No sound over HDMI

[The Stig 2.0]

I want to connect my Laptop (Lenovo Y570) to my Sony Amp (STR-DA2400ES) using the HDMI port on my Laptop.
I use a PC monitor as a "TV" which is connected using the HDMI OUT of the amp and a DVI-plug to convert HDMI signal to DVI.

Before I bought a new HDMI cable solely for this purpose, I tested the connection using the hdmi cable from the TV.
Connection was established and the Laptop recognized the amp as an audio device and played audio through the amp. (of course i had no video feed as i used the tv cable).

So now I bought a new cable and tried to set it up again but this time the Laptop did not recognize the amp as an audio device and sound is played through my laptop speakers, even though the picture feed is perfect.
Any idea where the problem lies? I know audio over HDMI is supported by the laptop as it played audio before, so that cannot be the problem...
Hopefully this issue can be resolved...

Thanks in advance

[TJ99]

Switch the cables around, using the same one you did before, maybe?

[chrisc4290]

The HDCP signal does not have continuity between the source and destination. HDMI sockets are NOT hot-pluggable. They can be electrically damaged. Switch everything off, wait 5 mins, connect the HDMI cable and try again.

[TJ99]

Not quite true. The HDMI standard is hot-swappable. There's even a separate pin (19) just for detecting hot plugging. It's only recommended that you turn the devices off in case your cables or equipment aren't up to standards.

[The Stig 2.0]

I might have narrowed down the problem: This evening I turned the monitor off at the plug and then connected the PC. This time however, the sound came through my living room speakers. So far so good. Then I turned the screen on, whilst leaving the sound playing and the sound was routed to my laptop speakers again.
To sum up:

• Video feed but no sound when samsung monitor is used as TV
• Sound plays through living room speakers when monitor is switched off

Could it be that because I use a DVI/HDMI plug at the monitor, that this somehow interferes with my audio routing through? can this be fixed?

[Quantum Theory]

Probably comms between screen and source (laptop). Screen says it's DVI with no sound, so laptop does not stream sound via HDMi.

Solution... Get a screen with HDMi

[The Stig 2.0]

Could it be that my monitor is not HDCP enabled and therefore blocking a "true HDMI signal" coming from a laptop for example
(the monitor works with all other components, but then these use an analog connection to the amp and it then converts that to a digital signal to use the HDMI out connection...)

[TJ99]

Did you get it sorted? Because to me it sounds like you just have HDMI audio passthrough enabled on the amp/AVR. When the monitor is on, the AVR detects a connected device and passes the audio stream on untouched. The laptop can probably sense you're using a DVI converter (which doesn't support audio), my desktop pc does this, and then plays audio through local speakers.

Try looking in the AVR's settings for something like HDMI audio passthrough, bitstream passthrough or something similar and disable that, see if it works.

[chrisc4290]

Not quite true. The HDMI standard is hot-swappable. There's even a separate pin (19) just for detecting hot plugging. It's only recommended that you turn the devices off in case your cables or equipment aren't up to standards.

A fair amount of equipment sold a few years back when HDMI started becoming popular did not have pin 19 connected. One such device was a Philips PFL42 TV which came with an addendum pasted in the user manual warning against inserting a HDMI plug when the TV was on. I replaced two input circuits in TVs that would detect the presence of a HDMI signal but would not display a signal. I note my Samsung TV has it connected, so I was probably being a bit cautious.

Must say the OPs original query is quite peculiar

[TJ99]

So you don't agree that it's just the receiver passing audio through instead of decoding and playing through speakers? Because he says it works fine when the monitor is off...

That's the only thing I could think of...

[randomwalsh]

did you right click on the volume icon in the taskbar and ensure the playback device is set to hdmi?