Windows 10: Audio vanishes after startup?

I had to reinstall windows 10 after my old hard drive started failing, and my computer has a Creative SB Recon3d PCIe sound card, so I had to re-install the driver files/program associated with it. After that, everything worked fine, but even after this was done, I have an audio issue that happens now and then

Occasionally, when windows boots up to my desktop, for whatever reason, sound refuses to happen; I disconnected my audio speakers, cleaned them from top to bottom, even cleaned the sound card, blew out my case of all dust build-up, and wiped down whatever dust was clinging on with a small q-tip with a bit of isopropyl alcohol (and making sure no residue was leftover), and made sure all audio ports were free of dust. I checked my device manager to see if the sound card drivers were being recognized, and they are. I then made sure my speakers were set to default audio and communication device. I even went into the software control panel for my sound card, and made sure my audio wasn't switched to headphone mode, or switched to 5.1 surround sound instead of stereo. Seemingly nothing I do (I even reinstalled the sound card drivers one time, no dice) works, short of shutdown and restarting of my computer. when I do that, then I get audio back

I do not know the exact cause on how this happens, but if it happens again, is there a way for me to track this to the culprit so I can fix it once and for all? Or is this a windows 10 quirk?

:)

 

Can't get GPU-Z to start with Windows 8.1 startup

I'm not sure how to do that. Could you list the steps for a noob?

 

Can not record audio.

Hi,

We suggest that you run troubleshooting for Audio Recording by following these steps:

• Type troubleshooting on the search box.
• Click View all.
• Select Recording Audio.
• Follow the steps to troubleshoot Recording Audio.

Let us know if you need further help.

 

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Then I may have to get one. Any suggestions on a specific card?

Do note that this "vanishing card" has NEVER happened before until I got my netbook back up and running about 6-8 months of no usage.