[General Questions and Answers] Downunder35m:
I have no clue where the perfect forum section for this would be so I do it here and hope people find it.

Especially Nvidia devices seem to suffer from a problem that can drive you nuts if you are a power user.

But I had the issue with a few other chipsets and amps as well.

The problem seems to always look like this:

After some use you put your device in sleep mode, turn the TV/monitor off and when you want to continue there is no sound.

All drivers and hardware seem to perform normal and nothing you do bring the sound back until you restart.

Usual recommendations from the web, Nvidia forums, MS and dedicated tech sites include:

Installing a different driver

Using full featured and quality cables

Searching for drivers and services that might interfere

Getting new graphics card or upgrading the TV/monitor

None of the above really works or makes and difference if you ask me.

The fix on many modern TV's is simple and some monitors should have similar settings available.

For me the trick works like this:

Check the HDMI setting on the TV/monitor.

For the affected input you are likely to find something to change/activate/de-activate HDMI 2.0.

Usually this setting is set to auto mode and the system should use the right setting once a HDMI device connects.

And there is the culprit of the implementation for (mostly) Nvidia devices!

Sound will be activated after a video signal is established but the card will do the HDMI settings after establishing the video.

In the meantime the sound part fails to initialise.

Changing the TV HDMI setting from AUTO to anything else will fix the issue.

Of course it makes sense to first check if your device fully supports and uses HDMI2.0, if so enable it otherwise disable it on the TV.

Now, when coming from sleep the sound shouls always be active.

What exactly happened and why does it work?

HDMI2.0 mainly provides a higher bandwidth, so all quality HDMI1.4 cables and equippment will work just fine.

But to make it work both ends must use the same standards.

Some chipsets like Nvidia like to negotiate the standards for best possible performance.

This goes something like that:

Graphic system is activated

Check for HDMI connection, multiple standards supported

Set resolution as reported from the TV

Enable sound

Check HDMI standard and if HDMI is supported switch from 1.4 to 2.0.

The last step here is what messes things up.

It seems that even if the standard remains unchanged the sound will be initialised again but fails to know where to go.

If the HDMI settings on the TV are fixed instead of being set to AUTO it goes like that:

Graphic system is activated

Check for HDMI connection, fixed setting

Switch to the set HDMI standard

Set resolution as reported from the TV

Enable sound

A tiny difference in the approach and the sound finally knows where to go ;)

Special case, amplifiers...

For Nvidia the same problem happens if you have an amp connected for better sound.

There are different ways to connect an amp these days.

Sometimes the amp passes the HDMI signla through and hijacks the audio signal only.

Sometimes you use a dedicated output from your device for the amp.

And in rare cases you feed the amp back from the TV with a dedicated amp output.

The possible options for failure are a bit higher as you can imagine by the number of combinations.

Either way the approach is the same.

If you can change the HDMI settings on the amp then check there first.

After all it could be that the amp tries to negotiate the right standard.

If not then again check on the monitor/TV and change the HDMI setting from auto to something else.

If you use a dedicated sound output on your device, even if it is optical, then please make sure it is set as the default audio output.

Even better, if you only use the amp for sound and make no use of the sound coming over HDMI then disable the sound for HDMI completely.

This way the HDMI output won't get priority or be mixed in, which can often cause crackling sound.