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Dangers of Windows 10 Troubleshooting


MickinMD

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From now on, if I'm having a software/hardware problem with my Windows 10 laptop, I'm going to simply reboot first rather than accept the "troubleshooting" offer from the Windows popup.

Thursday, I used an HDMI cable to stream NFL Thursday Night Football from my laptop to my TV, where the computer's sound goes through the TV.  Afterward, when I unplugged the HDMI cable, the sound did not come back to my laptop.  It tried a couple things and suddenly a Windows 10 popup appeared, recommending troubleshooting.

I clicked ok and the next thing I knew, Windows 10 no longer recognized that I had a speaker system in the laptop and my headphone jack no longer worked.  I rebooted, held F12 on booting to check all the BIOS, etc, settings, had the computer look for drive and software problems, updated some drivers, etc. and still no sound unless I used the HDMI cable.

The HDMI cable is a little on the old side and I had to wiggle it in the socket to make it work and I wondered if I had also wiggled the port and broken some connector, etc.  I ordered a replacement for the cable but wondered if it was too late!

Finally, Friday evening I remembered that Windows has an app somewhere that searches for new devices and wondered if it would find my speakers.  When I finally found the app's window, there was a list of device operations that had recently been made, and I saw an alpha-numeric, meaningless-to-me, named device but it drew my attention. Next to it was the word "disconnected" next to the date and approx. time my laptop sound stopped working.

I clicked on everything related to the "disconnected" notice until a window finally popped up that included an "update driver" button and then a choice of letting Windows automatically find the driver.  I did so and the next thing I new, it said "driver installed" and my speakers and headphones were back in business and the Sound/Playback window showed as default: "Realtek High-Definition Audio" which I now remember was what was there originally (the other driver is "not plugged in" because the HDMI to is not connected my TV):

1896348004_SoundDriverfixed9_13_19.JPG.d6b5201afbd99a50eddbd8adf4bcdeaa.JPG

After clicking on the "DTS Studio Sound" app that came with the laptop from the Start menu, it became incorporated as it was before, giving me graphic-equalizer control over all sounds - great for YouTube music, etc. (again, "not connected" just means the HDMI to is not connected my TV).

279206123_SoundDTSfixed9_13_19.JPG.674a5df953ed839550b84e3261c9f38a.JPG1894910879_SoundDTSreinstalledsettings-fixed9_13_19.JPG.2644de80489c3926f48a1e6dbdd65ea0.JPG

Regaining the laptop's sound and controls was a combination of a little knowledge and a little luck.

Next time, I'll remember the automatic fixes on computers can get into things I'm not familiar with and not to tell Windows to fix something that a simple reboot may show isn't broken.

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