Realtek Audio - Failed to play test tone

[kdb13]

Recently my Realtek Audio driver has stopped working. I cannot hear any sound nor can it record anything through the internal microphone. On playing the test audio in Sounds Control Panel it says "Failed to play test tone".

I've tried:

• Updating the drivers
• System File Checker scan
• DISM scan
• Removed the driver and reinstalled it

The only thing which seemed to work is to use the Windows provided High Definition Audio Device driver and not the Realtek drivers. But it looses out the other functionality like HP Audio Control which only works on Realtek drivers.

How can I get my Realtek drivers working again?

[kdb13 · Accepted solution]

I have solved the problem. Seems like even after removing the driver from Device Manager there were some Realtek files still residing inside Program Files.

I downloaded the latest driver for my laptop from HP Support page and the installer first of all removed these old Realtek files and then installed them with fresh ones.

Now, everything is back to normal!