Windows 10: Sound - speakers/headphones - stopped working on ASUS laptop

With no intervening "event" - no new hardware or software or drivers installed Following the installation of a Cisco VPN client, the sound stopped working on my ASUS laptop.

There is a red X over the speaker icon at the bottom right of the computer. Mousing over the icon, one sees "no speakers or headphones are plugged in."

The computer had Conexant audio, plus AMD hi-def audio (I don't have the computer with me now, so this could be an inexact listing).

First thing I tried was to update the drivers, but both were up to date. I then uninstalled the Conexant via the device manager and restarted. Upon restart, the red X was gone, but I was still not getting sound. I could adjust the sound properties by clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray, but there was still no sound.

I believe I tried this again, and upon restart, the Conexant was gone from Device Manager, leaving just the AMD hi-def. I tried changing the driver for this to the generic Windows hi-def audio driver, but that didn't work.

I tried just about every trick I could google up:

• Download next drivers from AMD/ASUS/Conexant's sites
• Run sfc /scannow from an admin command prompt (everything was intact)
• Restart the sound services, and make sure they were on automatic start
• Seemingly a billion computer restarts
• Many I can't remember now

None have worked. And again, Conexant had been the default audio, then disappeared (why?). Now when I go to my "Sound" from the control property, AMD hi-def is the only thing showing in the playback tab, and it says "not plugged in" with a red down arrow next to it. The system tray speaker icon has a red X over it and left-clicking on it launches troubleshooting, which (un)helpfully tells me the sound isn't plugged in, after "churning and churning" for minutes.

The optical drive is the only thing I'm comfortable "opening up" on a laptop! Is there a chance that MAYBE something somehow DID become unplugged internally?

The only "bag of tricks" angle I've not tried is a system restore to four days ago, before this condition started.

Ideas?

:)

 

Headphone jack not working

I have a 2 year old Asus laptop with Windows 10 installed. The headphones I have been using since I got the computer suddenly stopped working. The headphones still work, and sound comes out the computer, so it seems as though the problem is with the headphone
jack or driver. Right now in sounds, only the speakers are showing and there is no driver for headphones. Should there be one?

 

audio problems with windows 10 upgrade

upgraded to windows 10 on my laptop. Internal speakers stopped working, while my headphones worked fine. Uninstalled driver and restarted laptop - internal speakers started working, but headphones stopped working. Headphones no longer show up in sound
file of control panel. Can anyone please help

 

Hi, system restore is the obvious way to go. (Time vs a fix). However that wouldn't explain why.
If that doesn't work, then could be you have a hardware problem.

Have a look at your Update History if you've not, and check nothing is listed in the timescale of interest.

- Update History might explain that, assuming sthg went wrong.

Do you have that reinstalled again now?

Are there any yellow triangles visible in Device Manager?

I wonder if you have a lower level problem.. pci drivers perhaps...

Have you tried the Troubleshooter?




Something quite different that you could try:
Download, create and boot from Kyhi's very useful boot disk (from the top of the Software and Apps section here.
If you have sound then, that should eliminate hardware problems.

 

Okay, some comments and questions:

• Where in the Update History do I look (is this Windows Update?)
• What is that "that" about which you're asking if I have it reinstalled again?
• No yellow triangles in DM
• Troubleshooter was useless. It told me that the speakers were disconnected. And once when I had updated a driver, it told me I needed to reboot.
• I did read up on the Kyhi boot ISO you mentioned. Apologies, but what do I then do - boot from it and it tests all the peripherals including sound?

Thanks.

 

You are supposed to boot the Kyhi boot disk and manually test if you have sound in there. That would eliminate possible hardware or other connection issues. If sound works when booted from Kyhi disk, the issue is in you instance of Windows.

 

Hi, Update History- bottom link:




'that' - sorry, lost in editing the post- referred to Conexant driver

Kyhi's boot disk will give you a cut-down form of Win 10 with lots of utilities. So you can use it like Win 10 - don't forget its start menu- and try your speakers etc. As it's independent of what's on your internal disk, if there's a problem, it's not there.

 

I did download the Kyhi x64 iso to a thumb drive, and went into the laptop BIOS to make that the primary boot device. But I never succeeded in getting it to boot off of that. What did I do wrong?

I then did a system restore to just before the sound problems started, and when the laptop rebooted I was having the same problems. So I undid the restore.

The only other material piece of information I omitted here was that the "last" thing that happened before the sound problems started was the installation of a Cisco VPN client on the machine, allowing remote logins from the machine to a work computer. I will fix my original post to reflect this.

 

Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Tutorials
These instructions may help you to create a bootable drive- but of course, use Kyhi's iso.

If you simply copied the iso to the drive, that won't work.

Or if you have a DVD drive, burn it to a DVD.

 

Apologies for continued confusion - where from the tutorial do I instead use Kyhi's iso?

Since I have the iso on the USB Flash Drive already, is there a shortcut I can use to make the USB bootable, and then just copy the iso that's already on the drive into an appropriate spot?

 

See Option 2 using Rufus.

 

Okay, sorry, one, I hope, final question regarding this bootable USB. Is it possible to partition the flash drive, so that the small amount of data remains on it, but there's a second bootable partition? And if so how. And I confess that I have not googled this, which I usually do before asking.

 

Suggest you keep it simple and make one that works- all you're trying to do is prove sound can work on your hardware.

See also
Reinstall Windows 10 from DVD but no DVD drive - Windows 10 Forums
Post #5

There is another current thread where someone in part started with similar sound issues, tried a boot disk (sound worked) but probably has other underlying causes for Windows not working given the range of other symptoms.

 

Yeah, I'm feeling the white flag calling. Hardware problems actually DO occur from time to time, and my inkling is that this is one. Will leave the thread open until I have it checked out at my trusted local repair shop.

 

Update:

Good news is that I was right. Bad news is that it somehow IS a hardware problem. The sound chip somehow failed - after less than two years - and a compatible motherboard is going to take forever for the shop to find - they have been pinging their suppliers and whatnot, and for whatever reasons, it's not something they can get in a day or a week.

https://www.amazon.com/External-VAND...qid=1521154554 was something I found that appears to do the trick, faster - and much cheaper! - than waiting for a new motherboard. Basically, my wife uses the computer sound for watching movies and listening through headphones, that's all.

Based on the problem I mentioned, will this item solve the problem? I assume that, even with a malfunctioning sound chip, this item will allow her to listen to sound from headphones?

If so, great!

If not, can a similar small/cheap/effective plugin be recommended, that will allow her to use headphones with the computer?