No sound from laptop speakers BUT external speakers work

[Wayne_HP]

First off, I had a no-sound problem at one point before I upgraded to Windows 11, when I had Windows 10. I do not know what the exact solution was but most likely it was some update that cured it, and prior to my recent update to Windows 11 audio was working. I am not convinced that it is simply the upgrade to Windows 11, or it is the fault of Windows 11.

Here is the issue.

After the upgrade to Windows 11, sound stopped coming out of the laptop's speakers, and I assume the microphone stopped working as well - I did not test. Assuming that the same old problem recurred, I reinstalled Realtek drivers only. I did not reinstall any other drivers. The Windows Update is current and there are no updates outstanding.

The laptop DOES play sound when plugged into my external speakers via my Plugable docking station, when it is using Plugable drivers. The external microphone attached to the docking station also works when the laptop is plugged into the docking station. So the MB is capable of delivering sound.

Unplugged from the docking station (i.e. using the Realtek drivers) and with headphones plugged into the headphone port, sound is heard. Microphone plugged into the same port (which has a headset icon so I assume it can work both ways) produces no input. But I get sound OUT of this jack.

Any ideas? Is this a known issue?

[wiiuser]

Similar issue here. Upgraded today to Windows 11 and audio stopped working completely on laptop sound card. 

External audio devices play audio fine.

Any remedial solution?

[Wayne_HP]

UPDATE: SOLVED

It would appear that the Windows 11 Upgrade reset some settings (who knew?!!) and the below images explain what the issue was on my laptop. Note: The default Windows 11 theme has a light background so in Fig 1 the icon in the Task Tray was not seen so that solution was not immediately evident.

The icon leads to "HP Audio Switch", which should also be the tool-tip (which as I said does not show). Clicking on that icon, you get this:

In the HP Audio Switch ensure that the desired output device is checked (in this case "Internal Speaker" when not plugged into my Plugable Docking Station), and then click on the gear at the bottom for Bang & Olufsen Audio Control, to get this pop-up:

Solution is that Multistreaming has to be set to ON. 

It would appear that the Windows 11 Upgrade turned that off. With these settings my laptop plays audio normally.

[Josh_Zona]

I had the same problem with my 2019 Spectre model.  Laptop speakers and mic were not working, but I had no issues using my Jabra headset or bluetooth speaker.  I tried the audio diagnostics and no fix.