Disable Bang and Olufsen Audio control

[Jacob-d-m]

Hello everyone, 

so I've been having an issue where I am not able to remove the stock Bang and Olufsen Audio Control app that comes standard with the new Spectre 2017 notebook lineup. I have followed every thread such as this one bellow.

Thread: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/I-want-to-disable-quot-Bang-amp-Olufsen-Experience-quot/...

Specifically, the parts in these threads that are not the same for me is when they go to choose the option "high definition audio" instead of the "Realtek High Definition Audio". I do not have any option like this I am only given the stock "Realtek High Definition Audio" option. I even unselected the compatibility option and manually located the high definition audio driver from windows. This still did not work as I was not able to use my speakers after installing the driver. 

I want to uninstall the Bang and Olufsen app and install a better EQ app such as VIPER or even the Realtek EQ itself would be better. The stock Bang and Olufsen app seems to make my audio sound extremely tin like and I believe my own equalizing skills are much better suited for my specific laptop.

Any help what so ever would be greatly appreciated!

[Dvortex]

Hello, @Jacob-d-m - Greetings!

Thanks for reaching out! I'd like to help 🙂

I understand that you are trying to disable the B&O audio control. Let's try the steps listed here:

1. Go to Windows Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers section.
2. In the list of audio device drivers, look for Realtek High Definition Audio. This is the device driver for BeatsAudio.
3. Right-click and select Disable. The downward arrow displays on this driver, indicating it is disabled. (NOTE: At this point, you won’t be able to play any music files.)
4. Right-click and select Update Driver Software.
5. Select Browse my computer for driver software.
6. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
7. You should see a window that says Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. NOTE: If you see a window that says something like This is the best driver for this device, exit the window and repeat steps 4, 5, and 6.
8. In the Model box, highlight High Definition Audio Device (this is the substitute audio device driver) and click Next.
9. At the Update Driver Warning window, click Yes. You should see a confirmation window with High Definition Audio Device displayed. Click Close.
10. In the list of audio device drivers in the Sound, video and game controllers section, you’ll notice that the High Definition Audio Device now displays instead ofRealtek High Definition Audio.
11. At the prompt to reboot, click Yes.

Please let me know if this resolves the issue, or if you require further assistance!

Good luck 🙂

Please click "Accepted Solution" on the post that solves your issue to help others find the solution. To show appreciation for my help, please click the "Thumbs Up Icon" below!

[Jacob-d-m]

don't think you read my problem correctly as I said I have already tried this method. I do not have an HD audio option available.

[DavidSMP]

Hi @Jacob-d-m,

I read the response completely.  Brilliant effort and great troubleshooting to try and resolve the issue. Kudos to you for that. 🙂 Please follow the steps in this thread: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Gaming-Notebooks/How-to-disable-Bang-amp-Olufsen-horrible-audio-correc... It is an accepted solution on Hp forums.

Please check page# 2 and follow those steps not the ones on page#1.

Please try these steps to improve audio as a workaround

Solution 1:

• Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar and select 'Playback Devices'.
• Left click the default device once to highlight it ( it's usually 'speakers & headphones' ) then click the Properties button.
• Click the Enhancements tab and put a tick in the box next to 'Loudness Equalization'.
• Click Apply to save the change and then click OK in all remaining windows and see if this has helped at all.

Solution 2:

• Right-click the speaker icon in the Taskbar and select 'Playback Devices'.
• Select the Communications tab up the top.
• By default ‘when windows detects communications activity’ is set to ‘Reduce the volume of other sounds by 80%’.
• Change this to ‘Do nothing’.
• Press OK.

Hope this helps. Let me know how this goes. I genuinely hope the issue gets resolved without hassles and the unit works great.

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care now and have a superb week ahead. 🙂

[Jacob-d-m]

still no luck with solving this problem. I did not have an "enhancements" nor did I have any of the files talked about in the other forum. as well, I attempted option number 2 there and that made no difference. This does not make sense as to why I am missing so many files or why I'm not able to replace a simple driver yet still have my speakers work. 

[Jeet_singh]

Hi @Jacob-d-m,

Thank you for replying,

I appreciate your time and efforts,

As I understand you have tried to follow the steps suggested and still having the issue, However, I'm not quite sure what you mean by simple driver yet still have my speakers work. Could you elaborate more on the issue as this will help me in further assisting you?

In the meantime, I would suggest you perform a System restore to a previous date where it was all working fine, (If it was within a month), using this link.

I would suggest please update the BIOS on your PC and check if it helps.

Also, download and install HP support assistant on your PC. It should automatically download and install the latest updates and drivers for your PC.

Refer this link to know how to use HP support assistant.

Please respond to this post with the result of your troubleshooting. I look forward to hearing from you. 

If you wish to help others looking for the same solution as you've found, mark the post as Accepted Solution.

If you wish to show appreciation for my effort, please click the Thumbs up icon at the bottom of my comment.

And I Hope you have a good day, Ahead.

Regards,

[TonkaNL]

Hi guys.

I have an HP Pavilion laptop with the B&O control.

To permanently disable the functionality and the annoyance that comes with it, you have to disable the loading of the software at startup.

To do this, get the tool called autoruns: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

With this tool, you can disable all apps, programs, services that load/start at the startup of your computer.

In autoruns, filter on audio and deselect the RTHDVCPL app. Autoruns will ask for admin privileges, just hit ok.

After that, the B&O app wil never start again. 

By selecting it, you can re-enable it, if you like. See the screenshot attached.

cheers.

Tonka

[Colophon]

I don't see how telling the original poster how to enable loudness equalization would help him with his question, which was how to get rid of the Bang and Olufsen software. I think the previous poster has the actual answer.

In my opinion, loudness equalization is not even desirable, since it levels out sounds that are meant to be softer or louder and basically kills the dramatic volume changes that occur in music, movies, games, etc. It might make sense if you're in an environment where the sound from your computer could disturb others, and you want to be sure there are no unexpected increases in volume -- but that's a moot point here, since it's not what the OP was asking for.

[Stephaani]

Edit: The app reinstalled itself again somehow so I definitely recommend Tonka's way and just disable it.


So my laptop just decided the right speaker should be quieter, I've only had it 2 weeks and have disabled most of the bloatware that comes with it, however thanks to you @TonkaNL I now know what "RTHDVCPL" is.

I used a program called "Decrapifier" to get rid of alot of things but did not know the name of that program so didnt touch it, from your help however I managed to remove it now and it seems to have worked for me and my speakers are normal again. So if future people dont want to do that method this one also works.

Thank you very much and hopefully my laptop will have no more problems.
(I have some previous trust issues from two HP laptops that went bad on me but I really wanted the HP envy x360 so giving it another go and just hoping that this one behaves.)

[RIPUnHoly]

so i have an Envy x360 and i tried your steps only to now have no sound on my laptop 😕