HP Envy x360 Sound Crackling and Drivers Issue

[JG2910]

I'm posting again because this issue is driving me crazy and my speakers are absolutely not blown. Sometimes they are crystal clear and other times there is constant crackling, even playing back the exact same audio source at the exact same volume etc. The crackling does not appear to be related to the audio source at all.

The crackling is completely intermittent and random. I've tried with the guidance from support to run an audio test in the bios but the issue is unpredictable. There is no way to catch it in the bios test unless I sit there for hours trying and I still would have no way of knowing if I waited long enough.

There are many, many posts in this forum and other websites about audio driver issues on these laptops between AMD <-> Microsoft <-> Realtek. I need to figure out exactly what drivers I need to be running with more information than just "run HP software update" or "run Windows update"

I have followed the instructions in this old forum post but continue to have issues.
In Device Manager, my AMD Audio CoProcessor has a hardware ID ending in REV_01 so I have installed AMD driver version 2.89.0.81 from the linked MS update catalog.

Aside from this I have several other audio devices listed in device manager and have no idea if they could be influencing this or have the correct drivers.

Under Device Manager section Sound, video and game controllers:

• "AMD Audio Device" with driver AMD 6.0.0.44 dated 4/16/2024
• ."AMD High Definition Audio Device" with driver Advanced Micro Devices (yes it's actually written out here) 10.0.1.30 dated 5/6/2024
• "AMD Streaming Audio Device" with driver AMD 1.0.0.9 dated 4/29/2024
• "Realtek(R) Audio" with driver Realtek Semiconductor Corp 6.0.8963.1 dated 6/2/2020

What driver above is actually responsible for internal speaker playback? Are there any drivers which should not be here listed above?

EDIT: An update, I uninstalled the Realtek Audio driver and downloaded this (latest) version from the HP drivers page:

I install it, reboot, and an error pops up and the speaker IMMEDIATELY begins crackling when the Windows error sound plays:

Okay so.... what is the correct driver for this Realtek Audio device and my OS?

[Banlix]

try using this

extract the .cab file to a folder, expand the sound, video, and game controllers category in the 'device manager', update the realtek driver, navigate to the folder where you extracted the .cab file

[JG2910]

@Banlix which driver is this though? And update which Realtek driver, the "Realtek Audio" device?
What version of the realtek driver is this?

[JG2910]

Can anyone from HP tell me why the drivers hosted on the HP website specifically for this laptop and listed under Windows 10 cannot be installed and say the drivers are not supported by this OS?

[Banlix]

If from the official HP website, this is a detailed page (sp111717) about your laptop audio driver.

download sp111717 here.

[Banlix]

Just adjust the version to your Windows version. If you download from the Microsoft Update Catalog, the file type is .cab, then extract it to a folder.

To install, open the device manager, click the 'Add drivers' icon, navigate to the folder where the .cab file was extracted.

This (sp111717.exe) is your laptop audio driver from the official HP website. Information about sp111717 here.

NB: If both drivers (from the official HP website or Microsoft Update Catalog) are not installed, there may be a problem with the audio system in your Windows, usually related to the registry.

Registry checker tools are in Ccleaner and in this article:

rocketdrivers

[JG2910]

This is what I get when attempting to install sp111717, straight from the HP website, for Windows, on my computer with Windows 10 installed:

[Banlix]

Oops, even the HP default driver can't solve it.
That means there is a problem with the system configuration or registry.

This is my previous suggestion:

NB: If both drivers (from the official HP website or Microsoft Update Catalog) are not installed, there may be a problem with the audio system in your Windows, usually related to the registry.

Registry checker tools are in Ccleaner and in this article:

rocketdrivers