My Aspire 5 A515-46-R3CZ. Will Not Recognize Audio Devices

Yesterday I was enjoying music from my laptop's 3.5mm jack, but after I returned home from picking my daughter up, I found my laptop would not recognize audio devices. I managed to get it to recognize the speakers built into my external monitor, but it refuses to detect its own built-in speakers or anything I plug into the 3.5mm headphone jack. I downloaded the latest Realtek driver from Acer's website (after entering my laptop's serial number), but after installing the driver and restarting the laptop, Device Manager doesn't even recognize the new driver; the only thing it recognizes under the "Sound, video and game controllers" selection is my monitor's speakers (plugged in by the HDMI port, of course). I also downloaded the Realtek Audio Console from Acer's website, but I have no idea what it is or how to install it, as it doesn't include an executable file. I've never had this happen on any desktop or laptop I've owned over the years, and this laptop is only about two months old, so I'm fairly frustrated with it at the moment. Any help is appreciated.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

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JackE

Right click speaker icon in tray. Click 'open sound settings' Click 'sound control panel' in right pane. Right click speaker icon. Click enable. If still no sounds, please post a screenshot of sound control panel.

aclark302

Is this the panel you meant?

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1160982#Comment_1160982

Sound drivers in these new laptops are not just Realtek drivers only, because and if you look at Device Manager >Sound video and game controllers you will see that you have Intel, NVidia and Realtek drivers and updating just one will do nothing as your problem could be with the other drivers.

The best way to diagnose a problematic driver is to go into Device Manager and individually refresh or update all Intel, NVidia and Realtek drivers by doing the following to each driver:

Right click driver>properties>drivers>update driver>browse my computer for drivers>Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer and chose the latest driver that you have already installed,

As all this will refresh your audio drivers that are problematic, otherwise update these drivers through Device Manager in the same way, as these drivers don't have executable drivers and that is why you have experienced that problem when you attempted to update the Realtek driver.

aclark302

As far as I can tell, my monitor with the built-in speakers (AMD High Definition Audio Device) is all that the laptop recognizes. This is what I have in Device Manager:

JackE

>>>Is this the panel you meant?>>>

No. Open Control Panel. Search 'sound' Click 'change sound card setting' Right click speaker icon in box that pops up. Click enable. If still no sounds, please post a screenshot of the popup box.

aclark302

Jack, that did it! Thank you, sir! Somehow, "Stereo Mix" under the "Recording" tab had been disabled; I enabled that, and now it works again! Thanks Jack and Steven for your help!

JackE

Congrats on your success. Thanks for reporting back. 🙂

aclark302

Thanks, Jack; and you're welcome! Unfortunately, however, the problem is back. 😪 I tried the same fix that fixed it before, but nothin' doin'. I watched a couple YouTube videos, but none of their solutions fixed it. I'm quite baffled by this machine and its apparent hatred for audio. Furthermore, I'm now more concerned about the initial cause of the problem; I can't imagine what the root cause is or how to prevent it from fouling up again in the future.

JackE

OK. What is full model number? For example, A515-22? Check the bottom of the case for a battery disconnect pinhole. If one exists, unplug the charger. Gently insert and press a paperclip into the battery disconnect pinhole for about 60 seconds.

Then plug the charger back in. Wait for the battery charge LED to turn steady blue. Then turn it on again.

Then Open Control Panel again. Search 'button'. Click 'change what the power buttons do' in left pane. Click 'change settings that are currently unavailable' near top of next pane. Scroll down and uncheck the box for fast startup. Save setting

Then repeat the earlier steps. That is, search Control Panel 'sound' Click 'change sound card setting' Right click speaker icon in box that pops up. Click enable. If still no sounds, please post a screenshot of the popup box.

aclark302

Jack,

Unfortunately, still no sound, other than through the HDMI-plugged monitor.

It's an A515-46-R3CZ.

Here's the pop-up box:

aclark302

It started working properly yesterday morning but has now stopped working again. While it was working, I looked in Device Manager and saw the previously missing Realtek items listed under "Sound, video and game controllers." Why would they come and go? This is bizarre; something I've never seen on any computer before.

aclark302

This is strange. Some time after I posted the previous post here, the laptop stopped recognizing my wireless router. I backed up all my files and did a factory reset on the laptop, but both the audio and wifi are still gone. Is this a hardware problem?

JackE

Was the monitor still plugged in when you reset?
Win10 or Win11?

aclark302

The monitor was plugged in at the time.
Windows 11.

The sound randomly started working again, so I dug deep and found the location of the sound drivers; then I backed the drivers up on a flash drive for the next time they magically disappear. Also, regarding the wifi, I found in Device Manager that it was the MediaTek Wifi 6 Wireless LAN driver that was not working properly (but it was still there, just not working, unlike the sound drivers that completely vanish at random). My biggest concern now is, why and how do drivers simply vanish from the computer and then randomly reappear and work properly for a time, then vanish again? I feel like that's the mystery that needs solving the most.

JackE

Was Win11 factory installed?

aclark302

Yes, it was.

JackE

>>>>The sound randomly started working again, so I dug deep and found the location of the sound drivers; then I backed the drivers up on a flash drive for the next time they magically disappear. Also, regarding the wifi, I found in Device Manager that it was the MediaTek Wifi 6 Wireless LAN driver that was not working properly>>>>

What do you mean by "I dug deep"? Where did you get these sound drivers? Also, the MediaTek wifi has had driver issues that may impact other devices. Try downloading, unzipping and installing this rather recent MediaTek update preferrably without the external monitor connected.

https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Driver/Wireless%20LAN/Wireless%20LAN_MTK_3.0.1.1309_W11x64_A.zip?acerid=637962100389404944&Step1=&Step2=&Step3=ASPIRE%20A515-46&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

aclark302

"Dug deep" as in Device Manager>Sound, video and game controllers>right-click on "Realtek(R) Audio">Driver tab>Driver Details.

I forgot to mention in the last post that I had downloaded a new MediaTek wiki driver. I Googled it and I think I found it on Lenovo's website, but I installed it and it works great so far. I'll also download the one you posted in case I later on have trouble with the one I downloaded. But it still is a mystery why drivers randomly disappear and reappear; have you or anybody else ever heard of something like that? If so, what causes that?

JackE

You should be using the Acer updated drivers since they are specific to the proprietary Acer mainboard, not Lenovo's mainboards. Let's see if the audio disappears again because, as mentioned earlier, the MediaTek driver might be a factor.

Also, f a device seems to be missing in Device Manager, you should always click Device Manager View tab and checkmark the 'show hidden devices' options because they may not really be missing or disappearing.

aclark302

I had tried the drivers from Acer's website but they did no good. I have had "Show Hidden Devices" checked, but they still would not show up. I hope the problem never returns, but if the past is any indication, it likely will.

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