How to correct missing sound

Question

The sound on my Dell laptop stopped after an update and I get error 0x800106cc when trying to Restart the Windows Audio service as suggested by AI. I've been attempting to correct this off and on over the last six months. Any ideas?

Answer 1

1

Right click your Start Button and open Device Manager.

Expand the 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' section.

Please provide a screenshot of that full Device Manager window.

2

Click your Start Button, then just type msinfo and press Enter, please provide a screenshot of the resulting System Information window.

Answer 2

Since the issue started after a Windows update and restarting Windows Audio fails, use this recovery path:

1. Install any remaining Windows updates first
   • Go to Start > Settings > Windows Update.
   • Select Check for updates and install everything available.
   • Restart the laptop.
   • This can replace missing components introduced by a previous update.
2. Roll back the audio driver if the problem began right after an update
   • Open Device Manager.
   • Expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • Right-click the Dell audio device and select Properties.
   • Open the Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver.
   • Restart the device.
   • This option is available only if a previous driver version exists.
3. Update the audio driver
   • In Device Manager, expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • Right-click the audio device and select Update driver.
   • Choose Search automatically for drivers.
   • If Windows does not find one, install the latest audio driver from the Dell support site for the laptop model, then restart.
4. Uninstall and reinstall the audio driver
   • In Device Manager, expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • Right-click the sound device and select Uninstall device.
   • If shown, select the checkbox to remove the driver for this device.
   • Select Uninstall.
   • Save open work before restarting, then restart the PC.
   • Windows should automatically reinstall the audio driver after restart.
5. Try the generic Windows audio driver
   • In Device Manager, right-click the audio device.
   • Select Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
   • Select the generic Windows audio driver and complete the install.
   • Restart and test sound.
6. Check whether the audio device is missing or disabled
   • In Device Manager, expand Sound, video and game controllers.
   • If the device appears, right-click it and select Enable device if that option is available.
   • If it does not appear, select View > Show hidden devices, then Action > Scan for hardware changes.
7. Restart the audio services again
   • Select Start, type services.msc, and press Enter.
   • Right-click Windows Audio and select Restart.
   • Right-click Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and select Restart.
   • Test audio.
8. If sound stopped immediately after a recent update and rollback does not help, use System Restore
   • Restore the PC from a restore point created before the update.
   • This is the next documented step when driver rollback is not enough.

For a Dell laptop specifically, the most likely path is: roll back driver -> reinstall driver -> install the latest Dell audio driver -> try the generic Windows driver. If the sound device is missing entirely in Device Manager, check hidden devices and scan for hardware changes before reinstalling drivers.

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References:

• Fix audio stops working after a Windows update in Windows
• Fix sound or audio problems in Windows
• Fix missing or undetected audio output device in Windows
• how to fix no sound on windows 11 ? - Microsoft Q&A