Hello, I'm using a Lenovo Legion 5 15IMH6 with Windows 10 Home. After a recent Windows update, my audio stopped working, showing a red cross on the speaker icon with "No speakers or headphones are plugged in." I've tried reinstalling drivers from Lenovo, uninstalling updates, and even a system restore, but nothing worked. The Realtek Audio Driver is hidden in the Device Manager, and any attempt to fix it results in a blue screen of death. Should I upgrade to Windows 11 or downgrade the audio driver? How can I do that if the driver is hidden? Any help would be appreciated.
SOLVED Audio Drivers Disabled after Windows 10 Updates
- Thread starter groixinyq
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A couple of things, first DO NOT upgrade to Win11 if having hardware or software issues. Second, could be the audio adapter/controller has failed, had that happen to me with a 7-mo. old Notebook, warranty replaced the motherboard and no issue last 2 years.
I keep on hand a couple Linux Mint LiveUSB Thumb drives for booting to and checking if onboard hardware works.
I keep on hand a couple Linux Mint LiveUSB Thumb drives for booting to and checking if onboard hardware works.
Thanks for the advice, Bighorn. I managed to solve the problem. Here's what worked for me in case anyone else runs into the same issue:
After following these steps, my audio is back to normal without the red cross on the speaker icon. No need to upgrade to Windows 11 or downgrade any drivers. Hope this helps someone else!
- Booted into Safe Mode to prevent the BSOD.
- This allowed me to access Device Manager without crashes.
- In Device Manager, I checked "Show hidden devices" and uninstalled the Realtek audio driver that was hidden.
- I used a registry cleaner to remove any leftover entries related to Realtek.
- I downloaded the latest Realtek driver directly from the Realtek website rather than Lenovo's site.
- Installed it manually after rebooting into normal mode.
- Ran the built-in Windows Audio Troubleshooter. It detected some configuration issues and fixed them.
After following these steps, my audio is back to normal without the red cross on the speaker icon. No need to upgrade to Windows 11 or downgrade any drivers. Hope this helps someone else!
