Many users of the tenth version of Windows sometimes after updating to this modification, a “clean” installation or after installing updates for an existing system complain that there are problems with sound (for example, after updating Windows 10, the sound became quieter or disappeared at all). Why is this happening? There may not be so many reasons, but you can fix the problem in several simple ways, which are further proposed for consideration.
After updating Windows 10, the sound became quieter: what to do first
In the event of such a situation, the first step is to independently diagnose the sound system. If there is no sound, it has become lower in volume, there are extraneous noises or wheezing, first go to the sound system settings using RMB on the volume icon in the system tray with the selection of the elimination lineproblems.
If problems are found, the system will issue recommendations for their elimination at each stage. If no problems are found, the devices window will open. You can check them yourself. If there is no sound in Windows 10, select the active default device (it is indicated by a green checkmark) and click the settings button. Then go through a few steps to find problems. If none of these have any effect, and there is no sound in Windows 10 and after that, proceed to the next steps.
Select playback device
The tenth version of Windows in terms of sound system looks very interesting. This is because it can automatically add third-party playback devices, such as graphics adapter sound systems, HDMI devices, or even virtual control components like SoundMAX. Such devices are capable of intercepting control of the sound system, and their settings can just cause the volume to drop.
In the window showing all playback devices, disable all third-party devices and software audio components and select the device that is currently being used (for example, Re altek HD Audio speakers - by the way, there may be more than one, but two). Try a reproduction or test on each of them. Set the one that will work fine as the default device.
Disabling additional effects
Butsometimes the question of how to fix the sound (Windows 10), or rather, finding the answer to it, can come down to disabling unnecessary effects that many users have no idea about. So, for example, for the selected device, you can use the communication tab, which will show the options for lowering the volume when working with other applications (Skype, for example). Such settings can affect the volume, but not always.
It's better to use the properties button and there check the settings of several tabs (Enhancements, spatial sound or additional features). It is possible that surround sound, loudness or 7 + 1 playback are enabled in the parameters, and the sound system itself is not adapted for this. Turn off all effects and check the sound again.
Driver problems
But what if, indeed, after updating Windows 10, the sound became quieter, and the above methods did not fix the problem? Very often, the problem may be in the drivers. In this case, the situation can be twofold: either the driver needs to be updated, or the updated driver does not work correctly and 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 via 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 IDdevice and copy the longest line with IDs DEV and VEN, and then search for a 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 software for updating drivers (for example, Driver Booster). The application will automatically scan all hardware, after which it will find and install the latest drivers for absolutely all devices available in the system.
Sound disappeared in Windows 10: what to do in this situation
Finally, if there is no sound at all, in the soundcard settings, try restoring the default settings, remove the device from the "Task Manager", uninstall the recently installed updates, apply a system rollback to the date when everything was fine with the sound.
But that doesn't always work either. In Windows 10, you can update the sound by reinstalling the appropriate driver yourself, but only the installer itself needs to be in compatibility mode (most often it is better to use compatibility with Windows 8).
Summary
These are the general sound problems and how to fix them. Viruses that can affect drivers were not considered, as well as additional virtual software devices that need to be disabled or configured in their own settings in order to play. In addition, some such programs during the installation process independently installown 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, ranging from choosing the right playback device or disabling effects to installing the latest driver. Compatibility mode can be used if the Windows 10 auto-update software does not find a driver for specific hardware.
