Windows 10 1909 Sound issues - switching to alternate device does not work or causes application to freeze crash

  • Thread starter Thread starter KhanDownUnder
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KhanDownUnder

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I have this constant re-occurring issue only with Windows 10 Pro (various versions/OS build - currently as of this post on 18363.815)


TL;DR : Windows 10 - Intel(R) Display Audio and Realtek(R) Audio do not play well with each other and Realtek often takes over and I lose sound if the Intel Display Audio 'thinks' it is charge of the audio output when really it does not. The OS is an absentee parent between these two children fighting over the audio devices and it makes me a sad panda.


Issue: Sound devices not always able to detect, if detected, not always able to switch to them, if I switch to them applications using the attempting to use the audio device switched/selected will freeze and force a switch back to previous device or just crash.


Laptop with following sound devices:

Primary: Realtek(R) Audio - (driver version: 6.0.8694.1)

Secondary: Intel(R) Display Audio (constant culprit) (driver version: 10.27.0.6)


Intel display adaptor: UHD Graphics 630 (driver version: 26.20.100.7324) (funny thing is Intel site shows more recent version (Version: 26.20.100.7985 (Latest) Date: 3/25/2020) however when attempting to install that version it says it is not compatible with this adaptor (not surprised in this day and age that these companies cannot even get their drivers correct)


Nvidia RTX 2060 (driver version: 26.21.14.4587) I list this as it has USB Audio and I am uncertain if the Display Port cable audio driver is controlled by it or not.


Monitor (Acer X34P - Acer driver ver 1.0 date: 14/09/2017 (though downloaded the 2018/09/14 version 1.0 from their site and installed 04/2020) with stereo speakers.


Situation: When I connect my laptop to the Acer monitor using a mini display port to display port cable (or HDMI) the audio is not always detected by Windows (the operating system or OS for the rest of this post) but sometimes it works, typically if the DP or HDMI cable is connected at start up. However audio output to the monitor still tends to stop if I do anything like ALT+TAB applications, switch between Realtek and monitor audio, it is almost always a one way switch to Realtek and never back to the monitor's audio.


IF the OS detects the monitor's audio and I attempt to use ANY means within the OS (settings - sound - select output device OR the sound icon in the notification area on the task bar) to switch audio output to it I get the follow mixed results:

  • Complete failure: no audio at all from the monitor (adjusting volumes levels to get the windows 'ding/feedback sound' does not produce any sound)
  • IF I am playing ANY application (browser streaming YouTube - Google play music - Game etc) the application will hang/freeze (YouTube videos go into a pause with the loading circle animation icon) OR fail to switch over to the monitor for audio output and default back to the Realtek audio after 60 seconds IF I am lucky.

  • Re-installing drivers does not permanently correct it.
  • Unplugging display port cables and re-connecting it does not permanently correct it.
  • Restarting the laptop every time I switch audio devices does not permanently correct it.
  • Connecting headphone to laptop will sometimes switch over to the headphones but only after clicking on 'OK' to the notification confirming I plugged them in.
  • Clean install of the OS does not permanently correct it (though installing a different OS - *nix - Ubuntu 18.04 does - works 100% as intended with that).

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