Solved Sound completely broken

I have restarted my pc, I have redownloaded and uninstalled drivers, I have done everything I can.

Issue:
my audio doesn't work unless I reinstall drivers, or turn my PC on and off, and even then it only works for around a minute before completely stopping. Other microphones or speakers fix the issue.

How can I fix this?

gluester said:

it only works for around a minute before completely stopping. Other microphones or speakers fix the issue.

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I had a laptop like that once, sound would stop working for the laptop speakers, but would still work on headphones if plugged in. The cause was overheating of the sound card chip due to poor cooling design for that model. There is a thermal shutdown that powered down the output amplifier stage of the card if it got too hot. Powering down the machine was the only way to reset it.

The headphone feed comes out before that stage, so continues to have sound. I could get it to work longer on the laptop's speakers if I kept the volume low.

This may also help if this is for your System One.

I am assuming your are installing the sound driver from you downloaded from Lenovo. Is that correct? There's a possibility the driver has some incompatibility issues with Windows 11. Try this.
1. Go to device manager. Right click on your sound driver and select uninstall. Check the box "delete driver software for this device". Click uninstall. When it uninstalls, reboot.
2. After reboot go back to device manager. Under sound you should now have the default "Windows audio device or high definition audio device". Right click on it and select “Update driver” Click on "search automatically for updated driver software" The wizard will either confirm that it has found and updated the driver, if it was successful, or if the search was unsuccessful, it will confirm that you have the latest driver, and offer to search through Windows Update for updated drivers. Click “Search for updated drivers on Windows Update” It will open the settings app on the Windows Update page, where you’ll need to click “Check for updates”.
3. If windows update finds a missing sound driver, it should automatically install it. If you do not see an indication a driver was installed, from within windows update scroll down and click on "advanced options" then click on and expand "optional updates" See if a pending sound driver is there. If it is, select it and install it. Reboot again and see if it shows in device manager.
IF THE ABOVE DID NOT INSTALL A WORKING SOUND DRIVER
1. Unzip the exe file for the driver you got from Lenovo.
2. In device manager, right click on "Windows Audio Device or high definition audio device". Select "Update Driver". This time choose the second option of "Browse my computer for drivers" and point it to the folder where you unzipped the driver file. Tick the "Include subfolders" box.
If neither of these methods successfully installed your sound, report back with the exact model number of your Lenovo Legion 5.

Gluester, I slept on this and then saw Bree's post this morning. You can prove whether this is a hardware or driver issue by testing with the default crappy windows sound driver. In my reply above, once your completely uninstall the sound driver in step one, play something using the default driver. If it continues to play without issues, that eliminates hardware and narrows your problem down to the driver. I noticed in the page she referenced to that turning off all sound enhancements had worked for some people with your model laptop. To my way of thinking, doing that points to a driver issue.

glasskuter said:

I noticed in the page she referenced to that turning off all sound enhancements had worked for some people with your model laptop. To my way of thinking, doing that points to a driver issue.

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Not necessarily. Enhancements that boost the low bass response will demand more power being output from the amplifier that drives the speakers, generating more heat.

Bree said:

generating more heat.

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That is assuming his issue is caused by heat, correct? Wouldn't testing it with the Windows default driver prove one way or the other if its hardware or software related?

glasskuter said:

That is assuming his issue is caused by heat, correct? Wouldn't testing it with the Windows default driver prove one way or the other if its hardware or software related?

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Mine was definitely heat related, it was a known issue for that particular laptop model. And yes, it was more of an issue with some drivers than others. Plus the sound card was located just to the left of the touchpad and I could feel it getting really hot whenever it cut out

If the sound cuts out at low volume then it's unlikely to be hardware related, whatever driver is in use. The Windows default driver would not include a bass boost enhanced option so if it doesn't cut out with the basic driver that doesn't necessarily rule out heat issues. You'd need to test at maximum volume and with plenty of bass in the test audio to be more certain.

glasskuter said:

That is assuming his issue is caused by heat, correct? Wouldn't testing it with the Windows default driver prove one way or the other if its hardware or software related?

Click to expand...

Bree said:

Mine was definitely heat related, it was a known issue for that particular laptop model. And yes, it was more of an issue with some drivers than others. Plus the sound card was located just to the left of the touchpad and I could feel it getting really hot whenever it cut out

If the sound cuts out at low volume then it's unlikely to be hardware related, whatever driver is in use. The Windows default driver would not include a bass boost enhanced option so if it doesn't cut out with the basic driver that doesn't necessarily rule out heat issues. You'd need to test at maximum volume and with plenty of bass in the test audio to be more certain.

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Thank you both for all the help. So far, it's working great. Thank you!!

gluester said:

Thank you both for all the help. So far, it's working great. Thank you!!

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Good to know. What was it that worked for you?

Bree said:

Good to know. What was it that worked for you?

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Well, it was audio enhancements, but now its back to broken. I did notice that my computer was hot when it came back though, so that might be the case. Thanks again

Oh, and, my model is Legion 5 15ACH6. Thanks

gluester said:

Well, it was audio enhancements, but now its back to broken. I did notice that my computer was hot when it came back though, so that might be the case. Thanks again

Oh, and, my model is Legion 5 15ACH6. Thanks

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Maybe it's time to actually check your temperatures.
Speccy is easiest, HWMonitor is more comprehensive.


Other things to consider...

How long have you had the laptop?
Do you operate it on a hard surface? On your lap? In bed on the blankets?

If your laptop is overheating, ask a professional to clean it from dust and replace the thermal paste. Never use it on your lap or couch or blankets and similar surfaces. It could burn and Warranty won't cover it.

If your laptop is overheating, ask a professional to clean it from dust and replace the thermal paste. Never use it on your lap or couch or blankets and similar surfaces. It could burn and Warranty won't cover it

Click to expand...

Maybe it's time to actually check your temperatures.
Speccy is easiest, HWMonitor is more comprehensive.


Other things to consider...

How long have you had the laptop?
Do you operate it on a hard surface? On your lap? In bed on the blankets?

Click to expand...

Thank you both, I'll look into the overheating issue more. Downloading a temperature monitor right now.

The CPU temperature was around 155 celsius

Ghot said:

Do you operate it on a hard surface? On your lap? In bed on the blankets?

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Most of the time on a hard surface.
The back of it is supported upwards, and it's on a deskmat. Sometimes it's in bed, though.

gluester said:

Most of the time on a hard surface.
The back of it is supported upwards, and it's on a deskmat. Sometimes it's in bed, though.

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I mentioned that because when used on a lap or in bed... the air vents get blocked sometimes.

gluester said:

The CPU temperature was around 155 celsius

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Yeah, that sounds a bit hot, even for a laptop. That could be the whole problem.
That's 311F

Do you have a setting for low, medium and high fan speeds, or noise?
If so, I would try running the fans at full speed. Aka... noisy.

In other words... try to get the CPU at about 100C or less, and see if that helps with the sound problems.

Crap, sorry, I meant Fahrenheit, it put it on Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. Sorry. 155 farenheit, 68 celsius.

gluester said:

Crap, sorry, I meant Fahrenheit, it put it on Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. Sorry. 155 farenheit, 68 celsius.

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That's much better.

Hi again, thank you all again for the help.
I think one of the Windows 11 updates didnt work with my sound card, causing the issue. I'm back on Windows 10, and so far so good.

Thank you all so much for the help