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Audio Drivers

Anonymous
2021-03-19T08:39:23+00:00

I started having issues with my sound, and I believe audio drivers, yesterday. I turned the laptop off over night the day before sat it on the side like usual and opened it up yesterday morning to see there was an issue. We seem to have tried everything so far to fix it.

I'm on task 5 of "Fix Sound Problems in Windows" https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fix-sound-problems-in-windows-10-73025246-b61c-40fb-671a-2535c7cd56c8 and got to the point where I need to go to the manufacturers website (I have a 3 month old Microsoft Surface Laptop 3) and install the drivers manually off the website. But the available driver downloads don't seem to correspond with my OS. Why would this be and would you be able to assist? Could this be why it is not automatically updating? 

Surface | Surface Laptop | Sound and camera

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-22T02:11:23+00:00

    After lots of trial and error I figured out the solution.  This error is 100% caused by the March 2021 update for Surface Laptop 3.

    The audio driver is not under the expected Sound area in Device Manager, for some reason it's under System Devices, once I found that out it was pretty straight forward.

    Edit: First try this.

    • Right click the speaker icon on the taskbar and then select Troubleshoot sound problems. This will start the Get Help app which will scan for and fix the issue.
    • If that doesn't work try the steps below:

    1. Open Device Manager, expand System Devices

    2. Look for and right-click on Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) Audio Controller

    3. Select Properties then the Driver tab

    1. Click "Uninstall Device", when prompted also click the checkbox to "Delete the driver software for this device"

    5. Do the same for Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) OED

    6. Restart your Surface Laptop.

    Should now reinstall the correct drivers and also auto install a new RealTek audio console from the Microsoft Store.  If the driver does not install then go back to the Device Manager and click Action > Scan for Hardware Changes.

    Hope this helps someone.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-22T00:51:10+00:00

    I have the exact same problem with my Microsoft Surface Laptop 3, it happened after the latest Firmware update a few days ago.

    - Installing the latest firmware or older firmware does not help.  Audio still does not work.

    • Surface Diagnostic Toolkit just skips past the audio test and reports no problem.
    • Windows Troubleshooter does not help, ends with a "
    • Windows Device Manager does not show any input or output audio devices.  Scanning for hardware changes does not help.
    • Windows System Information does not show any items under "Sound Device"
    • "Audio Device" is enabled in UEFI.

    I believe this is now a firmware and not a driver issue.  The driver won't work because it can't detect the audio device.  (RealTek or Intel).

    OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home

    Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042

    Other OS Description  Not Available

    OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

    System Name SURFACE

    System Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

    System Model Surface Laptop 3

    System Type x64-based PC

    System SKU Surface_Laptop_3_1867:1868

    Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1035G7 CPU @ 1.20GHz, 1498 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

    BIOS Version/Date Microsoft Corporation 9.102.140, 2020-11-16

    SMBIOS Version 3.3

    Embedded Controller Version 255.255

    BIOS Mode UEFI

    BaseBoard Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

    BaseBoard Product Surface Laptop 3

    BaseBoard Version Not Available

    Platform Role Slate

    Secure Boot State On

    PCR7 Configuration Elevation Required to View

    Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

    System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32

    Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1

    Locale United States

    Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.19041.844"

    Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time

    Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB

    Total Physical Memory 7.60 GB

    Available Physical Memory 3.70 GB

    Total Virtual Memory 16.1 GB

    Available Virtual Memory 12.0 GB

    Page File Space 8.50 GB

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  2. Barb Bowman 80,700 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-03-19T10:02:20+00:00

    Use the 18362 msi file. That is the latest. Microsoft hasn't posted any newer files. Not sure when/if they will. Try the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4037239/surface-fix-common-surface-problems-using-surface-diagnostic-toolkit which can often fix most software and driver issues (it pulls drivers down from Windows Update).

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