Conexant audio driver installs and works, then randomly disappears

[wmccrack]

In an earlier visit to HP's site several weeks ago, this message popped up: "Conexant HD audio driver potential security vulnerability A potential security vulnerability has been identified with certain versions of Conexant HD Audio Drivers on select HP products. Check if your PC is affected and download software fix."

I checked and my laptop was listed as one of the affected computers so I applied the recommended fix. It appeared to work until about a day later when it stopped and the audio control in the taskbar indicated "No Audio Output Device is Installed" when I hovered over it.

Re-installation of the fix (Conexant HD driver, version 8.65.203.1.F.3, download  SP80328) results in the audio working again - for a few days and then I get the message "No Audio Output Device is Installed" again.  This has happened at least 5 or 6 times now. It stops in the middle of a session, not on re-boot. When I re-install  the fix it works for a day or two and then it stops working again.

In Device Manager when it is working I have the following:

Under "Sound, video and game controllers":

• Conexant ISST Audio
• Intel(R) Display Audio

Under "Audio inputs and outputs "

• Microphone Array (Conexant ISST Audio)
• Conexant ISST Audio

When it is NOT working the Conexant ISST Audio device s missing from "Audio inputs and outputs". Everything else appears the same. That device appears to sontaneously disappear.

Before the latest re-install I "Uninstalled" each of the devices, and then installed the recommended fix hoping that a clean reinstall might solve the problem. I also downloaded a fresh version of the fix first.

It just quit again after about two days !!! I get the "No Audio Output Device is Installed" message  again and the "Conexant ISST Audio" device is missing under "Audio inputs and outputs" in Device Manager.

Unless someone can convince me otherwise, my interpretation is that there is a bug in the security fix.

HP Please  help: Fix this driver or tell me what else I can do.

[wmccrack]

Just noticed that if I simply reboot, the Conexant device reappears under Audio Inputs and Outputs. It has disappeared ("No Audio Output Device is Installed" again) twice in the past 24 hours. 

[Riddle_Decipher]

@wmccrack

Thank you for posting on HP Forums, 

Riddle_Decipher is at your service. 

As I Understand the Conexant audio driver installs and works, then randomly disappears

No worries, as I'll be glad to help you, that said, I'll need a few more details to dissect your concern & provide an accurate solution: 

Did you know that there are certain versions of audio driver updates from Conexant that may not be authorized by HP and the same could be causing the issue?

That said, Did you update the drivers from the HP website?

If you have and yet the issue persists, please try the below steps:

• Go to PC Settings -
• General -
• Scroll down to Advanced Start Up -
• Troubleshoot -
• Advanced Options -
• Start Up Settings -
• on the next screen use 7 or F7 to Disable Device Signature Enforcement.

Let me know how that pans out

I hope you have a good day ahead,

And Feel free to ask any other queries as  well,

Considering, this forum has some of the best people in the world available and ready to help.

{If this resolved your concern, Click on "Accept as Solution" & the Purple Thumbs up}.

[wmccrack]

The driver I installed is the one that HP said I should update due to security concerns (mistakenly embedded keylogger left in the production driver). I downloaded it from the list of drivers for my laptop model on the HP site.

OK I followed your instructions to disable driver signature checking. I will need to wait to see if the problem re-occurrs.

I suspect that this will not solve my problem however because it appears from a Google search this solution overcomes audio driver and other problems where the driver doesn't load on startup because of a bad signature. I my case the driver loads fine and runs for a period of time (up to several days) and then it just randomly quits.

Is there any possibility that sleep or hibrenate could cause a problem like this when waking up. I normally use both. Sleep if inactive for a short time and hibrenate if inactive longer. I disabled sleep and it recurred so it's not that. Maybe I'll try hibrenate next.

One other thing: When I installed the recommended connexat audio update I noticed that the Intel(R) Display Audio driver disappeared from the Audio input and outputs device category but is is still in the Sound, video and game controllers category as it was before. i.e. it was in both previously but now only the one.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@wmccrack

Thank you for replying,

Please take your time and get back to me with the results,

I'll be awaiting your response and would be glad to help.

Feel free to post your query for any other assistance as well,

It's been a pleasure interacting with you and I hope you have a good day ahead.

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accepted Solution.

And click on the Purple Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

[wmccrack]

So, like I expected that did not work.

I Disabled Device Signature Enforcement as you suggested and the driver worked afterwards last evening. This morning I get "No Audio Output Device is Installed" again and the Conexant ISST Audio device is missing from "Audio inputs and outputs" again.

Am I the only one with this issue? If so that is weird but if it is just my machine it should be fixable. Are you sure that there is no issue with the new Conexant driver (9.0.140.1 Rev.F) contained in the download (sp80328.exe)?

BTW: As I mentioned I ruled out any problems related to wakeing from sleep yesterday so I reinstated sleep yesterday but disabled hibrenate to test that. So the fact that the driver disappeared again after that rules out hibrenate as a potential cause so I just reinstated that again.

Any thoughts would be very welcome. I appreciate your efforts to assist me. Hopefully we can figure this out.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@wmccrack

Thank you for responding,

It's great to have you back 😉

You are right, that's entirely possible and hence, I recommend you try the below steps to reinstall the last working drivers:

• Go to device manager (You can give a right click on Windows logo on bottom left corner of your screen and select device manager from the list)
• Now maximize the “Sound, video and game controllers” from the list. You will see the audio driver. Right-click on “Conexant ISST Audio” and select “Update driver software”. (This could be another manufacturer as well. Not necessarily Conexant ISST Audio) 
• Select “Browse my computer for driver software” – Select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”. 
• Select “High Definition Audio Device” (Not Conexant ISST Audio...  This is important) and click Next. You will get a warning message but reply “Yes”. 
• Once windows have successfully updated the driver software, try playing the audio and check again.
   
• Right-Click on start button> click device manager> expand sound video and game controllers>then select the sound drivers and right-click on it and uninstall the audio drivers. Then check the box delete the software for this device. 
   
• Then restart the computer and update the bios, chipset and audio drivers from this link: Click here and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Then check if the situation has been corrected.

If I have helped you resolve the issue, 

Feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon 

Followed by clicking on 'Accepted as Solution' 

And Have a great day ahead!

[wmccrack · Accepted solution]

OK, I did only the first part of your solution as the second part I have done several times already and would only reinstall the driver that has apparently caused the problem.

So the first part:

In Device Manager I selected Conexant ISST Audio and clicked Update Driver as you suggested.  I picked  “Browse my computer for driver software” and it found only two choices, the "Conexant ISST Audio" and  "Conexant SmartAudio HD". (It didn't find your suggested pick "High Definition Audio Device". I selected and "Conexant SmartAudio HD".

So in Device Manager the device is now called "Conexant SmartAudio HD" instead of "Conexant ISST Audio" as  I believe it was called when the laptop was new.

I'm a bit concerned about the warning that I got about security concerns with the original audio driver. I'm not sure if the current driver is the one with that concern.  There is discussion about an embedded keylogger that  HP inadvertantly left in the production version of an HP audio driver. 

This is the HP Alert that I get for my model:

• "Conexant HD audio driver potential security vulnerability A potential security vulnerability has been identified with certain versions of Conexant HD Audio Drivers on select HP products. Check if your PC is affected and download software fix. View article"

I did check and my laptop as suggested and it was on the list of affected PCs, which is why I updated the audio driver in the first place. The official update installs Microsoft certified "Conexant ISST Audio".

So, bottom line, it seems to be working so far, however:

• I am concerned about a potential  security vulnerability with the current driver
• Since the device name is not what the laptop came with I'm not sure that it is totally compatible with the hardware on my laptop

I'll give it another day or so to see if it keeps working before I mark your assistance as "The Solution". Also  I'll test audio functionality with the new driver and if I find something that doesn't work properly I'll get back to you. So I'd appreciate it if you could please keep monitoring this thread for a bit longer.

I really appreciate  your assistance in all of this. Thanks !!

[wmccrack]

BTW One more thing:

I was concerned about the possibility of a keylogger so I searched for log files and found one called "HPAudioSwitch.log". It gives an account of audio driver events back to when the laptop was new and so may explain a lot.

I don't see a way to attach a non-picture file to this message but I can send it some other way if you think it is worth it.

[DavidSMP]

Hi @wmccrack,

I reviewed the post. Brilliant effort, great troubleshooting and excellent determination displayed to try and resolve the issue. Kudos to you for a job well done. 🙂 As @Riddle_Decipher is out of office for the day, I am responding on his behalf. Please ensure that you continue using the last driver that you have downloaded as it seems to be working fine. HP drivers, when downloaded from an authentic HP website, should not give rise to any security concerns. It is absolutely safe to download install and use them. My colleague @Riddle_Decipher is very competent and has done a lot of research here. 

As far as the other audio driver is concerned (switch) you could ignore it for now. Please mark @Riddle_Decipher's post as an accepted solution as it will help several others with the same issue to get it fixed. Also, give his post a Kudos for his efforts to help.

Take care and have a blessed day. !