No audio devices are installed - no troubleshooting tools will run, either

[KD509]

Exactly one week after my warranty expired, I opened my laptop and got the blue screen with a sad face. After a few tries resetting and rebooting, it loaded back up. But now I don't have any sound.

• "No audio devices are installed"
• I've tried to run HP troubleshooting with no success
• I've tried to download the RealTek driver from the HP website's Download & Install Assistant, but it says Download Failed (photo below).
• So I tried to download it manually-- it downloads and I run through the setup, but nothing happens. It still shows No audio devices are installed.
•  
• 
• I tried to complete a pending Windows Update and it says "Error encountered".
• It last checked for an update after the blue screen/sad face.  "There were some problems installing updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x800706f4)"

[Garp_senchau]

@KD509, Welcome to HP Support Community,

Thank you for posting your query; I’m here to help by guiding you through steps to resolve this issue

Your laptop isn’t recognizing the audio hardware, which is why there’s no sound. The first thing to try is removing the audio driver and letting Windows reinstall it. 

Go to Device Manager > audio driver (it should say Realtek or something similar) > uninstall it > restart your laptop. 

Windows should reinstall the default driver automatically. If that doesn’t work, go to HP’s website, download the latest audio driver for your laptop model, install it, and restart again.

Since you’re also getting a Windows Update error, there might be some corrupted system files. You can check and fix this by running a system scan. 

Open Command Prompt as an administrator > type sfc /scannow > click Enter.

After that, type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. 

This one takes longer but helps fix deeper system issues. Restart your laptop after both scans and try updating Windows again.

If the problem still isn’t fixed, make sure all your drivers are updated using HP Support Assistant. If everything started after a recent change, you could also try a System Restore to roll things back to when it was working fine.

HP PCs - Using Microsoft System Restore | HP® Support

HP PCs - Software recovery options (Windows 11 and Windows 10) | HP® Support

I hope these steps help resolve the issue

Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions or if you need further clarification on any of the steps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

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Regards,