I'm using the onboard audio on my motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. I have the latest drivers. Windows 7 is fully up to date. My PC is connected to my surround sound system via HDMI. I had no problems with my laptop last night running the exact same setup.
There's an odd stuttering effect about every second or so when any piece of audio is running, like the Windows welcome sound, youtube videos or games.
Thank you! His suggestions didn't work (they were already unchecked). I'll try your suggestion later.
One question, though: I have two Audio Devices. The VIA High Definition Audio that is the motherboard driver, and AMD High Definition Audio (from the 7950 GPU). I still get sound if I disconnect the VIA device, but since my HDMI cable is connected to the GPU it's that device that seems to be controlling audio. Will disabling the MB audio drivers and getting generic ones really change anything then?
Also, I should note that the stuttering is only evident when playing videos and music and using Netflix etc. As soon as I launch a proper game (like Crysis 3 or The Witcher 2), the sound is back to normal. I can't get surround sound to work either.
Setup is so: PC - HDMI - Surround sound system - HDMI - TV.