[SOLVED] Possibly windows 10 update caused an issue that I can't solve

[pratss]

So guys, I had posted a thread in 'motherboard' category- https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/no-speakers-or-headphones-are-plugged-in.3523513/ as it was related to drivers, but my research online has led me to believe that it's most probably due to windows 10 update. So I'm going ahead and posting it here as well. I really need help, I have tried almost everything that I could.
I have fresh copy of windows which I formatted yesterday, so there's no way I can go back to some restore point. I downloaded the latest drivers that my motherboard supports(Realtek R4.31), but it still won't add an entry in device manager, and I have this red cross on my sounds option which says "No speakers or headphones plugged in". I have tried a lot of things that I have posted in previous thread, but just in case, I'm pasting that here as well..
1)Rolling back those driver updates.
2)Downloading audio drivers from motherboard vendor website( Gigabyte H61m-S1 rev 3.0).
3)Downloading audio drivers manually.
(In either of those cases^ device manager didn't show "Realtek high definition audio" nor can I find realtek audio manager anywhere on my PC even after successful installation. Also, the audio option on task bar has a red cross on it, and if I do right click on it, it doesn't show the "sounds" option, the one that has playback, recording etc).
4)Adding legacy software for realtek (This ended up with blue window).
5)Downloading driver booster and letting it solve the problem(it obviously didn't).
6)Trying my headphones on other devices. (the fact that audio worked for awhile after formatting kinda tells that it isn't hardware issue).
7)Uninstalling default drivers and letting windows download the drivers on their own.
8)Installing old drivers that my motherboard supported(although wasn't supported by windows 10, but me being desperate to solve this tried that anyway, obviously didn't work).
9)Disabling audio driver,rebooting PC and enabling audio driver again.
10)sfc and DISM scan
11)Setting "windows audio" in services to automatic and restarting.
12)Deleting "upperlimit" in registry.
13)Formatted my PC again.
So yea, as you can see I have tried almost everything.....

 

[Grobe]

Maybe the problem is in the control panel where you specify "headset" instead of "stereo" ?

Can you shortly describe what excactly you was looking for after each test, and if you did reboot every time?

Also can you clearify those two statements:

• "This ended up with blue window". Did you mean blue screen? If so, what is the message? Or do you refer to the blue background that some installer software uses?
• "it obviously didn't". What did you see? Any changes at all? Did it install anything or even suggested so?
• "Downloading audio drivers manually": From where, excactly? Name of file?

 

[pratss]

Maybe the problem is in the control panel where you specify "headset" instead of "stereo" ?

Can you shortly describe what excactly you was looking for after each test, and if you did reboot every time?

Also can you clearify those two statements:

• "This ended up with blue window". Did you mean blue screen? If so, what is the message? Or do you refer to the blue background that some installer software uses?
• "it obviously didn't". What did you see? Any changes at all? Did it install anything or even suggested so?
• "Downloading audio drivers manually": From where, excactly? Name of file?

Thanks for your reply.
I did reboot my system after doing all of those things. What I was looking for was to get rid of this red cross I have over my 'Sound' icon on task bar. One more thing that I have noticed about this problem as I said was I don't see any realtek driver entry under 'Sound, Video and game controllers' in device manager. So I would also check if there was any entry after every reboot/try that I did. With old drivers, there was no mention of realtek drivers in device manager, but if I did tried to "Add legacy hardware" with old drivers, it would make an entry for realtek audio drivers in device manager which didn't happen with latest drivers( but they had yellow triangle with exclaimation mark, and weren't working. It said Error Code10. With new drivers, there was never any entry for realtek drivers in device manager). I know that you don't have to add legacy hardware if you have installed drivers from executable already, but doing just standalone executable didn't work either. So yea, I have tried doing both (Only installing drivers from executable file that I got from manufacturer's website and I have also done installing from executable+trying to add legacy hardware just to make an entry for realtek drivers in device manager in which case as I said, I was successful in adding entry with old drivers+legacy hardware but it still didn't work).

- The blue window I mean't was a message that said " Your PC ran into a problem and needs arestart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you", and that was loop. It would restart> show that message again> restart again.

-As I said earlier, installing old drivers didn't start audio either. Still had red cross on my sound icon in taskbar. The only change that I would say I noticed was seeing 'realtek high definition audio device' with yellow triangle under 'sounds,videos, and game controllers' in device manager.

-About "Downloading audio drivers manually", uhhh, my bad I wasn't clear as to what I mean't. So what I mean't to say there was I have tried downloading drivers from manufacturer's website, and when that didn't work, I have also tried to Update drivers directly from device manager. I do see 1 entry under 'Sounds, videos and game controllers' in device manager. The entry is named "High definition audio device", I have tried updating driver from it's properties, I have tried uninstalling drivers from there and let windows download them back as well( I tried all of this in different reboots attempts, but yea none of them worked).

Edit-Also if I install the drivers from executable file that I downloaded from manufacturer's site, I can see 'Realtek high definition audio drivers' in 'Add or remove programs', but I won't see any realtek hd audio manager in control panel like others do. I have also went to the location where the drivers have been installed i.e. Program files, and tried executing audio manager from there, but nothing happens, nothing just opens.

 

[Grobe]

I don't think you should expect seing a "realtec" item in device manager. Instead, just look at the something that looks like a name of a sound card installed into your computer.

 

[pratss]

I don't think you should expect seing a "realtec" item in device manager. Instead, just look at the something that looks like a name of a sound card installed into your computer.

In that case, I do have default "High definition audio device" in device manager. But my audio still still isn't working, do you know what can be the issue?

 

[pratss]

Hey, quick update...
I installed win7 to just checkout if it works there. It didn't. I tried installing drivers from manufacturer cd(these weren't compatible for win10 so I didn't try it on them), it didn't work so I uninstalled them, rebooted PC, and installed one from manufacturer 's website(the one which I said were incompatible with Windows 10 but I was desperate to get my sound working that I tried them anyways on win10), they didn't work either.
So one thing for sure that I can say is, it isn't windows 10 update issue, and I'm extremely sorry for making this post here. Although a last question that I have is, could the problem be sound card? I have never had sound card issues, so I have no idea how PC behaves when there is a corrupt sound card. So could it be that?

 

[Grobe]

It could very well be the sound card itself. Sound cards are not imun to failure, althought they are typicaly less prone to failure compare to other parts in the computer.

 

[pratss]

It could very well be the sound card itself. Sound cards are not imun to failure, althought they are typicaly less prone to failure compare to other parts in the computer.

Thanks for all your replies. It was sound card I guess, I tried my friend's USB sound card and it worked well.... I don't know how to choose best answer, can some moderator please select grobe's this reply as best answer? Thanks in advance.

 

[gardenman]

Click the trophy beside of the Grobe's best answer to set the thread as "answered".

I've had 2 onboard Realtek sound chips go bad. One on a HP, one on a Alienware. Both about 8 years old when their sound died. I bought one of those cheap $10 USB sound cards and I'm still using it on the Alienware .

 

[pratss]

Click the trophy beside of the Grobe's best answer to set the thread as "answered".

I've had 2 onboard Realtek sound chips go bad. One on a HP, one on a Alienware. Both about 8 years old when their sound died. I bought one of those cheap $10 USB sound cards and I'm still using it on the Alienware .

Thanks alot...