Issue with sound card

[dart]

Steam does not find my sound card and I have no sound for all games. The "System Information" section shows "Sound card: Audio device: %s1". I have tried re-installing Steam and sound drivers but to no avail. Any ideas?

[dart]

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

Originally posted by :(:

As far as I see from the Windows forums the settings that you talk about are removed in Windows 11

I'm looking at this page right ---> https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-sound-settings-windows-11

And seems like there's a chance you might be able to do this. Can you get to the 3rd picture down settings page ---> https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uwSxFASEMYjk3JHZqqAsnT-970-80.jpg (not sure if this page will be removed or not by Steam) but in case you're not sure of the exact page I'm talking about look at that.

I went through the article but all the settings look ok. I mean the output device is correctly set to the speakers. And I cannot find any app-specific settings. In the mixer section explicitly clicked the reset settings for all apps but still no luck

[emoticorpse]

Originally posted by :(:

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

I'm looking at this page right ---> https://www.windowscentral.com/how-manage-sound-settings-windows-11

And seems like there's a chance you might be able to do this. Can you get to the 3rd picture down settings page ---> https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uwSxFASEMYjk3JHZqqAsnT-970-80.jpg (not sure if this page will be removed or not by Steam) but in case you're not sure of the exact page I'm talking about look at that.

I went through the article but all the settings look ok. I mean the output device is correctly set to the speakers. And I cannot find any app-specific settings. In the mixer section explicitly clicked the reset settings for all apps but still no luck

Well, do you know how to capture/post a pic like I have been doing? I'd like to see your settings. I do think playing with them will fix your problems but I need to see exactly what you're looking at in order to do that.

[_I_]

if you only see those 2 in audio control panel, you need the correct sound driver

get it from the oem site for the laptop model

[kingjames488]

is it showing up in device manager? pretty sure it should still show up as an unknown device there if there are no drivers.

if not maybe try the "scan for hardware changes" button.

[_I_]

windows grabs a generic driver, it may show as something it is not

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Does it say Realtek HD Audio?

[kingjames488]

I mean, it'll either show up as something or it's dead...

[dart]

I do not have unknown devices. The sound device is saying Realtek HD Audio and it seems to be working just fine for other apps

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Ok then it has nothing to do with Steam, it's a game issue perhaps.
Steam uses whatever Windows User has set as the Default.
Same as your Games. Steam doesn't dictate the Audio Output and Mic for your Games.

Go to the Laptop maker support site for your model of laptop and download the latest Realtek HD Audio Driver. Then go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and Uninstall the current Realtek HD Audio. Then run the installer you downloaded to install the latest driver.

[dart]

The issue is within Steam because it affects all games and also the music player of Steam. Does anyone knows how to run Steam in sth like verbose mode to collect additional logs?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

OMG
Steam does NOT dictate anything about your Audio for your Games. It's all handled by your OS. Collect what logs? Steam already does all that by default. Go look in C\Steam\Logs

Do not put Steam in OS Startup.

Launch Steam via the right click > Run As Admin option.

Do you have any other audio devices plugged in? Such as a USB Headset for example?

[dart]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

OMG
Steam does NOT dictate anything about your Audio for your Games. It's all handled by your OS. Collect what logs? Steam already does all that by default. Go look in C\Steam\Logs

Do not put Steam in OS Startup.

Launch Steam via the right click > Run As Admin option.

Do you have any other audio devices plugged in? Such as a USB Headset for example?

No additional devices and running as admin does not help.
The default logs does not contain anything meaningful that is why I am looking for a way to collect additional ones.
I do not believe you are correct that Steam does not affect games audio. All my other apps and games work properly beside those run through Steam.

[dart]

I have run the console with -v option and here is what I see as error. Anyone familiar with them?
GetDefaultAudioDevice(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154
GetAudioDeviceByName(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154
GetAudioDeviceByName(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154
GetDefaultAudioDevice(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154
GetAudioDeviceByName(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154
GetAudioDeviceByName(): CoCreateInstance failed: hr = 0x80040154

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Only thing it might handle with audio is for the Music Player within Steam, not Games.
And then your Mic for Voice Chat. Which again is dictated by your OS Settings.
With Steam running in background, go into the Windows Audio Settings and configure that. It should show Steam as an app that can use audio, from there you can choose what Steam should use for your audio.

For example I could have a Laptop hooked up to a TV via HDMI. Then in Win11 audio settings have my media player such as DVD player output audio to the TV, while all the other apps are defaulted to using the Realtek HD Audio (Speakers) so that audio comes out the Laptop Speakers and not the TV Speakers.

Couple systems we've had here that shipped with Win11 had issues similar to yours though. We ended up wiping them clean and put Win10 64bit 22H2 on them because Win11 has issues with some onboard devices/drivers.

I would at the least, go to Device Manager and Uninstall the Realtek HD Audio, once its gone, click the option in Device Manager to Scan for Hardware Changes. So it picks it up again as new and installs the built-in WinOS driver for that device and see if that helps. You can always reinstall the one from the Laptop maker if needed.

[Carlsberg]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

I would at the least, go to Device Manager and Uninstall the Realtek HD Audio, once its gone, click the option in Device Manager to Scan for Hardware Changes. So it picks it up again as new and installs the built-in WinOS driver for that device and see if that helps. You can always reinstall the one from the Laptop maker if needed.

Not just uninstall, delete it and force search for a new driver. You may find in this case the windows generic driver (if thats what you get), works better than the RT one.