Windows 10: Output Devices Suddenly Merged Into One

[Windows 10 Home v. 10.0.19043] I built this PC a few months ago and its audio devices have been behaving themselves just fine up until today. It's a typical setup - a pair of speakers are plugged into the motherboard at the back, and a pair of headphones and a mic into the case at the front, all by 3.5mm jack. Using the default Realtek High Definition Audio drivers, Windows has always recognised these correctly, and I've been able to switch between them easily from the taskbar icon. However, this morning, with no clear reason, the heaphones device suddenly disappeared, leaving only the Speakers device, with no option to switch to another. Even more confusingly, while using this Speakers device, by default, all sound goes to my headphones. If I unplug them, the sound is sent to the speakers, then it goes back to the headphones when I plug them back in again. The audio device is still labelled as "Speakers" regardless. I did nothing to prompt this change - I was just playing Star Citizen and watching things on YouTube. There was no Windows or driver update, I installed no new software, nothing. Just... suddenly only one audio device. Attempting to troubleshoot/fix this issue, I've unplugged both the headphones and speakers and plugged them back in, tried several restarts, checked for Windows and driver updates - everything is already up-to-date - checked the Realtek High Definition Audio device is still there in Device Manager - it is - and run Windows' sound problems troubleshooter - which, of course, solved nothing. Anyone know what's happened and how to fix it? I just want Windows to recognise that my headphones and speakers are separate devices again, so that I can switch between them without having to unplug them.

:)

 

audio output device

My surface pro seven suddenly does not have sound. It says there is no audio output driver. I talked to someone at microsoft and they had me uninstall and reinstall updates. I cannot reinstall an audio driver because the device manager list of devices does
not even show sound as an option anymore. The rep I talked to finally said he had no more suggestions.

I am not sure how to fix this or why it happened.

 

No Audio Output Device is Installed

Hi,

You will need to select Windows 8 from the drop down list while installing the driver in compatibility mode.

I would suggest you to try setting the speaker as default audio output by following the steps below and check if it helps.

1. Right click on the sound icon on the right bottom corner of the taskbar.

2. Select "playback devices".

3. If "speaker" is not set as the default device, highlight it and click "set as default".

5. Save the changes.

Let us know the result.

 

Company merging on the horizon

The Inq. talks about some major company merging that could take place this summer. What is likely to happen is summarized in the following list:

• eBay is in talks with Microsoft and Yahoo regarding cooperation and perhaps even a combination
• Oracle, SAP and perhaps Novell might be "up to something"
• Telecoms will surely continue to be a big source of deal-making and not just through attempts to build scale and geographic coverage. Deals such as Sky-Easynet and eBay-Skype suggest that combinations of services could be the way forward.
• Sun might be bought by Fujitsu Siemens, HP or Dell

Source: The Inq