Windows 7 and Bose Companion 5 speaker system losing sound intermittently.

Anonymous
2009-10-28T04:45:42+00:00

I'm using the Windows 7 Ultimate RC, bought the full version, just haven't installed yet.  I also am using Bose Companion 5 speakers.  Asus M3A79-T Deluxe motherboard, and an AMD Phenom II processor.  My problem is this, my speakers work for an amount of time, usually less than a day, then all of a sudden they'll stop working, either in the middle of playing World of Warcraft, watching a video, whatever, all of a sudden they just stop working.  The speakers are still listed as default in the sound settings and are still valid in hardware manager, I can unplug the USB and plug it back in and it shows up as working, etc. but no sound comes out until I reboot the computer.  I am not using a hub and have tried different ports, please help.  I've read around and other people are having issues with the AMD cool 'n quiet function acting up, but mine is off by default in bios, and i've also ran the AMD power monitor, both have no effect, I still lose sound completely and randomly.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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Anonymous
2009-12-02T18:54:08+00:00

None of this works ... the problem still exists.  I thought I had it solved in the power settings ... if you go to advanced there's a spot to turn off USB select suspend settings, it worked for 3 days this time before deciding to just shut off again.  Anything you can do to look into all this would be appreciated.

You are seeing a driver problem, and the only real solution is a better sound driver. You should keep checking for driver updates, if you wish to use the devuice in Win 7.

Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-12-31T15:40:38+00:00

    Many thanks to all who have contributed to this chain. I fully understand the reasoning behind using a USB V2.0 port, although my original Vista 64-bit OS that came with my current HP PC didn't have any problems interfacing with the Bose Companion 5. For an otherwise crappy OS, the Bose had no issues. Only when I upgraded the OS to Win-7 Pro did the Bose have an immediate issue. I had done a clean install of Win-7 Pro on a new scratch disk, and retained (at the time) the original Vista OS disk. I could boot either OS disk, and would have perfect performance of the Bose on the Vista OS disk, and the very disappointing functional failure when booting the Win-7 Pro OS disk. To date, no new USB driver has been released for Win-7 Pro. My PC is just old enough that, as far as I can tell thus far, does not have USB V2.0 hardware to support USB V2.0 functionality. The PC came configured full-up with no expansion slots remaining. Plugging in a USB V2.0 external hub into a USB V1.x port obviously is not going to gain anything. It's a clumsy way to do things, but I suppose I could build up another Vista OS disk, and make the PC dual boot. Then, I could enjoy the Bose while booted with Vista.........and not when booted with Win-7 Pro. Functionally, that would work. Practically speaking, absolutely not. For starters, Win-7 Pro boots in a fraction of the time that Vista does, or ever did. I could take a nap waiting for Vista to come up! For troubleshooting of the Bose in the beginning, having both OS disks made sense. In my previous posts, I documented all of the efforts, to include the logical USB configuration changes. At one point, it appeared that things looked optimistic. That didn't last though. My last conversation with Bose brought to light that it was possible that the Bose itself had developed a problem. However, taking into account that the Bose worked flawlessly under the Vista OS pretty well threw that theory out the window. Unfortunately for me, Bose was only able to test the Companion-5 with a Win-7 (Standard/Home??) platform. That worked! Win-7 Pro, unfortunately more money spent on my part that should have bought me more, but ended up giving me less..MUCH less.

    Just to say that I tried it, I'm taking an older platform, installing XP-Pro, and will try the Bose testing again. Surely that won't be USB V2.0 either. But I believe the Bose worked on that platform at the time. If push comes to shove, I'll just have a dedicated PC used for music only. This is starting to sound like a return to the dark ages. But if Microsoft can't fix a functionality that was proven to work flawlessly on a given platform running Vista, but failed to work on Win-7 Pro using all of the same hardware with firmware brought up to date, then I'm not going to cave in and go spend yet more money to buy a new PC, most likely with Win-8 that MAY solve the problem with the Bose. However, no guarantee for anything.  Granted, I would have USB V2.0 or even V3.0. But Win-8? Another unknown! That seems to be the trap nowadays. "Change" that comes out seems to force spending of significantly more money to upgrade hardware, or an OS, or BOTH. Spending more money for "change" sounds like other "change" that's also costing more money, but wasn't supposed to. Swapping out hardware and software every 2-4 years is not my idea of spending money wisely. After all, XP has lasted many years, and is still out there. Why?? It WORKS! Why not stick with something that works, and build on it rather than just reinventing the wheel every couple of years. Whatever happened to forward and backward compatible?? I surely don't see it nowadays in the Microsoft world. On to researching Apple platforms...........

    This may all sound cynical. Maybe that comes from being in the field for 40+ years.........mostly NOT PC's, but REAL computers. Take HP, and go back in history. Don't stop at Compaq. Keep going. It's amazing what you will find. Ahhhhhh the good ol' days..........

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-12-31T13:36:36+00:00

    Hello Dave and a Happy and Prosperious New Year to you and your family

    The Bose Companion 5 needs to run on it's own USB 2 Port.Once I did the install of the new port I haven't had any issues with it since.It now plays Music/Movies etc flawlessly.

    Oh how I love my Bose (insert happy dance here)

    Lee

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-12-31T08:34:29+00:00

    Hi Lee, 

    Which driver did you use to install your USB 2 port?

    BTW Happy New Year.

    Dave

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-10-02T12:06:38+00:00

    I had the exact same issue.I corrected the problem by installing a USB 2 port.The Bose Companion needs to run on its own port.Once I did that I haven't had any issues with it since.Its been a few months now of trouble free sound.

    Hope this helps

    Ocan.

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