Question How do I uninstall unwanted audio drivers?

[Countess_C]

I have the EVGA NU Audio sound card and have had problems with browsers and media players hanging and forcing me to do hard reboots because of conflicts between the sound card and other sound drivers. I've uninstalled the Nvidia High Definition Audio Device and the Realtek(R) Audio devices/drivers, and that solves the issue, but the next time I turn on the computer they return!

I have no use for the Nvidia High Definition Audio Device, because it's for sound through HDMI to the monitor, and the Realtek drivers are for the onboard sound that I don't use.

How can I uninstall them for good?

I had deactivated and then unistalled them, but now again it looks like this. Both are back and active:

 

[Lutfij]

You can go into BIOS and disable the Realtek audio chip on your motherboard(which I'm assuming is on your motherboard and not some USB driven sound card/headset).

As for your Nvidia driver, that will show up since you have an Nvidia discrete GPU and that would come into play if you pass audio through the HDMI/Display Port to a panel with speakers/audio pass through. You can set your default audio output device to EVGHA's NU Audio sound card, by;
Settings>Sound>Sound Control Panel(on the right hand corner)>Right click EVGA NU Audio and set as Default.

How are you hooked to your audio equipment off of your platform?

Make and model of your motherboard? BIOS version for your motherboard?

 

[Countess_C]

You can go into BIOS and disable the Realtek audio chip on your motherboard(which I'm assuming is on your motherboard and not some USB driven sound card/headset).

As for your Nvidia driver, that will show up since you have an Nvidia discrete GPU and that would come into play if you pass audio through the HDMI/Display Port to a panel with speakers/audio pass through. You can set your default audio output device to EVGHA's NU Audio sound card, by;
Settings>Sound>Sound Control Panel(on the right hand corner)>Right click EVGA NU Audio and set as Default.

How are you hooked to your audio equipment off of your platform?

Make and model of your motherboard? BIOS version for your motherboard?

Thanks, I will try that. The motherboard is Gigabyte Aorus Elite X570, BIOS F37, and the speakers are connected to the EVGA NU card.

 

[Countess_C]

So I disabled the onboard audio in BIOS and changed the settings in Windows so it won't download and install drivers automatically, so now the Realtek drivers are gone forever. Good. But the "High Definition Audio Device" drivers keep installing every time I turn on the computer.

Today again the browser hung when I played a video. I turned the computer off via the Start button first, and then, as usual when this happen, I also had to press and hold the power button on the case for a couple of seconds for the computer to really turn off. Then start again, and not forget to go into the Device manager and uninstall the "High Definition Audio Device".

I guess I will have to buy a new monitor that doesn't have built-in speakers for this to stop happening.

 

[ubuysa]

You can remove the Nvidia HD Audio driver by using DDU to remove the entire graphics driver package, then download the latest driver from Nvidia and do a custom (advanced) install, simply uncheck the HD Audio driver.

BTW. You can uncheck the USB-C driver if you don't have a USB-C connected monitor and the PhysX driver if you have no games that require it.

 

[Countess_C]

It happened again despite the Realtek and High Definition Audio Device being uninstalled.

Beskrivning
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
Felaktig programsökväg: C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe

Problemsignatur
Händelsenamn: AppHangXProcB1
Application Name: svchost.exe_Audiosrv
Application Version: 10.0.19041.3636
Application Timestamp: 122dc5a3
Hang Signature: fb6f
Hang Type: 64
Waiting on Application Name: audiodg.exe
Waiting on Application Version: 10.0.19041.3636
OS-version: 10.0.19045.2.0.0.256.48
Språkvariant-ID: 1053
Additional Hang Signature 1: fb6fa03074cf9317d96fcf3d9dae46e8
Additional Hang Signature 2: 8e26
Additional Hang Signature 3: 8e26ed5dcad363e020ccb31eb42310c0
Additional Hang Signature 4: fb6f
Additional Hang Signature 5: fb6fa03074cf9317d96fcf3d9dae46e8
Additional Hang Signature 6: 8e26
Additional Hang Signature 7: 8e26ed5dcad363e020ccb31eb42310c0

Extra information om problemet
Bucket-ID: 0386e46ada716c150099a109daf12a1a (1196164239743592986)

And:

Beskrivning
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.
Felaktig programsökväg: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe

Problemsignatur
Händelsenamn: AppHangB1
Application Name: firefox.exe
Application Version: 124.0.2.8857
Application Timestamp: 660aaf9f
Hang Signature: 4446
Hang Type: 134217728
OS-version: 10.0.19045.2.0.0.256.48
Språkvariant-ID: 1053
Additional Hang Signature 1: 44468c723192ed1d4fbf142bb30a0ada
Additional Hang Signature 2: f98d
Additional Hang Signature 3: f98d75ea9c3ae3d6ecf6ac6dea24d1ec
Additional Hang Signature 4: 4446
Additional Hang Signature 5: 44468c723192ed1d4fbf142bb30a0ada
Additional Hang Signature 6: f98d
Additional Hang Signature 7: f98d75ea9c3ae3d6ecf6ac6dea24d1ec

Extra information om problemet
Bucket-ID: 8d39fbc993f66e4c196188c49bf21dff (1828893301700435455)

 

[Ralston18]

Re: Audiosrv and audiogd.exe

Something else may be causing the drivers to be reinstalled.

Look in Task Manager (as Admin) > Startup for some culprit app or utility.

Also check (via Task Manager) Processes, Details, and Services

= = = =

Another place to check is in Task Scheduler. Look for some trigger causing the reinstall.

 

[Countess_C]

Re: Audiosrv and audiogd.exe

Something else may be causing the drivers to be reinstalled.

Look in Task Manager (as Admin) > Startup for some culprit app or utility.

Also check (via Task Manager) Processes, Details, and Services

= = = =

Another place to check is in Task Scheduler. Look for some trigger causing the reinstall.

In "Autostart" (must be the Swedish name for "Startup"), there is a RtkAudUService64, and it's a Realtek service that has something to do with the High Definition Audio Device.

 

[Ralston18]

Perhaps but before doing anything I suggest a bit more poking around.

Are you able to take a screenshot and then post that screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

Keep in mind that there are dependencies involved: e.g., process X has to be running for process Y to run.

I googled the service and found a number of links. Here is one of the links:

https://windowsreport.com/rtkauduservice64-exe/

Feel free to look for other similar links. You may read or otherwise discover some other relevant factor.

= = = =

For troubleshooting purposes I would disable the service. Just keep track of exactly what you change and where the change was made.

Just be sure, as you always should be doing, that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations other than the current host PC. Also confirm that the backups are recoverable and readable.

Objectives being 1) does disabling the service prevent the return of the unwanted drivers and, 2) does anything else happen - worst case being likely that some other audio function is disrupted or completely stops.

One more tool that may prove helpful is Process Explorer (Microsoft, free).

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Very helpful with discovering what all is going on. Easy to explore and find things.

 

[Countess_C]

@Ralston18 Thank you for your suggestions, and I agree that I should take notes and screenshots. Most of the time when the hang happens I just do a hard reboot and continue with what I'm doing, and when I do feel like investigating I have often forgotten what I did earlier.