Many users of the tenth version of Windows sometimes sometimes after updating to this modification, “clean” installation, or after installing updates for their existing system sound problems (for example, after updating Windows 10, the sound became quieter or completely disappeared). Why it happens? There may be not so many reasons, and the problem can be eliminated in several simple ways, which are further proposed for consideration.
After updating Windows 10, the sound became quieter: what to do first
If such a situation arises, the first thing you need to do is to independently diagnose the sound system. If there is no sound, it has become lower in volume level, extraneous noise or wheezing has appeared, for a start, go to the sound system settings using the right mouse button on the volume icon in the system tray with a choice of the troubleshooting line.
If problems are detected, the system will at each stage issue recommendations for resolving them. If no problems are found, the device window opens. You can check them yourself. If there is no sound in Windows 10 , select the default active device (it is indicated by a green checkmark) and click the settings button. Next, go through a few steps to find problems. If none of this has worked and there is no sound in Windows 10 , then continue to the next steps.
Select a playback device
The tenth version of Windows in terms of sound system looks very interesting. The fact is that it can automatically add third-party playback devices, for example, sound systems of graphic adapters, HDMI-devices or even virtual control components like SoundMAX. Such devices are able to intercept control of the sound system, and their settings can just cause the volume to decrease.
In the window where all playback devices are shown, turn off all third-party devices and software sound components and select exactly the device that is currently being used (for example, Realtek HD Audio speakers - by the way, there may be not one, but two). Try playing or testing on each of them. The one that will work fine, set as the default device.
Turn off additional effects
But sometimes the question of how to fix the sound (Windows 10), or rather, finding the answer to it, can come down to turning off unnecessary effects, which many users do not even have a clue about. So, for example, for the selected device, you can use the communication tab, which will show the volume reduction options when working with other applications (Skype, for example). Such settings can affect the volume, but not always.
It is better to use the properties button and there check the settings of several tabs (Enhancements, spatial sound or additional features). Perhaps the parameters include surround sound, loudness or 7 + 1 playback, and the sound system itself is not adapted for this. Turn off all effects and check the sound again.
Driver issues
But what if, after the upgrade of Windows 10, the sound became quieter, and the methods described above did not fix the problem? Very often the problem may be with the drivers. The situation may be twofold: either the driver needs to be updated, or the updated driver does not work correctly, and it needs to be rolled back.
To perform such actions in the simplest case, you should use the “Device Manager” (devmgmt.msc in the Run menu), update drivers through RMB or go to the properties section, where you can update or roll back.
If you need to install a driver for non-standard equipment, on the details tab, select the device ID and copy the longest line with the identifiers DEV and VEN, and then search for the driver on the Internet.
For cases when the sound has become quieter after updating Windows 10, you can use a simpler solution, which consists in installing special programs for updating drivers (for example, Driver Booster). The application will automatically scan all the hardware, after which it will find and install the latest drivers for absolutely all devices in the system.
No sound in Windows 10: what to do in this situation
Finally, if there is no sound at all, try restoring the default settings in the soundcard settings, remove the device from the “Task Manager”, uninstall recently installed updates, apply a system rollback until the date when everything was fine with the sound.
But this does not always work. In Windows 10, you can update the sound by independently reinstalling the appropriate driver, but only for the installer you need to enable compatibility mode (most often it is better to use compatibility with Windows 8).
Brief summary
These are, in general terms, sound problems and methods for resolving them. Viruses that can affect drivers were not considered, as well as additional virtual software devices that need to be disabled or their own settings configured for playback. In addition, some of these programs during the installation process install their own devices or drivers for soundcards, so that they are used by default. But they can be completely incompatible with the installed equipment. So, such situations should be taken into account. But for the most part, the simplest methods help, starting from the correct choice of a playback device or disabling effects and ending with the installation of the latest driver. Compatibility mode can be used if the automatic driver update program for Windows 10 for specific equipment is not found.