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- No audio on Z420. Help!

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05-07-2020 04:32 AM
Hey all,
So here is my problem: I have an HP Z420 and all audio functions have stopped working.
It started after I had moved my PC onto a new desk. I took the power of the PC, removed all cables and then plugged everything back in. Everything went fine here, the PC wasn't dropped or anything.
I turned the PC back on and everything worked perfectly except for the audio. Which did not work at all.
To be specific:
-The internal speaker does not give any sound.
-Headphones plugged in front jack does not give any sound.
-Headphones plugged in rear jack does not give any sound.
So I first checked wether anything was set to mute. Nothing was, within the windows audio mixer I could even see the audio levels move up and down. According to Windows all sound was blasting but I could not hear anything.
I checked my audio devices, made sure they were there and Realtek was set to standard device. It was. Here I could also see the audio levels moving when I played a sound.
I checked within device manager wether anything was wrong but no red flags there.
I then reinsstalled all audio drivers (Realtek & Nvidia), this had no effect.
I installed older versions of the Realtek driver, the ones that were op the HP website. No effect.
I ran all Windows and HP updates (throught SoftPaq) No effect,
My last act of desperation was resetting the BIOS settings but this also had no effect.
In general everything looks like it should be working but it doesn't. The only other abnormalities I could find were:
-When I shut down the computer I need to force shutdown explorer.exe because it is trying to play the log off sound.
-Login has become significally slower (takes about a minute) Perhaps because Windows tries to play the login sound there?
-When I plugged the cable of my scanner back in the PC it started installing the driver. This is strange since I had already installed the driver months ago. I checked if other drivers were missing but everything else seemed fine.
I don't know what else to try, I'm starting to suspect it may be a motherboard issue but I don't know how to confirm that.
If anyone could help that would be greatly appreciated!
05-07-2020 09:50 AM
Hi TenL,
Welcome to the forum. I am assuming you are either using desktop speakers or have the audio output from your Z420 plugged into an audio in port on your monitor.
Please try right clicking on the volume icon and left click on Playback Devices. Please check that the Z420 internal sound (Realtek) is set as the playback source, i.e. not your graphics card. As you are aware, newer graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD also have an onboard sound chip and occassionaly Windows can inadvertently swap the playback source to the graphics card particulary if there is a driver update.
With regards to the scanner issue. If you have plugged the scanner into a different USB port then this can result in the driver re-installing.
05-07-2020 12:44 PM
Hey Brian,
Thanks you for you reply!
I am assuming you are either using desktop speakers or have the audio output from your Z420 plugged into an audio in port on your monitor.
-I am only using my headphones which I usually plug into the front jack. I also tried the rear jack but there is no output there either.
Please check that the Z420 internal sound (Realtek) is set as the playback source, i.e. not your graphics card.
-It is, I can also see the audiometer moving up and down. Here is a screenshot (Language set to Dutch, sorry)
Realtek High Definition Audio is set to default (Standaardapparaat)
All NVIDIA HDMI Output are not connected (Niet aangesloten)
When I play some audio, the audiometer to the right of Realtek device also reacts. It all seems to act as it should.
If you have plugged the scanner into a different USB port then this can result in the driver re-installing.
-Ah ok, that must have been what happend. Good to know!
05-07-2020 01:53 PM
Hi TenL,
When you stated you "re-installed all the audio drivers", did you first uninstall the old audio drivers via the control panel? This is an important step.
Would it be possible for you to check if you are getting audio through the Nvidia HDMI port? i.e. do you have an HDMI cable and a port on your monitor.
05-09-2020 08:10 AM - edited 05-09-2020 08:12 AM
"When you stated you "re-installed all the audio drivers", did you first uninstall the old audio drivers via the control panel?"
I reinstalled the drivers in 2 different ways:
1. I went to control panel->Device Manager and uninstalled Realtek High definition audio there.
Upon restarting Windows automatically installed a driver for the unknown device.
2. I later installed drivers that I downloaded from the HP website myself. I then did not uninstall the drivers first because uninstallment of the previous drivers was part of the installation proces of the new driver. This was specifically stated as the first step of the installation process.
Would it be possible for you to check if you are getting audio through the Nvidia HDMI port?
There is not HDMI port on my videocard (Nvidia Quadro k4000) . Only 2 display ports.
The cables I have are DisplayPort to DVI so I can't check wether audio is coming out that end.
05-10-2020 12:08 PM - edited 05-14-2020 10:05 AM
At this point I would recommend trying the BIOS Crisis Recovery procedure as a last resort to try and resurrect your onboard sound, (now after eliminating any possible driver or configuration issues). This procedure has been known to work for other individuals and it is not the same as simply resetting the BIOS. It is important that you follow the instructions exactly as detailed in the SDH post.
Sometimes the procedure doesn't 'take' on the first attempt, so best to be patient and re-try.
Should the above fail to get the onboard sound working then I'm afraid your only options would be to either buy a PCI sound card or replace the motherboard.
05-11-2020 07:15 AM
Ok, so I am currently trying the BIOS Crisis Recovery procedure.
I learned one thing: the internal speaker still works. After switching the recovery jumper the PC booted up and gave 8 beeps. That's the most sound I have gotten out of it since I moved the PC.
Apart from that, the recovery procedure seems to get stuck.
I start up the PC, it beeps. Then restarts, BOOT window shows on screen and then nothing happens. According to the post it should restart again at this point.
I'm going to keep trying and ask in the other thread if there are any suggestions.
05-11-2020 10:36 AM
Have you set the primary boot device to the USB ports in the BIOS? If you haven't then the system will try and boot straight into windows.
05-14-2020 06:56 AM
Hey Brian,
I ended up bringing the PC to a shop. They said it's a probably a motherboard issue. They did found a workaround for me: A usb stick with a jack output. This works, it gives me a stereo output.
Not a complete fix but it will have to do for now.
Thank you very much for your help!
05-14-2020 10:13 AM
Sorry to hear you were not able to get the onboard sound running. The fact that you heard beeps from the speaker when attempting the Crisis Recovery procedure means that the onboard Realtek sound chip is working. This would imply that the fault is either down to corrupted BIOS or a configuration issue, (e.g. damaged registry key, etc.).
Glad to hear you managed to get a work around.