Windows 10 cannot render audio after a particular time of not using an audio required file

Question

So, this happened suddenly. My laptop started not producing audio output whatsoever; I mean from windows' sounds to local files to online Youtube videos; Youtube says "Cannot render audio, error". So, after a couple of restarts and tests, I found out that the audio works normally on every startup, but if I don't use anything that has an audio output for a specific amount of time, all my PC's audio output gets shutdown, and I have to restart the laptop in order to start the same loop again. I have tried a couple of fixes including:

1. uninstalling the audio drivers (intel audio driver)
2. checking for windows updates (I am up-to-date always)
3. uninstalling recent windows updates to test if they were the cause
4. re-installing my realtek audio driver, and applying dolby atmos on top of it
5. using the sound troubleshooter, and disabling audio enhancement

Nothing works!! These are the audio drivers that I currently have:

1. Intel(R) Display Audio
2. NVIDIA High Definition Audio
3. NVIDA Virtual Audio Device (Wave Extensible) (WDM)
4. Realtek(R) Audio

Answer 1

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

After a lot of tests, I came to the conclusion that the problem was with the Realtek Audio driver. But now, the problem has escalated, and I am pretty much clueless what is going on. But here's what I have done:

1. While the silent period was active, I tried to uninstall all the sound drivers (mentioned above) in device manager, and let them re-install themselves. The sound came back immediately. But again, the sound disappeared after awhile.
2. I, then, completely uninstalled Realtek audio driver and Realtek HD audio driver from my pc. The problem was no longer there. But when my driver booster software searched for new drivers, it found a new audio driver; I downloaded it and installed it. But after that, the problem escalated to the point that the pc doesn't produce sound whatsoever. After a many analyzing, searching, and testing, I found out that when I completely removed the Realtek driver, the Microsoft one was installed to take its place, and the new driver that driver booster wanted to install was from Realtek. So, it was installing a Realtek driver on top of a Microsoft one. That's what rendered the audio useless. I couldn't just uninstall the driver booster update because before that point my laptop's sound was way lower than before because the Realtek driver boosted the sound a lot.
3. Finally, what fixed everything is the following steps: a) uninstalling all sound drivers from the device manager, then letting them re-install themselves b) uninstalling NVIDIA audio driver from the control panel, and re-installing it manually from GeForce Experience c) downloading and installing the latest Realtek HD audio driver using BOTH the 32/64 bit installer, because only the 64 bit made the previous problem in (2) d) downloading and installing the Realtek audio driver from my manufacturer (in my case, it was Lenovo)

• At this point the audio was working just fine, but my Dolby atmos couldn't recognize my headphones to install Dolby for headphones, so what I did was:

e) uninstall the Realtek driver from the device manager, and restarting my laptop. It re-installs itself on startup.

Answer 2

Hi Peter72Ragheb,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for sharing your concern with us today.

I understand that Windows 10 cannot render audio after a particular time of not using an audio required file. I am glad to offer you help on this

issue.

Since you've already tried several approaches, here are a few others you can try again.

Click here to get the link.

And if the link above doesn't work, you could click here to get the solution.

(Disclaimer: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate and safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.)

And If you have solved your problem, please contact me which way you use to solve the problem.

I hope the information provided is useful for you. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support.

Best Regard,

Kevin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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Answer 3

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, I am glad your problem is resolved.

Best Regard,

Kevin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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