[SOLVED] I’m Freaking Out A Little, I’ve Tried Everything

Sep 30, 2019
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Before we begin, my computer is an ASUS 2 in 1 Laptop, Q551LB and it’s also Windows 10.

My story begins a week or so ago when my mic audio stopped working. I had no audio at all, period. I ended up uninstalling the audio driver and reinstalling it again.

Worked fine until a day later when I turned the computer on to find that not just the mic audio was gone but also the computers speakers were gone too! Couldn’t hear anything at all.

So I uninstalled the audio driver once again and then I installed the same one I used in my downloads only this time it sent my computer way back, causing it to look like it was factory reseted for some reason.

I then restored my computer to a point in time which was 9/23/18 and everything was fine. Until all of the sudden, the mic audio was gone. Went to Windows Troubleshooter, it uninstalled it (and I thought it would reinstall it or Windows would automatically with the factory version).

Turns out, it did not. It was gone for good, and not only did I have no mic, but I also had no speakers either. So I went to Plan N for Nuclear. I decided to reset my entire computer but keep my Personal Files, hoping it would reset the drivers.

Turns out it did but now I’ve run into a new issue: I use Noise Suppression as people should to cancel out background noise audio, right? But now, it’s like when any Audio Enhancements are turned on, the mic becomes like, muted/disabled.

As if no audio is coming through. But once Noise Suppression or any other Enhancements are turned on, the mic audio is turned back on somehow.

I’m running out of options here and I’m freaking out because I feel like my computer is dying on me here. :( It’s my first computer I’ve ever bought and it helped me through my final year of high school in 2015 (graduated in June of 2016).

Any help would be appreciated guys.
 
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Solution
All of what follows presumes any issue that is occurring is not secondary to a malicious infection. If you believe it is, then your first order of business should be attempting to exorcise your system of said infection. That’s a topic of its own and won’t be covered here.

Also, certain issues point to device drivers being the most likely source underlying them. If that’s the case make sure you have gotten the latest device drivers from either your computer’s OEM support pages or the OEM support pages for the component (e.g., video card, WiFi card, printer, etc.) and installed those and tested afterward.

If you are experiencing unexpected issues immediately or very shortly after any Windows update has been applied, then the first...

britechguy

Commendable
Jul 2, 2019
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All of what follows presumes any issue that is occurring is not secondary to a malicious infection. If you believe it is, then your first order of business should be attempting to exorcise your system of said infection. That’s a topic of its own and won’t be covered here.

Also, certain issues point to device drivers being the most likely source underlying them. If that’s the case make sure you have gotten the latest device drivers from either your computer’s OEM support pages or the OEM support pages for the component (e.g., video card, WiFi card, printer, etc.) and installed those and tested afterward.

If you are experiencing unexpected issues immediately or very shortly after any Windows update has been applied, then the first thing you should do is use the Windows 10 built-in capability to uninstall the latest update that’s suspected of causing the issue:

  • Open Settings, Update & Security. This should take you to the Windows Update Pane by default.
  • In the Windows Update Pane, locate the View update history control, and activate it.
  • In the View Update History dialog, locate the Uninstall updates link and activate it.
  • In the Installed Updates dialog, the updates will be listed in groupings, with the groups alphabetically ordered, and the items within each group ordered by date – most recently installed first (if no one has changed the defaults). In most cases, you’ll be looking to uninstall a Microsoft Windows update, and those are generally the final group. The number of updates available for uninstalling is shown in parentheses after the Microsoft Windows group name.
  • Almost all Windows Updates will have a KB number associated with them, and if you know that use this as what you search on for the actual update. Select it.
  • Activate the Uninstall button located above the list of updates, and the selected update will be uninstalled.
If it’s not an update that’s suspected of causing an issue, there are other steps you can take. Before going any further, it must be noted that a repair install (or feature update, when those are being done) allows one to keep all of one's files and apps (desktop/installed and store varieties). This is in complete contrast to a Reset (which allows either keeping just one’s files or wiping everything), or a Refresh/Fresh Start or Completely Clean Reinstall, both of which wipe everything.

My standard advice, in virtually all cases, (and presuming any potential infection has already been addressed, first) is trying the following, in the order specified. If the issue is fixed by option one then there's no need to go further. Stop whenever your issue is fixed:

1. Using SFC (System File Checker) and DISM (Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management) to Repair Windows 8 & 10


2. Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file


3. Doing a completely clean reinstall (options a & b are downloadable PDF files):

a) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Download Win10 ISO File

b) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Create a Bootable USB Drive

c) How to do a CLEAN Installation of Windows 10 (Tom’s Hardware Forums, with screen shots)

I never choose the “thermonuclear option,” the completely clean reinstall, until it's clear that this is the only viable option. I hate having to go through all the work of reconfiguring a machine from scratch if that can reasonably and safely be avoided.
 
Solution
Sep 30, 2019
2
0
10
I’m sure it’s not a virus, malware, or anything like that.

It feels like it’s a driver issue and I thought resetting the PC back to factory would work out in my favor but it just messed the Mic up.

It’s just weird how I can’t use audio enhancements anymore is all.