Speaker Volume Goes Up and Down

[jfguerrap]

I bought an HP Envy 15T about five years ago. It originally had Windows 8 (or 8.1 I don't recall) but upgraded to Windows 10 when HP offered a free upgrade. It comes with beatsounds integrated speakers. (I believe the driver is Realtek High Definition Audio). I also connect a pair of standalone speakers Altec speakers which I had connected to a previous laptop. 

Everything worked fine even after I upgrade to Windows 10. 

Then about a year ago I started noticing the speaker volumes, both the standalone as well as the built-in ones, would go up and down with noticeable difference. This was not a bad MP3 or anything like that. It happened across all manner of music I play (mostly through Spotify but also through various playlists I have on the Envy). I went hunting for a solution and I found one suggesting I use the Enhancements tab and select Disable all enhancements. That worked.

HOWEVER, the problem is now back and I can't find the Enhancement tab anywhere. 

So I again went hunting for a solution. I found many suggestions and have tried all that I found. Specifically:

- Uninstalled and re-installed the driver

- Disabled and enabled the device via Device Manager

- Uninstalled and re-installed the device again via Device Manager

- Reviewed  Windows Audio under Windows Services and it was running (I stopped it, restarted it, and rebooted and still the same problem.

- Scanned the laptop for any viruses, malware, etc. (nothing came up)

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Echo_Lake]

@jfguerrap
Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help,  I have a few troubleshooting steps we could try to fix the issue:

Firstly, perform Windows Update and HP Support Assistant: ( do not skip any troubleshooting steps if you feel steps are repeating ) 

To check for updates now, select the Start button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update, and select Check for updates.

Install updates from HP Support Assistant: Go to Download HP Support Assistant to install the tool.

1. To open the HP Support Assistant, double-click the HP Support Assistant icon .
2. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.
3. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.
4. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.
5. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.
6. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Use the troubleshooting tool in Windows:

The audio troubleshooting tool in Windows can automatically fix common audio recording and audio playback problems with your computer. Run the troubleshooting tool using the following steps:

• In Windows, type find and fix audio into Search, or right-click the speaker icon  in the taskbar and select Troubleshoot sound problems.
• Select Find and fix audio playback problems or Find and fix audio recording problems from the Search results.
• Click Next.
• Select the device you want to troubleshoot and click Next.
• Wait while the troubleshooter detects problems and makes changes (or prompts you to make changes).
• When the troubleshooter is done, the Troubleshooting has completed page is displayed, listing any problems found and what changes were made to the computer.
• Click Close.
• If a recommended action is displayed, select Apply this fix.

Restoring the audio driver in HP Recovery Manager:

1. In Windows, search for and open Recovery Manager.
2. Click Reinstall drivers and/or applications.
3. Select the audio driver in the list, and then click Install.
4. Wait for the driver to reinstall. When the installation is complete, click OK.
5. Close HP Recovery Manager and then restart your computer.
6. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after reinstalling the driver, try updating the driver using Device Manager.

Updating the audio driver using Device Manager:

Make sure the audio device is enabled and then update the audio driver using Device Manager as follows:

1. In Windows, search for and open Device Manager.
2. Double-click Sound, video and game controllers.
3. If a sound device is listed with a down arrow, the device is disabled. Right-click the sound device name and select Enable to re-enable the device.
4. With the sound device enabled, right-click the sound device and select Update Driver Software.
5. Click Search automatically for updated driver software.
6. Windows checks for and installs any updated drivers found. The window displays whether the computer already has the latest available driver or if Windows was able to successfully update the audio driver.
7. If a window opens asking you to restart the computer, restart the computer.
8. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after updating the driver, continue to the next step.

If you completed these steps and the latest driver was already installed, use the following steps to uninstall and then reinstall the driver:

1. In Windows, search for and open Device Manager.
2. Double-click Sound, video and game controllers.
3. Right-click the sound device and select Uninstall.
4. Restart the computer to reinstall the driver.
5. Test for sound. If the audio problem persists after reinstalling the driver, continue to the next step.

BIOS Update: Follow steps from the link: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c00042629

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[jfguerrap]

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try some of these since I have already tried others and they didn't work. Thanks again. 

[jfguerrap]

None of these worked and as far as the BIOS update it had the latest according to HP Support Assistant. 

As I mentioned in my initial posting, I had that problem before and I managed to fix it by using the ENHANCEMENTS tab on the audio icon properties. That tab is gone now. When I run troubleshooting it does give me the option to go to audio enhancements but when I go there, the ENHANCEMENTS tab is still missing.

Bottom line, I am still having the problem. 

[Echo_Lake]

@jfguerrap

Thank you for posting back. 

This sounds like hardware related issue. As you've performed all the relevant troubleshooting steps and the issue persists.

I would request you to reach out to our Support and our Support Engineers should be able to check the available service options in order to diagnose the computer physically. HP Support can be reached by clicking on the following link:  www.hp.com/contacthp/​​​​​​​

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance. Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.