Conexant audio driver installs and works, then randomly disappears

[Houghy26]

David,

It looks like you already knew about the this problem when I was in contact with you a couple of days ago, why did you not tell me about this fix?  I have just found this thread.

However, I do not have the High Definition Audio Device named above, on my system, and I cannot find it on your drivers page.  Please send me a link fort his driver, as it appears that this is the same problem as I told you about with my bachine.

[vik42]

I haved owned this HP 17" computer since July 7, 2017. The Conexant audio device driver has failed (no audio driver found) 8 or 9 times as evidenced by by 9 /10 Case numbers.  My contentiion due to HP Documents concerning Security Bulletins and continus failures of  this audio driver,  (I bought this computer directly from HP)  is that HP knowningly sold to me a faulty computer.  I have gone thru lenghtly resets with both HP tech and "Smart Friend" which can last a few hours up to 7 hours on the phone.  At one time they had me purchase a $55 disc with the cpmplete (?) operating system on it, and then of course 2 days to install it.  None of this has fixed the problem.  I am reading all the reports that too many purchasers of HP products with this defective audio device are having continues, ongoing problems with this audio device of  which HP is evidently unable to fix for any lenght of time.  I suggest a class action suit against HP for replacement of the knowinly faulty computers they sold to us, the unsuspecting consumer.  I too purchased the $350 top of the line replacement warrenty,  and the Smart Friend service $49 fee, & $99. fee plus the $15 per month.  We have caught the "techs" at Smart Friend in lie after lie.  From what thier name is to the actuall name of the company of which we are allowing to take remote control of our computer systems.  The latest lie was they had my computer in fornt of them, physically, (it had been sent in for  repair)....that was proven to be a lie,   1- later "John" asked if I was working on my iMac or my HP   2- I received a notice from the real HP that they had received my computer in Tenn,date and time of receipt, which was the day after I talked to "John".  

[Houghy26]

I completely agree with vik42.  HP Tech Support are abysmal, and have been caught out lying to customers.  I fail to see any reasoning behind this.  I feel we all need compensation from them them for the amount of time and money spent trying to sort problems out that they are fully aware of, and in some cases know the solution but inexplicably will not release it to us.

For anyone who still has an audio problem with their HP machine, I eventually found sp80329,   (ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp80001-80500/sp80329.html) , and have not suffered any further audio  problems since I implemented it on my laptop.  Bearing in mind that the effective date for this driver is 14 May 2017, I am disgusted that the useless, grovelling Tech Support people at HP did not pass this on.  HP Tech support is not fit for service in my opinion, yetr still expect us to 'praise' them all the time.  Good luck vik42.

[zadorski]

In short:

It looks Windows Update is finally pushing some fixes to a stable channel...

At least I hope that's the case.

Currently, I do have sound playing at HP ProBook 450 G3 featured with Conexant / Intel Display Audio hardware.

I've been fighting with no sound problem for a few months already. 

Each time struggling to find a working solution of the red cross on a sound icon. 

I've tried multiple steps to rescue and each time going to despair by "Audio service is not responding" and silence in speakers and headphones...

I'll share steps tried for a future reference, at least some of them resulted in success:

1. Update BIOS
2. Windows Update 
3. All updates applied through HP Support Assistant
4. Install / reinstall / update Conexant and other devices in sound controllers group (multiple times)

It worked from time to time, although it reverted back to the same silence problem.

Eventually, I had started thinking sound sub-system is fragile and unstable to a great extent.

I've never thought so in pre-HP experience of mine, where sound presence was always rock-solid once installed... 

Now, in a moment of success, let me share steps helped me to resolve the problem (with music playing on the background):

1. Force Device manager to think you're still with "Conexant Smart Audio HD" (so, use Update driver -> manually pick from the list -> even tick the checkbox to unhide those "unsupported" versions -> I deliberately ignored a suggested "Conexant ISST Audio" with an intent to override existing driver).
2. Let Windows update to update the driver to "Conexant ISST Audio" (might be both two initial steps were not necessary).
3. No sound issue had been presented at this moment.
4. Yet another Windows update had appeared stating two new fixes "Intel Corporation - Extension - 20.110.1.1" and "Conexant - MEDIA - 8.65.262.0".
5. Applying both updates brought sound back. 

That being said, Conexant 8.65 driver hadn't affected Conexant 9.0.230.2 pushed to the system earlier by HP Support Assistant.

Also, worth mentioning, the previous updates to Intel chipset hadn't solved the problem:

• Intel - Media - 8.20.0.922 applied at Feb 11, 2019 
• Intel - Extension - 20.70.0.4 applied at Feb 1, 2019

As of now, I have the following versions:

Just for your information, to let you know, there is light at the end of the tunnel 🙂