Sound issues. Going insane, tried everything. help!

By sound devices, I assume you are you referring to Device Manager, not Windows Control Panel > Sound ?

You have rebooted after installing the Realtek drivers, yes ?

With the driver installed it should be showing in Device Manager. If not, there may be a problem with the sound chip on your motherboard ?

May being the operative word. Not saying it is faulty, but can't think of another reason atm.

• There is also a potential for conflict between the AMD Audio and Realtek drivers, so you may want to uninstall the AMD audio if you

don't intended to use HDMI for speakers built into a monitor/TV  to see if that helps.

Using both HDMI, and Realtek audio together doesn't really work very well. Not on my system anyway, as it tends to be difficult to get the

two audio sources to balance. The speakers on my monitor barely let out a peep compared to my 5:1 speaker setup.

[EDIT: I was just reminded when looking in Device Manager that good old hand holding Win10 reinstalls my Nvidia HD audio

when I uninstall it. Thanks for nothing Win10... ]

• There should also be a shortcut to the Realtek HD Audio Manager in Windows Control Panel which will open the

user interface that lets you select your EQ, and other settings.

A better way to access the Realtek Audio Manager if there is no Realtek speaker icon in the notification area of the Taskbar already

is to enable it by going to Taskbar settings > Select Which Icons Appear on the Taskbar

- In Control Panel > Sound > Playback tab, Speakers designates your Realtek audio. Make this the default if you want to use

the audio outputs from motherboard to speakers rather than the AMD audio HDMI/Displayport speakers in your monitor.

Not applicable to USB headset/headphones, but...

There are other settings in the Realtek Audio Manager that allow you to separate the front panel outputs from the back panel outputs.

These options allow the speakers to be disabled if you plug an 3.5mm jack for headphones in the front panel.

You can also set it up so both speakers and headphone operate simultaneously.

• It is a drag when the audio chip fails. I had it happen on a six month old mobo one time some years ago.

Decided it was a lot easier to install a cheap sound card than pull the machine apart to RMA the mobo, which was my

only option with a 'custom' built machine. Not much fun having to return to point of sale for warranty service either.

.

I have tried those steps multiple times. Realtek not showing up

Ok, i got the headsets working.  Still no on board audio showing up.  Realtek is the driver for my soundcard. I installed the driver, it shows up in installed programs under apps.  Just nothing at all showing up in sound devices except AMD high definition audio.  Guess ill never have sound.  Two weeks into having this new build and it's frustrating to know that spending 1,500 on a rig means I might not have sound. great

"I have tested a USB headset"

USB headsets should have their own driver. The Realtek audio only works on the audio jack outputs on the

front and back panels of your machine.

"my monitor gets sound through the built in speakers."

The AMD audio driver is for when you use an HDMI or Displayport output to a monitor or TV with built in speakers.

This would also disable the Realtek driver when in use.

If you look in Control Panel > Sound I believe you will see your monitors speakers are set to default.

Having said that, your Realtek audio should still show in Device Manager if the drivers are installed, even if not

designated as the default audio in Sound.

The audio chip on motherboards have been know to fail as well.

.

Hi Nick,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I suggest you to try the following methods and check:

Method 1: Enable Hidden audio devices.

1. In the search box on the taskbar, type Device Manager and then select Device Manager.
2. On the device manager click on View tab and select Show hidden devices.
3. Check if any Realtek device is available.
4. If the Realtek audio device appears as hidden or disabled, please enable it and set as default sound device.

Method 2: Remove the Audio driver and reinstall.

Open Device manager.

Look for a device marked with an !

Click it to select that device.

Under the View menu item > select Devices by connection and look at the parent – this should be called “Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel SST) Audio Controller or AMD High definition audio.

Right-click the “Intel High Definition Audio Controller” and choose “Uninstall device”.

You will get a popup window with a checkbox asking if you want to remove the driver. Check the box.

Once the uninstall completes, go to the Action menu and choose “Scan for hardware changes.”

This “Scan” step may need to be performed several times.

Success will be when you see the Realtek High Definition Audio device re-appear.

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking Yes

Thanks,

Suman.B

Microsoft Community – Moderator