Do you ever manually disable your mobo basic speakers?

Magnus7 · Aug 10, 2023

i'm just curious you know, most motherboards especially older pc come with a basic audio chip to drive ur internal speakers. then most ppl get other speakers. whether or not they automatically disable when u select ur new speakers, do you... out of completeness or OCDness manually disable them again in device manager-both under 'Audio Inputs & Outputs' and under 'Sound, Game, Video Controllers'

johnlgalt · Aug 10, 2023

I disable any outputs I never use. I don't have mobo-specific speakers, though, but I do have 3x 4K gaming monitors and a 2K in portrait orienation, all of which that the system determines have an audio output and so 'helpfully' assigns drivers to and enabled them.

Of course, it's not really OCD in my case - Windows 11 notoriously likes to try to also be helpful by selecting an audio output - and I have 3 different ones I use. But if the monitor audio outputs are left enabled, invariably when I disconnect a BT headset or earbuds, it swaps right over to the one of the monitor outputs. Mind you, the monitors have audio output (aka headphone jack) but no actual speakers. But Windows 11 still thinks they can be used and tries to swap to them if they are enabled.

So, I disable all of them lol.

TairikuOkami · Aug 11, 2023

I have disabled everything I can in BIOS, onboard soundcard, serial ports.
I have also disabled bunch of devices in device manager to prevent lags.
It should free IRQ resources, while you do not use them Windows does.

PerpetualCycle · Aug 11, 2023

I disable everything I do not use. I have speakers that take digital USB and optical inputs. The speakers have its own DAC. The USB completely bypasses the on-board motherboard audio. I imagine the same is true with anyone using an external DAC for their speakers.

hdmi · Aug 12, 2023

I leave it enabled just in case I need to hear sound through my laptop's internal speakers, albeit when I'm outside on the road I'll typically hang on to my old AK240 with my Westone ES60 CIEMs for listening to music.

Winuser · Aug 12, 2023

As far as I know none of my desktops have a internal speaker. I do use the internal speakers on my laptop.

Winuser · Aug 12, 2023

TairikuOkami said:
It should free IRQ resources

Is that still a problem with today's computers? It's been years since I had a IRQ problem.

johnlgalt · Aug 14, 2023

Older desktops also had those internal PC speakers that beeped for BIOS settings, etc. Mine only has a tiny jumper to add said speaker if I want to lol.

Gotta save space, I suppose....

stormy13 · Aug 14, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Older desktops also had those internal PC speakers that beeped for BIOS settings, etc. Mine only has a tiny jumper to add said speaker if I want to lol.

Gotta save space, I suppose....

Bought a bag of 10 of them from Amazon years ago for something like $2.00. Still have 6 or 7 left.

pparks1 · Aug 14, 2023

Magnus7 said:
i'm just curious you know, most motherboards especially older pc come with a basic audio chip to drive ur internal speakers. then most ppl get other speakers. whether or not they automatically disable when u select ur new speakers, do you... out of completeness or OCDness manually disable them again in device manager-both under 'Audio Inputs & Outputs' and under 'Sound, Game, Video Controllers'

I've never had a motherboard with a built in soundcard that played through any internal speaker on the motherboard. AFAIK, that onboard speaker was only there for BIOS boot alarm tones.

BrianInEngland · Aug 14, 2023

pparks1 said:
I've never had a motherboard with a built in soundcard that played through any internal speaker on the motherboard. AFAIK, that onboard speaker was only there for BIOS boot alarm tones.

Same here, never known a board to have actual on-board sound output

johnlgalt · Aug 15, 2023

stormy13 said:
View attachment 67793

Bought a bag of 10 of them from Amazon years ago for something like $2.00. Still have 6 or 7 left.

Yup - I could have gotten those, but I really had no need for it, so I didn't put one in my case.

Dru2 · Aug 15, 2023

johnlgalt said:
Older desktops also had those internal PC speakers that beeped for BIOS settings, etc. Mine only has a tiny jumper to add said speaker if I want to lol.

Gotta save space, I suppose....

Yeah, some newer boards (well as far back as 2010?) come with those tiny jumper speakers. I too don't install them.

pparks1 said:
I've never had a motherboard with a built in soundcard that played through any internal speaker on the motherboard. AFAIK, that onboard speaker was only there for BIOS boot alarm tones.

BrianInEngland said:
Same here, never known a board to have actual on-board sound output

Same here as well. And yes, that tiny speaker was only for the BIOS.

Magnus7 · Aug 16, 2023

oh yeah pparks they do exist, like older office pc sets etc.
like for eg. the mobo i was referring to in this post is on one of my older pc's, a specific version of a HM65 express (desktop) chipset. well i wouldn't call it a soundcard, but probably an audio chip somewhere. it's oem drivers tell me it's some old realtek chip. here, u guys can take a look if it interests u; the yellow and white connectors on the top left are the front speakers/internal speakers connectors. i don't know where the audio chip is, didn't bother to find out. or do u think it's from the cpu chip? like johngalt, i mainly leave them disabled in device manager, but also had the physically wires disconnected.

EDIT
Sry, it's HM61 not 65.

johnlgalt · Aug 17, 2023

Thanks, @Magnus7 - I was beginning to think I was mis-remembering something as I get older lol.

Your picture sparked my memory - there were even guides on how to do it - like this one:

How to Disable or Enable the Computer Internal Speaker

Steps on how to disable or enable the internal speaker on your computer.

www.computerhope.com

3. Expand Non plug and play Drivers by clicking the plus and double-click Beep.

4. In the Beep properties window, click the Driver tab.

Exactly as I remember it now.

Though the article was last updated in 2020, it is originally much, much older. I think (this part of) the instructions are for ~~XP or Vista.~~
Apparently Windows 7:

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-disable-system-beep-windows-7/