Audio becomes tinny when earphones connected or discoonected while the laptop is running

[Premachandar]

For the last 2 months, the audio from wired earphones is tinny without any bass and when I uninstall the Realtek driver from the device manager, windows automatically installs the same driver again upon restart. Then it sounds normal but for some reason, once I disconnect and reconnect the earphones it goes back to the tinny sound.

I couldn't say if it is the same case for the built-in speakers because they naturally don't have much bass. And I don't have wireless earphones to check with them. Because of this issue, I am regularly updating windows (even the optional updates) to see if it gets fixed but still, the issue didn't get resolved.

I am currently running Windows 11 21H2

Realtek Audio Driver Version: 6.0.9235.1

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Echo_Lake]

@Premachandar

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.
 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help, I appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue.

Let's try these steps to resolve the issue: 

1. Shut the computer off completely.

2. Turn on the computer and immediately press the F2 key repeatedly, about once every second.

   The HP PC Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI) home page displays.

3. Select Component Tests.

   Figure : Selecting the Component Tests

   

4. On the Component Tests menu, select Audio.

   NOTE: If your HP PC Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI) does not have the Audio test, it is an older version. To upgrade to the latest version, click here for Notebooks.

   Figure : Selecting the Audio tests

   

5. On the Audio Playback Test, select Run Once.

   Figure : Starting the Audio test

   

6. Select Headphone to begin the test.

   NOTE: Make sure to connect your headphone or headset; otherwise the test will not run.

   Figure : Running the Audio Playback test

   

7. During the test, a few music notes will be played in sequence and then repeated. Select the number of notes you hear in the sequence.

   If you hear no sound, select No sound.

   Figure : Entering the number of notes you hear

   

8. If the test fails, a failure ID will be provided. Have the failure ID available when contacting HP Support.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[NancyK13]

I'm noticing the high number of audio issues posted over the past week or so and wondering if there's something else going on. I began having what could be described as a tinny sound or an echo on December 31st and since then it has been intermittent but overall worse over time. I discovered while troubleshooting that if I insert an audio jack for headphones, the sound is no longer audible externally, so I can only assume that the problem is related somehow to the audio controls for the headphones--but when no jack is in place the external sound (noise) is so bad no one in the room can stand it. When I run the audio hardware tests it all checks out fine--but the sound is so bad I must keep the device on mute all the time now.

HP Pavilion 15z-cw100 notebook

Operating system Windows 11 Home 64-bit Version: 22000.376

Audio:

Device 1 Default Speaker

Realtek High Definition Audio 

Driver RTKVHD64.sys    Version 6.0.8950.1 

Disabling the audio device then restarting the laptop stops the noise, but as soon as I re-enable the audio device the sound returns. No newer driver can be found by the usual means, and the HP site has no driver support for Windows 11. Note that I found reference to a Patch HDA driver on the Realtek site: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.realtek.com%2Fimages%2Fsafe-report%2FRealtek_High_Defination_Audio_Windows_driver_RTKVHD64.sys_VulnerabilityCVE-2021-32537.pdf&clen=511233&chunk=true  but I can't find the patch.

I also found a potential solution here https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/Is-there-a-Realtek-R-Audio-driver-for-windows-11-Home-S... but tried it and couldn't get it to work.

There is also this:

Device 2 Default Microphone

AMD High Definition Audio Device

Driver AtihdWT6.sys Version 10.0.1.12

Status Enabled   *Note that  in the Audio Test  each audio device appears twice, and this AMD device shows status Enabled once but Unplugged  the second time, which seems odd to me.  A quick search found lots of problems and solutions related to the AMD High Def Audio Device Unplugged error but I haven't pursued this since I suspect the Realtek driver is my issue based on the above.

I'd really love to find a solution so I can video conference and otherwise use my audio again.

[Premachandar]

Thanks for your quick reply but unfortunately the hardware diagnostics did not help me. The component test couldn't find any issues with the hardware, my laptop passes the audio test. Please suggest me another solution.

Thank You

[Echo_Lake]

@Premachandar @NancyK13

Thank you for posting back. 

I appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue. 
The last thing I can suggest, try and restore the OS back to the factory default, which will isolate the issue.  The HP Cloud Recovery Tool allows you to download recovery software to a USB drive. You can use the downloaded recovery image file in order to install the Windows operating system. 

• Click here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04758961#AbT3to perform System Recovery (Windows 10) This document is for Notebook PCs as well. 
• Click here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c06162205 to Use the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10)

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[NancyK13]

So...believe it or not I think I found a solution. I waited a day and a half to be sure before posting, but the noise has not returned. Although I had been regularly running all automatic updates on my laptop, I noticed two days ago that there were 3 optional updates uninstalled. One was an AMD driver, but installing that did not help. The last two were HP Inc. - SoftwareComponent - 4.2.809.0 and HP Inc. - SoftwareComponent - 1.39.2645.0. I have no idea what they are, but once I installed them and restarted my laptop--the noise was simply gone. Fingers crossed that it stays this way and that this will help someone else also.

[Premachandar]

Thanks for the reply but unfortunately my laptop is dead after installing an optional bios update😞.

The customer care people said it will take 2 weeks to fix. Once I get it fixed, I will try your solution.

Thanks for your quick reply.

[Premachandar]

Thanks for the reply but I do not want to go back to windows 10. Will this issue be fixed if I go back to windows 10 and update to 11 again? if not, please suggest me any other method🙏

Thank You.

[NancyK13]

My audio problems began after I upgraded to Windows 11, and I resolved the issue while still running Windows 11. I had no reason to revert back to Windows 10.

[Premachandar]

Can you please share the steps you did to resolve the issue?