Audio driver issues envy 15m-ee0013dx

[mfalchion]

I'm sorry, but this is extremely unprofessional on HP's end. I thought I was alone with this and thought it was a hardware issue. This has only been out for a short time, and yet HP are being incredibly ignorant with this problem. I've got HP care for 3 years, and seriously failure for them to sort this issue within 3 months, i'll be returning it. I dont know, maybe its a hardware issue that HP are fully aware of and refuse to sort, as it would cost them a lot of money to refund customers? Who knows!

[Kevin_V]

Same issue here as well with Model #15M-EE0013DX.

[Orvy]

AUDIO DRIVER ISSUES ON HP Envy x360 15m-ee0013dx laptop computers with AMD Ryzen CPU and AMD Radeon Graphics card. 

The issue is that the MIC and Speakers fail intermittently during Video Chat (Zoom, Skype) calls and occasionally "lock up" while emitting a loud noise (sometimes high pitch, sometimes a buzz) from the speakers.  The issues seems common to most HP Envy machines recently produced (since, say, July 2020).

This suggested fix is a compilation of information and advice received from other HP Envy users, most notably from Blyat, who really seems to have figured this out.  The information is anecdotal and appears to be unsupported by HP. 

The crux of the problem appears to be that the 15m-ee0013dx HP Envy x360 laptop is shipped with a minimalistic graphics driver version - a "lite" version, if you will.  This version either is not fully functional or is quickly replaced by Microsoft or Realtek drivers when system Updates are made.  The Updated drivers are broken and fail.

The sound on the Envy x360 is controlled by the Radeon Graphics controller (yes, sound controlled by graphics).

HP has not been able to solve this issue.  They see it as a "software" problem and try to charge users/owners an additional fee as a result.  In fact, this is a driver, or driver conflict issue and the problem has been in locating and verifying the correct, good driver to use.  It has been complicated by the fact that there is a Bang & Olufsen Audio Control, Realtek components, a Radeon Graphics Controller, Windows and Windows Update process - multiple hands in the pie.  This appears to be the best and most likely solution to date.

The apparent fix for the sound problems is a multistep process:

1) Remove the initial, old, or broken drivers

2) Clean up any remaining old AMD drivers

3) Install the new AMD Radeon software and drivers that correctly handle the hardware

4) Prevent the system from overwriting the newly installed correct drivers.

Here are the recommended steps:

1. If you want to be thorough, open the Device Manager (type "Device" into search line), open the "Sound, Video and Game Controllers", right click and UNINSTALL all the devices in there.  The one labeled "AMD High Definition Audio Device" is the MIC.  It should be uninstalled, too.
2. Although it may not be required, you can also uninstall the program "HP Audio Switch".  As Blyat notes, it really doesn't do anything.  You can find it at start > settings > apps or by searching for "Add or Remove Programs ..." on the search line.
3. Go to https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601 , download, install and execute the AMD Cleanup Utility to remove all old, initial AMD software and drivers.  Reboot, if required.
4. Then go to the AMD Radeon Support page: https://www.amd.com/en/support , download and execute the Auto-Detect and Install utility.  As Blyat notes, this will not only install the most current and correct drivers, but will add Radeon Graphics software for your system - which is nice.  During this installation, make sure the "Factory Reset" box is checked - it should be by default.  Follow the prompts and reboot the system as directed. 
5. Finally, Blyat also discovered that you need to prevent the Windows Update process from reinstalling the broken drivers.  While there is no permanent and foolproof way to do this (that I know of), you can stave off possible reinstallation of the bad drivers by postponing Windows Updates.  This will at least give you time to confirm that the installation of the Radeon Drivers was correct.  To pause or postpone Updates, go to start > settings > update & security and PAUSE the updates for 7 days. 

I applied this fix per Blyat's recommendation and it appears to be working.  If you try this and it works for you, go to Blyat's post of 09-08-2020 11:19 AM and confirm this solution.  He deserves the credit. 

On the other hand, this fix could still be considered "beta" in that it has been used exactly twice with consistent results.  Your use of this will confirm that it is an "Accepted Solution".  If you try this, please report back so that those who follow us will know it works.

[TofuHater]

Thanks to this thread, I now have a series of steps to try and see what works best on my brand new HP Envy 15z.  

EDIT: I am also noticing that the mic and mute function key lights work only intermittently.All other function keys wseem to work fine. I have now switched to a bluetooth headset and disabled internal mic to see if fixes the issue.

Edit 9/10/20- my noted solution above (somebody else's original idea) worked and I was finally able to attend a meeting without incident. Use bluetooth headset and disable internal mic is the quickest solution IMO if you have a headset sitting around.

[raptor15]

This is a great fix! I did the same thing for mine, but the auto-detecter didn't install. Instead, I usedthe specific installer for the APU that is used (Ryzen 5 4500U) here: https://www.amd.com/en/support/apu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-5-mobile-processors-radeon-graphic...

I followed the same steps that Orvy and Blyat came up with and just supped this for the AMD driver reinstalled. Once that was installed, everything worked perfectly!

Big thanks to Orvy and Blyat 🙂

[JPazM]

I've been using an external USB mic and disabled the internal mic, while still using internal speakers; no issues since doing so.  I would like to have my laptop function as intended without having external hardware plugged in, but I think this is the easiest fix, especially for us that have children attending school on it.  I AM inclined to try Blyat and Orvy's approach and I appreciate the detailed instructions.  My question would be, if you delay updates say for 7 days, will it eventually update and then reocurr if "current drivers" are still the same mismatched or failing ones?  Or, if you keep delaying updates indefinitely, how to know when it is actually safe to update?  I imagine you wouldn't want old outdated drivers at some point.  I hope HP comes up with a software solution for this.

[Orvy]

The issue with continuing to delay the Updates for 7 Days is real, as you suggest.  For the time being, you either have to delay the Updates done by Windows OR be willing to reinstall the AMD drivers, or redirect the device manager to use the AMD drivers as they may not be deleted or overwritten by Windows, and may still be on your system when an update occurs. 
Eventually, you are going to have to do the Windows updates.  You might be able to look through the list and exclude anything that affects the sound cards, but that depends on your Updates settings and whether you automatically accept them.   That's kind of a Windows Update maintenance management issues - I just wanted you to be aware of the fact that Windows can come along and roach your good drivers again, so you needed to be forewarned.
Also, eventually, Windows may get the drivers corrected - but who knows when.  However, I would trust the drivers from AMD first - they are written specifically for the Radeon Graphics card.

[Musicpos]

The Windows drivers should come from AMD, so they should fix that.  However, my mic failed again today after being on most of the day.

[Charles1971]

Just get an external Mic for the online meeting.  I have been using for 2 weeks, very stable.  $10 from Amazon saves you days of resetting hours.

[Blyat]

Nice job @Orvy with writing everything up into a more user friendly way to use this solution; and thank you for giving me credit in there, really appreciate that! I'm glad its working out for you, I as well haven't had any problems since putting my updates on pause.

I should note that you can press that "pause for 7 days" button up to 4 times; I'm currently paused for a month (the max). We will need updates eventually but I'm really hoping that some proactive employee from HP/AMD/Microsoft takes notice of our work here and helps us out by fixing things on the back end.

I'm going to look into a way of telling the computer to ignore that update if we still haven't heard anything official in that time.