HP Envy x360 - Mic and Sound Fail Intermittently -AMD CPU/GPU

[Skipjack906]

On July 27, I received my new 2020 HP Envy 15/6 Touchscreen x360 Laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor.  The system also had Bang & Olufsen audio system, built in Mic array and HP wide vision video camera.  There are also keyboard function key buttons for speakers on/off, mic on/off and camera on/off.  After installing all Windows 10 64-bit updates (about 18), I discovered while using Zoom that the microphone and sound were not working.  Searches of the HP Support Community turned up similar problems, which seemed to be "driver related".  One resource recommended uninstalling the current graphic drivers and reinstalling the AMD Radeon Graphics driver.  Following instructions, I uninstalled the current drivers, deleted the software and reinstalled the AMD Radeon Graphics Drivers, tools and utilities.  Now the microphone and sound system worked, but began to fail intermittently, usually after 5-10 minutes of operation in a video/sound environment like Skype or Zoom (primary Zoom).  I removed the AMD Radeon Sound utilities, which caused some improvement, but failures continued.  More research of the HP community indicated, "The AMD High-Definition Graphics Driver and Realtek High Definition Audio driver are not the correct version and need to be updated manually."  Logical. I downloaded a BIOS update (recommended) and two driver updates (sp107252.exe and sp105839.exe).  I uninstalled the three Sound Video and Game Controllers drivers (AMD Audio Device, AMD High Definition Audio Device, and Realtek (R) Audio).  I did not delete the driver software however.  I then installed the two driver packages as was recommended.  After system restart, we tested the Audio /Video with Zoom.  After 5 minutes on Zoom, the sound and microphone failed, locking up or slowing down other parts of the system at the same time.   Eventually, the system was shutdown hard (holding down the On/Off button) and restarted.
We should note that there seem to be several "controlling" systems for the audio:  Bang & Olufsen Audio Control, the Realtek(R) Audio utility.  The AMD Radeon Graphics control system was removed. 
Since the drivers that were installed proved two things (1. the Mic and Audio systems were intact and COULD work, and 2. We currently have the wrong drivers installed, we raise two questions that imply a potential conflict, either in the drivers or the audio control systems
1) Which audio control systems are needed and is there a conflict if they are all installed?
2) Is there a definitive list of the CORRECT audio drivers for Mic and Speakers?  Have a specific set of drivers been proven to work on this system?  Are there any other conflicts?

With intermittent sound failures on both mic and speakers, it makes using this laptop for Zoom, Skype, Hangouts, or other video chat systems impossible. 

I have seen several posts, all very similar, regarding this problem.  If you have solved this issue, or you see that I have made an error in the process (like not deleting old driver software), please advise.  It would be most appreciated.

[banhien]

@Skipjack906 

This is something to do with AMD drivers. Please

(a) Uninstall Audio driver

(b) do a cleanup using following information/fix:

                  https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601

                  https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/amdcleanuputility.exe

(c) reboot machine

Machine will re-install Audio driver for you.

Regards.

[Skipjack906]

Unfortunately, this did not resolve the audio problems.  The AMD utility said that it completed successfully and the screen shots matched what was visible on the display, but, upon reboot, the microphone could not be increased above zero by the application (Zoom Settings). 
Is there another conflict of drivers?  What controls the drivers for this?  AMD?  HP? Realtek?  Bang & Olufsen?  Microsoft? Who?  That is, which drivers do I need to use?  I would generally agree that this appears to be an issue of mismatched, poorly configured, wrong, or conflicting drivers, but I have not been able to determine the correct combination.  I have seen several "Accepted Solutions", but, so far, none of them have fully resolved the issue.  This appears now to be a common problem as I have seen it posted by a number of HP Envy x360 owners.

[sjn60]

There is a long thread that addresses this issue (which has not been resolved by HP yet):

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/Audio-driver-issues-envy-15m-ee0013dx/td-p/7757580/high...

"The main point to this whole thread is that the initially installed AMD drivers are a "lite" version and need to be replaced, the AMD drivers are good, the drivers that Windows Update installs are bad, and they keep overwriting the good AMD drivers. "

[Sha1232]

I am having the exactly the same problem. MIc and speakers suddenly stops working at the online meeting platforms (skype, webex, zoom). 

What can we do now?

[sjn60]

You can follow the instructions posted on my previous message.

Here is another thread on the same issue:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/is0emw/windows_overriding_amd_drivers_for_all_hp_envy/

submitted 1 day ago by Chewy718

This has been an extremely annoying and rage inducing issue that will hurt AMD's image if not fixed.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/Audio-driver-issues-envy-15m-ee0013dx/td-p/7757580/page...

I have purchased about 15-20 of these machines for friends and family and they are all experiencing this issue as of a few weeks ago. HP AMD and windows need to get on this.

The machine and 4500U is FANTASTIC but AMD's image will be extremely hurt by these stupid software issues. this is an extremely popular laptop and many will blame AMD for these issues.

u/AMD_Robert

u/AMDOfficial

u/AMD_Mickey

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. 

[Sha1232]

I have done the factory reset thing. But after window's update, it again gets jeopardized. So this time I will stop getting windows update as per your  suggestions. Lets see what happens. Also inform me please if there is any solution to this gets posted anywhere.

[Sha1232]

The problem still persisted.

[AlanF242]

I've had this issue since June 2020 with Teams and Zoom. Zoom running from the web app (not the desktop client app) works for a longer time period before failing in my experience. Most times its a full hard lock, screen frozen with no mouse and a stutter sound from the speakers. Sometimes its the sound and video freezes in the app but mouse gives me some control. If I can check device manager after the issue happens this is what device manager looks like:

[Connie36]

So I have an HP Envy 360 15m-ee0023dx and am experiencing the same intermittent issue with my internal microphone.  I assume the fix would be the same?