Keep sound device enabled when muted

[Joshvg]

There seems to be a power saving feature in my laptop that completely disables the audio device when it is muted in Windows. This is however a problem for me as I use Stardock Acoustic Bridge to relay my laptop's audio to my pc.
This program works by muting the device and routing the sound over LAN.
For the moment I've managed to create a workaround by installing a virtual audio device but this makes it a hassle whenever I want to switch back to the laptop's own audio device.

Ps. I've updated the BIOS to see if that was the issue (before checking it for any related setting).

Is there some unrelated issue with BIOS versions for this product? The new (and latest according to HP's website) BIOS seems to be much more basic and less graphical than the one that was installed before.

[praveenbv]

Hi@Joshvg, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

I would like to take a moment and thank you for using this forum, it is a great place to find answers. 

As I understand the mute button auto switches to on/off, It's not an issue with the notebook I suspect.

Please check the functionality of uninstalling  Stardock Acoustic Bridge?

Does the issue occur within any other key or is it limited to the mute button alone?

Have you attempted to use an external keyboard to check if that works differently?

If you haven't, Here's a related HP Forums post that seems to have helped others: Click here for the steps.

If you have and yet the issue persists, please reinstall the HP Quick launch from this website: Click here (download driver Version: 7.0.1.1)

(The above link is 3rd party and is not owned by HP, I've posted this only so that I may help you resolve this issue by going beyond by support boundaries, please ignore the ads and take only the free suggestions)

Also, try with an alternate keyboard and let me know if that works,

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[Joshvg]

Thanks for the reply.

I believe you misunderstand my issue (in fact, based on your reply I doubt you even read my original post).
Acoustic Bridge mutes the audio in Windows as it does when functioning normally. This allows it to route the audio to my pc without also playing it over my laptop speakers.
However, my laptop has some mechanic to completely disable the sound card whenever it's muted.

That is the function I need to disable.

Since the issue does not occur when using a virtual sound card I don't see how using other buttons or reinstalling Acoustic Bridge would have any effect. 

Windows is unlikely to have an option for this I believe the only way to fix this is to have an option in the BIOS settings to disable this feature. That, or some driver update maybe.

[praveenbv]

@Joshvg,

The said virtual sound card combination is not tested by HP. So, the functionality is not guaranteed.

[Joshvg]

Obviously the virtual sound card is simply my workaround and has nothing to do with the issue at hand.