AMD HDMI port on dv7 laptop is lost after Win10 free trial reverts to Win7 Home Premium edition

[RTX]

My laptop was purchased in Sep-2010 and runs Win7 Home Premium Ed. (64-bit).

It has worked perfectly until around June-2016, when the obnoxious Win10 free trial forced itself on my laptop.  As I had no choice I used Win10 for just a day or 2 and then found out that: 

(1) I had lost the HDMI port audio capability, which I use to connect to my TV,and

(2) The trial Win10 allowed me to revert to Win7, which I promptly did.

In my restored Win 7, everything was fine, except when I goto Sound in Control Panel to configure/reconfigure HDMI as the default, I could not -- the item that used to show up as "AMD HDMI Audio" no longer appears.  I recall a message during the Win10 free trial period that says it disabled all incompatible hardware.  Without a doubt, Win10 free trial "killed" this HDMI port/device, at least audio-wise.

Today, I still run the same Win7, but I can no longer get HDMI audio on this port.  When I connect to my TV, only the video works.  The Device Manager of Win7 shows it with an exclamation mark in yellow and when I right-click it to get more details, there is a message from Microsoft saying: 

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52).

Is there a way to "get this back"?  'this' = AMD HDMI audio.  (and wthout messing up the graphics - i.e., video)

I have tried to install AMD-supplied [graphics] drivers and that didn't work. AMD's website states that the audio drivers are embedded in the package for graphics drivers.  There is also tremendous confusion in the way these low-level items are named/described:  ATI and AMD, because they merged, have been used somewhat interchangeably.  I also tried the AMD graphics drivers from HP Support website specific to my laptop and it only got worse.

Thanking you for your kind consideration.

[DavidSMP]

Hi @RTX ,

Welcome to the HP forums! It is a great way to engage, post questions and find resolutions by working with specialists in the HP community. I understand that your computer has issues with HDMI audio even after rolling back to windows 7. It’ll be a pleasure to assist you with this. 🙂

At the outset, you have done a terrific job on troubleshooting and I am really impressed at your troubleshooting skills and levels of technical expertise. Hats off to you on that score! It is always a genuine pleasure to work with tech-savvy customers like you.

Please use this link: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Pavilion-dv7-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/428... to download and install the drivers in this order.

Please update the bios, the chipset drivers, the audio drivers and the graphic drivers. It should ideally do the trick for you. Please uninstall the drivers first and then download and install them.

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care now and have a splendid week ahead. 🙂

[RTX]

Hello there,

Thank you for your advice to un-install/reinstall BIOS, graphics, audio and chipset drivers.

I returned to the same webpage you sent me, which is exactly the same as what I've been using from the beginning.

------------------------ BIOS and Intel chipset ---------------------------

(1)  BIOS -- my BIOS is up-to-date and the latest, from several years ago.  F.29.  Assume this doesn't need re-doing. 

Q1 -- Please confirm/correct my understanding: i.e., I do not need to update the BIOS.

(2)  Intel chipset -- HP webpage lists 3 drivers/software items:

        2a   Intel Chipset Installation Utility and Driver

        2b   Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) Driver

        2c   Intel Turbo Boost Technology Driver

Q2 -- Is the order important, or is there a specific order in which these 3 should be installed?  See related Q5 below.

Q3 -- You asked to un-install them first.  I assume this will be done from Device Manager (screen snapshot follows):

   Please confirm that this is where I should perform the un-install.

Q4 -- On this screen I see only 2 lines to be un-installed.  Are these 2 the correct ones to un-install? 

           Are there others/more and if so, where do I find them in order to un-install?

Q5 -- After un-installing, do I then exit Device manager and then run (i.e., install) the 3 Softpaqs

            sp52355  (Installation utility & driver)

            sp52353  (Mgt. Engine interface, MEI)

            sp47397  (Turbo Boost technology)

           corresponding to the 3 Intel chipset drivers lised in (2) above, with a related question Q2 on the same subject.

------------------------------ GRAPHICS drivers  ----------------------------------------

Per HP webpage, I carefully reviewed your rev level nos. and compared it withe what's actually right now on my laptop:

                                                         HP webpage #                            Actual on laptop (i.e., currently running)

AMD high-definition                     8.771.1.0                                  8.771.1.0 (named 'ATI' in description)

Intel high-definition                     8.15.10.2189                          8.771.1.0 (named 'ATI' in description)  <<< why? 

Q6 -- I will un-install both from Device Manager and exit to install the 2 Softpaqs:

           sp50640 (AMD/ATI), and

           sp52531 (Intel).

           Please confirm.

------------------ AUDIO drivers  ---------------------------------------------------------

Per HP webpage, I carefully reviewed your rev level nos. and compared it withe what's actually right now on my laptop:

                             HP webpage #                Actual on laptop (i.e., currently running)

AMD                 <does not exist>                    Microsoft error message: cannot confirm digital signature (Error 52)

IDT                      6.10.6292.0                          6.10.6292.0 

Q7 -- I will un-install both from Device Manager and then install:

                 sp55461  -- for Conexant USB audio driver, and

                 sp50642 -- for IDT high-definition.

          Please confirm.

--------------------  Sequence of installing these 3 groups -----------------------------

Q8 -- is it important that I:

un-install/reinstall the Intel chipset drivers first (all 3), followed by  Graphics, then Audio?

Please confirm/correct if sequence is proper.

Many thanks for your patience and understanding.

[DavidSMP · Accepted solution]

Hi @ RTX,

Awesome response. I read the details and depth of your post. I understand clearly that the bios is up to date. So you could do away with that update.

Now coming to the other updates. This will be the order.

1. Chipset driver uninstallation and reinstallation. 

2. Graphics drivers uninstallation and reinstallation

3. Audio drivers uninstallation and reinstallation.

Before uninstallation, you could try to update the drivers from device manager also and if it works that will be great. Please do it only  if you've not done it already.

Before the uninstallation please make sure that you capture an image of the complete device manager window. Take a couple of snaps from your cell phone. Please make a note of the exact device drivers for audio, video, and chipset. Then you need to uninstall them from device manager and install them  from the support site in the above-mentioned order so that there is no confusion. 

If nothing works as a last resort, You may need to perform a complete system recovery to factory settings. Please backup your files before doing it. This can be done from the recovery partition of your computer's hard drive.

Link for system recovery:  http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-dv7-Entertainment-Notebook-PC-series/4284279/model/4...

Please keep me posted.I hope it pans out well.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care now and have a splendid week ahead. 🙂

[RTX]

Hello DavidSMP,

Many thanks for taking the time to read my request for clarification.

To make a long story short, I now have the HDMI audio restored.  My net experience may be summarized as follows:

** The Intel Chipset drivers ran 100% to completion without any error, but did not seem to have "applied themselves".  Yes, per your advice I took note of the Rev.Level # BEFORE and AFTER, and they stayed the same. 

I could not use the Device Manager "style" of installing the new driver (update button) because the SoftPaq must first be unzipped and the location of the corresponding INF file known. 

Also, I found out that the other two - MEI (Management Engine Interface) and Turbo Boost Tech, could only be un-installed from Control Panel >> Programs and Features, but I had no way of confirming, either before or after, what the correct revLevel #'s are.

Just on the first related item - Intel chipset utility and driver (sp52355) :

     - Rev.Level # BEFORE update = 9.1.1.1020                     - Rev.Level # AFTER = 9.1.1.1020  (the same)

But sp50640, per HP website, says the Rev.Level # should be  9.1.1.1027.  This tells me it "didn't work".

** sp50640 - labelled as AMD Graphics driver was the SoftPaq that made the difference.  Indeed, after everything was done and I rebooted the laptop, the descriptions for both Graphics and Sound now say 'ATI' instead of 'AMD'.

** I left the IDT Audio and Intel Graphics untouched.  A "buried secret" that was confirmed here, which I have not seen anywhere in writing, is that installing the 'AMD Graphics' implicitly installs the AMD Hi-def audio (HDMI).

** Since I know nothing about Win7 internals, I surmise from this experience that Microsoft Win7 has a way of enforcing -- more like forcing -- certain aspects of these low-level components into the configuration, whether the user likes it or not.  This is perhaps for the good of the user, but it can be confusing when the user is led to believe that he can change/update/rollback drivers when sometimes they just cannot.   Perhaps I did not install the Intel Chipset driver correctly, but this experience suggests there is some overriding factor behind the scenes which isn't well-understood.

The bottom line is I am glad the HDMI is back and working.  Thank you very much for your inputs, without which I would have been lost in this area and still be without a functioning HDMI audio port.

Best,

R.Tan

[DavidSMP]

Hi @RTX,

I thank you for you reply. I am really happy for you that the issue has been resolved. You've been simply great to work with and it has been a real privilege to work with you.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help.

Take care now and have a blessed weekend