Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of LockDown32
LockDown32Flag for United States of America

asked on

Windows 10 Sound Driver Issue

I have a Windows 10 (1703) Professional computer (Dell Optiplex 3050) with a very strange driver issue. There is a red X on the speaker down by the clock and further investigation yields a yellow exclamation on a "High Definition Audio Controller" in device manager. So it is some kind of driver issue. There is no "Sound and Game Controller" category in device manager.

   I put in a clean hard drive and loaded the same version of Windows 10 with the same drivers downloaded from Dell. The drivers are fine. There is a "Sound and Game Controllers" category in Device Manager and under it are 1) Intel Display Audio and 2) Realtek Audio.

   I put my original hard drive back in and the Sound and Game Controller category disappear and the unknown re-appears. I have tried re-installing both drivers several time to no avail. I have tried pointing the yellow exclamation to the downloaded drivers and it says the best driver (unknown) is already installed.

   I have been doing hardware for thirty years and this one has me stumped.  Anyone have any ideas?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Ramin
Ramin

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of LockDown32

ASKER

Been there and done that a million times. Un-installed every driver from Program and Features. Un-installed the device from device manager. Rebooted. No joy. Re-installed driver. No joy.

As mentioned if I install Windows from scratch then installed the exact same drivers they work. Something is corrupt  (not unusual for Windows 10). As mentioned above on a clean install it shows up as: There is a "Sound and Game Controllers" category in Device Manager and under it are 1) Intel Display Audio and 2) Realtek Audio.

Who did you call at Microsoft and what is their number John? Sure sounds like corruption to me....
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Here are a couple screen shotsUser generated imageUser generated image
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
I am going to have to keep point out that both screen shots are from 1703. Same version of Windows. Same driver. Same computer. The "working one" was a fresh install so the drivers do work with 1703.....
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
If you notice one has no "Sound and Game Controllers" and a system device problem. That is the problem child

The other one has "Sound and Game Controllers" and no bad system device. That is the fresh install. It works.

A repair install might work but I am more interested in trying to fix the corruption and get the driver working.
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Yes. That is what I am talking about. That is the problem. I found the issue. In looking at that specific "warning" device it gave a "service failed to start" error. I went in to services.msc and could not find that service, So...

I went in to the registry and found it. The startup type was set to 4 (disabled). I changed it to 2 (automatic) and rebooted. At that point Sound and Game Controllers showed up in device manager and everything started working.

I know that know one will ever know how it got disable but (and this has happened before) why couldn't I find it in services.msc?
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
I would say that is a possibility but the fresh install of 1703 with the exact same driver works.......
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Well.... this might tie in to why the service doesn't show up in services. It looks like hdaudbus is a Microsoft system service. That might be why it was under "Syetem Devices". "Uninstalling" it from device manager doesn't turely uninstall it and/or change the startup type and there is nothing in Programs and Features to un-install. It appears as though it is a system service that comes with Windows and it can't be un-installed. It appears as though the whole problem was that something disabled it and with it disabled the Realtek Sound would not be recognized either.
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Well... back to my original observation... the drivers work fine on a fresh install. I would think if it were a compatibility issue Microsoft would have disabled it right off the bat. Only time will tell but since I have re-enable the service things seem to be running smoothly.

I would be more of the opinion that "something" disabled the service and as is true with a lot of "oddities" with Windows we will probably never know what or why. If it ain't broke....
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Only time will tell
Thank you and good luck. I have been fussing with my Conexant card since V1703 first came out (a week or so ago) and only (finally appear) to have righted it now.
I agree John. Windows 10 was not a real good initial release and for some reason it doesn't seem to be getting a lot better....
Avatar of Ramin
Ramin

I'm glad I could help,  Thanks.