Sound stops after muting or closing laptop screen

[Zeldred]

My laptop is just over a year old, but this problem has been occuring for the last couple months. Whenever I start the computer from powered off, everything works fine. But if I mute the sound or close the laptop, the sound stops, and I can't play any videos. It's not just silent, the vidoe doesn't load, regardless of whether it's online or on the hd. Plugging in headphones or external speakers doesn't help either.

When I try to troubleshoot this, the sound options freeze up and crash.

[A4Apollo]

Hi! @Zeldred, Welcome to HP forums.

I understand you have audio issues with your laptop.

Don't worry I'll try to help you out.

Did you make any software or hardware changes on your laptop?

Is your laptop freezing when playing the audio?

As you mentioned your laptop stops playing audio when you mute or close the laptop.

When you mute or close the lid of your PC. The audio will stop functioning only when you unmute or open the lid of your laptop the audio starts playing again.

However, you can try the steps recommended below.

Go to Windows Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers section.
In the list of audio device drivers, look for Realtek High-Definition (HD) Audio. This is the device driver for BeatsAudio (a little bit sneaky, wouldn’t you say?).
Right-click and select Disable. The downward arrow displays on this driver, indicating it is disabled. (NOTE: At this point, you won’t be able to play any music files.)
Right-click and select Update Driver Software.
Select Browse my computer for driver software.
Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
You should see a window that says Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. NOTE: If you see a window that says something like This is the best driver for this device, exit the window and repeat steps 4, 5, and 6.
In the Model box, highlight High Definition Audio Device (this is the substitute audio device driver) and click Next.
At the Update Driver Warning window, click Yes. You should see a confirmation window with High Definition Audio Device displayed. Click Close.
In the list of audio device drivers in the Sound, video and game controllers section, you’ll notice that the High Definition Audio Device now displays instead of Realtek High-Definition (HD) Audio.
At the prompt to reboot, click Yes.

If the issue still persists try the steps recommended below.

Is the loudness equalization off? If not, please:
Right, click the speaker icon
select 'Playback Devices'. 
Highlight the default device
Click Properties
Click Enhancements tab
Next to 'Loudness Equalization' take out the check mark in the box.
Click Apply
Click OK

If the issue still persists uninstall the audio driver from device manager and install the drivers using HP recovery manager.

Refer this article to know how to restore drivers using HP recovery manager.

Also, update the drivers on your PC using the HP support assistant.

Refer this article to know more information about using HP support assistant.

If the solution provided worked for you, please mark accepted solution for this post.

Let me know if this works!

Have a great day! 🙂

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!