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Question I no longer have Realtek Audio / Any audio at all

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fatalorange11

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Dec 7, 2018
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Hello, I logged on to my PC today and found out I no longer have Realtek audio / any audio at all. I have tried many solutions such as,
  1. Troubleshooting Active Sound
  2. Trying to reinstall Realtek software (Couldn't Find It)
  3. Trying to update the Realtek Drivers (It isn't even in my device manager let alone my PC)
When I go into the bottom left of my PC to look at my Playback devices I only see as follows,
  1. NVIDIA OutPut (Disabled)
  2. S271HL (My Monitor which is my Playback device which has no speakers)
Nothing else shows up even after right clicking and doing "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices. It is like my audio software just got completely deleted. I have since made a full factory reset of my PC which I have been wanting to do for a while now and nothing else has changed. I have not to my knowledge, removed, downloaded, or updated, anything on my PC in the last few days. If you are curious I am using Apple Earbuds as my headset and they are plugged into my PC via the headphone jack. They work on my laptop and on my phone. Any help is appreciated.

Realtek Audio Control can't be downloaded from the Microsoft Store.

PC Specs / Audio Specs
GTX 1050Ti
i5 8600k
8gb DDR4 Ram
600w PSU
Asus B360-Plus Motherboard


[Update] I have since tried to reinstall all of the Realtek drivers directly but they still don't show up in the device manager and it seems like they keep getting overwritten by the HD Audio but when I uninstall that it just reinstalls it instantly. I have contacted Microsoft and they tried to do the same thing I did but then said they are having issues with it and are going to recontact me in a few days. Could it be the soundcard on my motherboard? I have also tried updating all of my MOBO's drivers and it still hasn't worked. I then booted my PC into Safe Mode to try to delete all of the Audio devices and redownload Realtek to no avail. It is like it is getting overwritten. Any suggestions?
 
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I would like to know this too as I have the same problem, and it really messes up my headset configuration (either no sound or no mic...). Ive tried to download it as well, but what I find on the official site doesn't seem to install for some reason
 
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Also happened to me within the past week or so with my Realtek audio. Maybe a Windows 10 update hosed it? Still haven't found a fix.

Not sure if related (But happened at same time), my computer sounds like its constantly writing to something. It's just constantly chugging in the backround. I've been having lots of programs crashing as well.
 
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Check for viruses and Malware. I would do a full clean install of windows 10. Do not use reset as it is generally completely useless
 
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It appears that Windows update is affecting real tech audio because there are a lot of these posts very recently on the forum
 
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gallshouse said:
Also happened to me within the past week or so with my Realtek audio. Maybe a Windows 10 update hosed it? Still haven't found a fix.

Not sure if related (But happened at same time), my computer sounds like its constantly writing to something. It's just constantly chugging in the backround. I've been having lots of programs crashing as well.
Click to expand...
I would check your task manager to see what is doing that. Make sure to click on "more detail" and you can sort it from what is taking the most resources to the least.
 
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When this happens at work I delete it from deice manager and anser yes to removing the associated software/drivers.

Then I do a shutdown, wait a minute and turn it back on. It usually is found again and drivers automatically installed. Win 8/10 users probably need to hold down the shift key when clicking on Shutdown so they can get a 'true shutdown' instead of the hybrid-shutdown.

Only once was the audio chip really dead.
 
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popatim said:
When this happens at work I delete it from deice manager and anser yes to removing the associated software/drivers.

Then I do a shutdown, wait a minute and turn it back on. It usually is found again and drivers automatically installed. Win 8/10 users probably need to hold down the shift key when clicking on Shutdown so they can get a 'true shutdown' instead of the hybrid-shutdown.

Only once was the audio chip really dead.
Click to expand...
It is not in my device manager. That is the problem.
 
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Well you can try a clean windows install but if that doesn’t fix it your audio chips have probably died
 
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I managed to redownload realtek audio from the site so its back in my device manager. However, when selecting it as playback device, no sound is playing from my headphones or recording onto my mic. I have to stay on "speakers", and that doesn't recognises my mic
 
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Mandark said:
Well you can try a clean windows install but if that doesn’t fix it your audio chips have probably died
Click to expand...
I did a clean install of windows and that did not work. My audio chip is on my MOBO so if that is the case would I just have to buy a separate one? And if the audio chip on my MOBO died would that be the reason why Realtek isn't in my device manager and why I can't download it? I also updated the post if you want to see what else I have tried.
 
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eXistenZ2 said:
I managed to redownload realtek audio from the site so its back in my device manager. However, when selecting it as playback device, no sound is playing from my headphones or recording onto my mic. I have to stay on "speakers", and that doesn't recognises my mic
Click to expand...
You have gotten farther than me. Mine wont even pop up in the device manager
 
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