Audio not working on Windows 11 Pro x64

AgathePower · Apr 17, 2026

It's finally not related to Edge; I have same weird behavior with VLC.

With Edge and VLC I can change volume and mute/unmute about 3 times, after that there is a mess with audio output. Either the volume can no longer be changed, or the mute randomly cutes either the left or the right speaker. If I unplug jack, a cross icon appears.

I noticed something else during my tests. I quickly uninstalled and then reinstalled the audio device, and the cross on the speaker icon appeared within two seconds after the audio being reinstalled. It's as if the audio system had retained the crashed state from the previous test phase.

AgathePower · Apr 17, 2026

spapakons said:
5. Disable Audio Enhancements

Go to Settings > System > Sound.

Select your output device and go to its properties.

Under "Audio enhancements", select Off.

This makes no difference.

AgathePower · Apr 17, 2026

AgathePower said:
I noticed something else during my tests. I quickly uninstalled and then reinstalled the audio device, and the cross on the speaker icon appeared within two seconds after the audio being reinstalled. It's as if the audio system had retained the crashed state from the previous test phase.

I see. Sometimes I have to uninstall the audio device twice to reinstall it properly (without having to restart the computer).

AgathePower · Apr 17, 2026

Restarting Audiosrv service doesn't fix anything.

AgathePower · Apr 17, 2026

This time I tried with VLC without Edge opened (to avoid conflicts). But the same thing happens even when no software is opened.

I can confirm that I can adjust the volume or mute it 4 or 5 times in a row, but then the sound stops changing, and sometimes it comes only on left or right side. After that, no further changes can be made: I have to remove the sound card so it re-installs itself.

Something in the audio controller crashes only after a certain amount of time, so we don't notice it immediately.

spapakons · Apr 17, 2026

I have read older posts with sound volume issues. There is a third party utility called sound lock which can set the volume to a specific value and keep it there.

Soundlock App - 3 APPES

www.3appes.com

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

spapakons said:
I have read older posts with sound volume issues. There is a third party utility called sound lock which can set the volume to a specific value and keep it there.

Soundlock App - 3 APPES

www.3appes.com

I tried Sound Lock. It indeed behaves by automatically lowers the system volume as the sound is about to exceed a limit.

However, this doesn't fix the problem, because after adjusting Sound Lock once or two (I could clearly hear the difference in volume), the volume didn't change anymore.

Since it affects the system volume (it literally locks the volume slider), the audio driver bug is still present.

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

I've noticed something else: apparently, after not using the sound for a while—maybe an hour—the sound stops working again. I can only get the sound back by restarting the computer (without uninstalling the audio device). I had uninstalled Sound Lock to avoid any conflicts during my tests.

spapakons · Apr 18, 2026

Could a background application affect the volume? I would try disable all startup applications and enable them one by one to find the culprit. Also I would disable exclusive mode and any effects in sound settings.

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

I could try, but that doesn't explain why, sometimes when I adjust the volume, the sound only comes out of one side. And besides, everything was working fine up until build 26200.8037.

spapakons · Apr 18, 2026

Do you have USB or Bluetooth headphones? You could test is the issue appears with a different sound output. If it doesn't then it is something wrong with your audio drivers. If it does, then your drivers are OK and is some application or some audio related setting. At least you will know where to focus. Don't use standard 3.5mm jack headphones. USB or Bluetooth bypass the audio card and use their own audio device.

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

Apparently, the sound still works even if I don't use it for an extended period of time; it's possible that, at the time of my last message, I hadn't restarted the system since the sound card last crashed.

spapakons · Apr 18, 2026

Using an independent sound device, such as USB headphones, will help you determine if there is something wrong with the internal audio card or with Windows. If the issue doesn't appear with the other device, it is a driver issue or some setting of the internal audio card. If it appears on the other device as well, it is some application or configuration in Windows and the audio driver is OK.

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

I don't currently have a USB device to test this with. I'm going to try something else: changing the volume once every 30 minutes or so. I'll see if the crash happens when I change it multiple times or if it happens when I change it quickly.

AgathePower · Apr 18, 2026

Here's what happens when I play a video in VLC after waiting a while and then adjusting the volume juste before playing the video. To keep things simple, I just turned the volume up or down each time to hear the difference from the previous test I’d done a few minutes earlier.

18:05 Sound works
18:22 Sound works
18:43 Sound works
19:38 No sound
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
19:40 Sound works
20:03 Sound works
20:26 Sound works
21:03 No sound
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
21:04 Sound works
21:24 Sound works
21:44 No sound
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
21:45 Sound works
21:46 No sound
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
21:47 No sound
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
21:48 Sound works
21:49 Sound works
21:51 Sound works
21:55 Sound works
22:05 Sound works but same volume as before, the volume control no longer works
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting -----
22:08 Sound works

spapakons · Apr 18, 2026

Right-click on the speaker icon at the taskbar and select Sounds. Switch to the Playback tab. Select your speakers and click Properties. Go to the Enhancements tab and check the "Disable all sound effects" box and the "Immediate mode" box. The Setting below should set to None. Now go to the Advanced tab and select "24-bit, 48000Hz (Studio quality)" or "16-bit, 48000Hz (DVD quality)". Avoid too high settings that might not be properly supported by the audio card. Also uncheck the two boxes regarding Exclusive mode. Finally go to the Spatial sound tab and set it to Off. Apply all settings and test your card again.

AgathePower · Apr 19, 2026

I set the "Disable all sound effects" and unset "Exclusive mode" options; the others were already set to the value you specified. There has been no improvement.

(HH:MM)
07:55 Sound works
08:34 Sound works, volume control not working
----- Sound card removed and reinstalled without restarting, settings reapplied -----
08:35 No Sound
----- Sound card removed and computer restarted, settings reapplied -----
08:42 Sound works
08:53 Sound works
09:16 Sound works
09:35 Sound works
10:02 Sound works
10:24 No Sound
----- Sound card removed reinstalled without restarting -----
10:25 Sound works

AgathePower · Apr 19, 2026

When I'm playing a video and adjust the volume or mute it after the third or fourth time, the volume no longer changes and the mute function doesn't work. When I'm not playing a video, the sound remains muted. I can conclude that the sound remains in the state it was in before the internal audio system has crashed.

AgathePower · Apr 19, 2026

Correction: I just tried turning up the volume again (since it was low just over an hour ago without listening to anything, but never mind) and the volume was at the same level as before (low). This just confirms that changing the volume 3 or 4 times causes it to freeze.

Then I had no sound at all after reinstalling the sound card; I had to uninstall it twice in a row.

It's definitely the volume control—including the mute—that's causing the sound to freeze.

AgathePower · Apr 19, 2026

Next step is to revert HdAudio.sys to the working version.

Audio not working on Windows 11 Pro x64

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