I’ll try to make this as short an explanation as possible because I really don’t know where to even begin. I got a computer, it had Win7, I got a different computer, they both have win10 now, the computer in question I gave to my father. For a while, he did not use it because we didn’t have a surge protector, HDMI cord, and some other things.
Now here’s the prob… We’re trying to use it now and the audio… just… won’t work. We’ve tried digging trough drivers, using different sound cards we had laying around vs onboard… etc. Troubleshooting brought up the “Both Windows Audio and Windows Audio Backend something something must be running” but both are working in the services. I’m at a loss as to what could possible be wrong. It doesnt matter what we plug in, it just won’t play sound. I’ll need your help telling me what other information I’ll need to give.
Here’s the specs:
Asus P8Z77-V LX Mobo (very light usage)
3470 i5 CPU
Radeon 8870 HD or something like that (the labeling sucks but it’s the Radeon that came out the same time as the GTX 760)
8GBs of… oh god, it’s 1600Mhz RAM but I don’t remember more about it than that
Cooler Master 850W PSU
SSD for the OS, Win10 (pretty much fresh install)
Update the BIOS
Format the computer
install the asus drivers
profit.
There are just too many variables when it comes to drivers. Once you start installing different sound cards with different drivers, then everything goes down hill very fast.
You could also try safe mode to see if sound works with the default windows driver
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The easiest way to get rid of all of these problems is to get a USB DAC. Most of them don't need any special software to be installed. They just work.
Put a magnet in it and see if it explodes. It'll be funny.
Do you think purging ALL sound drivers from the system and reinstalling the Asus drivers might get something to work? I don't think it's a BIOS issue and I'd rather not take that step yet as it's one of the few things I've never done with a computer.
We'll test in safe mode in the meantime.
It is Realtek audio and at times that has given me fits in the past especially with a fresh install of everything onto a pc. Do you even have the latest audio drivers installed? Also if they are not working have you though of reverting back to older ones?
Yes, there is a method to my madness. Although my madness is based on anecdotal evidence, so be ready.
With regards to the drivers. I have purged hundreds if not thousands of drivers on computers. For what ever fucking reason it messes something up. The computer will eventually start to blue screen on rare occasions, and sometimes the system will freeze.
The system just never works quite right after purging the drivers.
I might just be a masochist, but i personally feel and have experienced far better results by simply biting the bullet and doing a full reinstall.
As for the bios
I always recommend updating the bios.
1: it should always be up to date
2: on some very obscure off chance the bios has shit the bed, an update will generally correct the problem.
Its just one of those steps that I have always done that makes things work a little bit better.
as you already tried other sound cards, seems likely it is windows problem and not hardware
Quick test to confirm would be boot a live Linux from usb/disc. If sound works in there it will def be windows issue. If still no sound, even a cheap usb device should work without drivers needed
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regular issue when upgrading to win 10 from 7 or 8 . See if you can find updated audio drivers for your device. At least try the win8 versions to see if they work at all. I have had to nuke the stock realtek drivers to get my asus ones to work.
So it turns out I don't have a live disc for Linux on hand (just an install disc) and trying to download and install the driver for the Mobo gave us this error... wtf?
I'm sick of dealing with this computer. Time for a poll; do you guys think I should just reinstall the OS, update the BIOS, or both? As it is right now I want the quickest solution possible and there's no loss of data as we haven't even installed anything in the OS yet. Like I said this is a mostly fresh install.
