No sound on HP Victus Laptop

[PJ03]

Well, now yet another problem.  When I put the laptop to sleep, it will not wake up.  It's happened twice since my last reply.  Moving the mouse, clicking, pressing ESC or even pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE will not wake it up.  The power button is blinking slowly, like it always has done when in sleep mode, but NOTHING will wake it up.  I've had to do a hard shut down both times.  Geeze!  Would you know if that's a WINDOWS problem, Paul_Tikkanen?  It never did that prior to reinstalling Windows. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

It is probably a Windows issue but unfortunately, I wouldn't know how to fix it.

You can try installing the latest Intel chipset driver and restarting the PC, but that would be the only suggestion I can offer.

Intel Chipset Device Software 

10.1.19324.8368

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp147001-147500/sp147332.exe

[PJ03]

@Paul_Tikkanen, do you think it might be possible to correct all of this by using the Microsoft Media Tool to create the USB flash drive to reinstall Windows rather than using the HP Cloud Recovery?  I am beyond frustrated with this as I am thinking that using the HP Cloud Recovery has to be what's causing my laptop's problems i.e. no sound and not recovering from sleep mode.  Those problems didn't exist UNTIL I used the HP recovery.

HP has not updated my account to reflect the extended warranty I purchased so I CANNOT submit a claim.  I've never had to register an extended warranty, but even after doing that my account is still not updated.  And it seems impossible to get a live person to chat with unless making a purchase!  ☹️

[Paul_Tikkanen]

At this point, I don't see that you have much to lose by trying to clean install W11.

Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)

But unless Microsoft has very recently made changes to the installation media, you will have to manually install the Intel storage controller drivers so Windows can find the hard drive.

You need to load the Intel storage controller drivers that I zipped up and attached below in order for Windows to find the drive.

Unzip the Intel storage controller driver file I attached and copy all of the files inside both folders in the F6 file to a USB flash drive.

Have the flash drive and your W10 installation media plugged into USB ports.

Boot from the W10 installation flash drive.

When you get to the screen where no drives can be found, click on the Load driver option, browse to the flash drive with the storage controller drivers on it.

If you check the box, it will only include the compatible driver.

Click Next, and Windows should find the drive and install.

[PJ03]

@Paul_Tikkanen, first of all, THANK YOU!   
Question:  Using the link you provided, do I choose the "Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices" option, or the "Create Windows 11 Installation Media" option?  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The second option is the one I recommend. 

The media creation tool automatically makes a bootable W11 installation flash drive.

You can download the ISO file, but you will need to use a free utility such as Rufus to create the bootable USB flash drive with the ISO file.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

[PJ03]

Well, my idea to create the Windows Media Tool and use that to re-install Windows accomplished nothing, Paul_Tikkanen,  I chatted with a Microsoft agent and explained my problems (no sound + laptop will not come out of Sleep Mode).  He suggested using a "new" USB flash drive to re-download the Windows Media Tool and then do a fresh install.  That, too, accomplished nothing.  His last suggestion was to update the BIOS and then contact HP.  When I attempted to update the BIOS I received the following error.  "Recovery not supported under current configuration.  Please enable acceleration option for Intel Smart Response Technology and try again."  

After a bit of research apparently, since this Victus laptop is 12th generation, I need to install the latest Intel RST Software.  But in order to do that and set the BIOS settings to RAID (which will involve re-installing Windows)  I was given these instructions below.  But even with the additional notes in number 4, I am unsure of which to choose for Size & resiliency.   Just a FYI - I chose this gaming laptop not for gaming  but because I use photo editing programs which require a lot of memory.  I upgraded the RAM on this laptop to 64GB.  Can you advise on ANY of this, especially regarding the Size & resiliency, if this is what I need to try, Paul?

Configuring RAID on your Windows 11 system:

1. Hardware Requirements:

   • Ensure that all the disks you plan to use for RAID have the same file system (preferably NTFS).
   • Make sure your PC has sufficient free RAM to avoid constant data read/write between the hard drive and RAM.
   • Download the RAID controller driver for your system.
   • Verify that your CPU supports the desired RAID levels (multi-core CPUs are even better).
   • Check if your motherboard and chipset are compatible with RAID. Most modern motherboards support RAID, but older ones may not have SATA connectors.

2. Setting Up RAID in Windows 11:

   • Press the Windows key and click on Settings.
   • Navigate to System, then select Storage.
   • Click on Advanced storage settings and choose Storage Spaces.
   • Click Create a new pool and Storage Space.
   • Select and check the disks you want to use for RAID.
   • Enter a new name for your storage space and choose the desired Size & resiliency:
     • Simple (no resiliency): Similar to RAID 0.
     • Two-way mirror: Equivalent to RAID 1.
     • Three-way mirror: Similar to RAID 1 but with additional redundancy.
     • Parity: Similar to RAID 5.
   • Next, select a name, drive letter, and file system (NTFS), and hit Format.
   • Remember to back up your files before configuring RAID.

3. BIOS Configuration (for hardware-based RAID):

   • Restart your computer and enter the BIOS by pressing the corresponding key displayed during boot (usually F2, F10, or DEL).
   • Navigate to the storage or hard drive configuration section.
   • Look for the option that allows you to enable RAID mode and activate it.
   • Save changes and exit the BIOS.

4. Additional Notes:

   • RAID 0 (striping) improves performance but doesn’t provide redundancy.
   • RAID 1 (mirroring) duplicates data for redundancy.
   • RAID 5 (striping with parity) balances performance and redundancy.
   • Always ensure proper backups to safeguard your data.

Remember that RAID configurations can impact data safety and performance, so choose wisely based on your needs!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you with that.

As far as I'm aware there are no BIOS settings in your notebook to enable RAID.

The notebook uses a single NVMe controller because there is only support for one drive.

In other words, you can only install Windows one way, and that is the way I gave you.

[PJ03]

Okay, Paul_Tikkanen, but can you answer why, when I attempted to update the BIOS I would receive the following error,  "Recovery not supported under current configuration.  Please enable acceleration option for Intel Smart Response Technology and try again"?  I am not familiar with that error.  Hang on, I am going to use a "new" USB flash drive and try updating the BIOS again.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you with getting around that message. 

I have no idea what that means.