ultimately Overwatch is only able to access the Audio Channels that Windows makes available and this would generally mean that there is another application or setting on your PC that is blocking all the available devices from being used in-game.

A couple of recent Windows Updates have worked on some sound issues and the hotfixes Microsoft implemented may have effected how your specific setup now works:

August 30, 2019

Addresses an issue that prevents certain games from leveraging Spatial Audio capabilities.

September 10, 2019

Symptom
Microsoft has received reports that audio in certain games is quieter or different than expected after installing this update. At the request of some of our audio partners, we implemented a compatibility change that enabled certain games to query support and render multi-channel audio. Due to customer feedback, we are reverting this change as some games and some devices are not rendering multi-channel audio as expected. This may result in games sounding different than customers are used to and may have missing channels.

Workaround
To mitigate the issue, open settings in the impacted game and disable multi-channel audio, if this option is available. You can also search in the Windows Control Panel for third-party audio device control panels and disable Multi-channel audio or Virtual Surround Sound, if these options are available.

We are working on a resolution and estimate a solution will be available in late September.

I don’t know is this is related in any way to the issues you’re describing, but the timing seems like it may fit.

In any case, in situations like this, the first thing that I would advise is to work through the Troubleshooting Sound Issues guide, including the Advanced Troubleshooting. I know you’ve already tried several steps but I want to ensure all relevant suggestions from this have been tried.

Following this, please check for any updates to your Astro A40 software, and if that doesn’t help, please try reinstalling the tools to see if that changes anything with your options in Overwatch.

If you still have troubles after trying the above, please can you collect System Files from your PC, and then upload them to a file-sharing platform (such as Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, or Pastebin etc.) and then share the link with us.
Note: You may not be able to share direct links on the forum so if you have troubles, please select/highlight the link and click the </> button on your editor to convert the link to Preformatted Text

5

I have the same issue, i have rolled back updates, installed most recent drivers etc… the audio outs are working fine and being acknowledged by windows functional turned up not disabled. So the issue does stand with ow its self

1 Like
6

Thank you for getting back to me :slight_smile:

Unfortunately i have allready tried all of those things the troubleshoot guide suggest, and updating Astro A40 firmware and drivers was one of the first things i did, but i didnt expect it to do anything as its only an Overwatch issue, which I find odd.

Either way: I checked it again, and its the newest version. I’ve tried reinstalling it, still no results.

So system files:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rokDh1ZVKwWHGJqA4BQhRZow8vcHPz2v/view?usp=sharing

and dxDiag (its older, but from when the issues started the 30th of august):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8Uek-F3XSuDCOlwfMpexDh-DAliQzF_/view?usp=sharing

If you need a newer one its no problem, but i havent changed anything, since. Except another update to windows, but as I said nothing has changed.

I realise i only got part of the system info, so I have re-exported it, all should work well now :wink:

8

Thank you for getting back in touch with us Pingu,

I’ve taken a look through your submitted System Files, and I would like to ask you to please check the following programs for the Audio Settings, and consider updating, and if that doesn’t help, closing/disabling the following in turn:

1. AMD Crimson
2. Overwolf
3. Plays.tv
4. Razer Suite (Chroma/SDK/Synapse)
5. VoiceMeeter

Following this, I would like to ask you to please unplug all currently unused USB devices, including your Webcam and Wacom Tablet, and then reboot your Computer.

Then, missing or corrupted system files may cause issues with your audio, especially with the Windows Update issues I mentioned in my first reply. Please can I ask that you run the System File Checker to scan for damaged or missing files in Windows.

9

Hi again, I’ve done all of the suggested things now, almost. AMD Crimson i cannot remove since its the driver software for My Graphics card, i went ahead and updated it again cause it cant hurt to update i thought.
Razer Suite I cannot get rid of it is the launcher for my mouse’ profiles that control my dpi. It does not have any sound settings or ive tried running overwatch with it turned off. the other 3 programs i uninstalled. The conclusion was that it gave me the monitor speakers in after i also ran the System Files Check. Which did correct some corrupt files, however… it still didn’t fix the problem so, i unplugged all usb devices and rebooted, and that made it even worse, so now the dropdown menu ingame for playback sound devices only shows Default and the Monitor Speakers. The Astro A40 Voice line is gone! And the problem with the voice output remains the same.

Just to be sure i re-ran the system files checker after this… but got no results, no file corruptions found either.
Which leaves me a bit worse than were we started. Since Discord now also cannot seem to send sound through the A40 Voice, which wasn’t a problem before. :confused: It does find the device though.