Predator Helios 300 PH315-55 - No sound after manually reinstalling Windows 11

I bought this laptop used and it worked fine when I bought it, I just did a fresh install of Windows because it's usually pretty straight forward!

However, after installing all Windows updates and all the recommended drivers and software from Acer's support page, I have no sound. All audio devices in the Device Manager appear correct, but when I do an audio test in Control Panel > Sound I get an error saying "Failed to play test tone" on any output device (RealTek Speakers, headphones, bluetooth, HDMI device, etc).

I tried uninstalling software and drivers one at a time and sound started working again after removing the Dolby DTS bloatware, but it seemed quiet coming out of the speakers. I had to have volume at 100% to hear anything.

Continuing to troubleshoot I started uninstalling audio devices and drivers again and manually reinstalling them, but now I'm back to no audio at all.

Thinks I've tried, in roughly this order:

- Update to latest BIOS
- Fresh install of W11 22H2, all updates
- Fresh install of all drivers and software from Acer support (search by S/N match)
-- Including Intel chipset
- Uninstall of DTS software and DTS control panel
-- Audio works now, yay! Just quiet :\
- Uninstall of all other audio devices/drivers
- Reinstall RealTek audio drivers
- Audio doesn't work at all now, :'(
- Remove RealTek audio drivers and install previous version still available on Acer
- Disable "audio enhancements" in W11 settings for RealTek speakers output device

Anyone have any ideas? Any "gotcha's" you came across while setting up one of these laptops? When I get time I'm gonna wipe the drive and try again, this time gonna follow these steps unless someone has a suggestion:

- Wipe SSD
- Install fresh W11 22H2
- Install all updates to Windows & all optional updates
-- Reboot several times and keep checking to get through prereq updates
- Check to see if sound works?
- Update nVidia drivers, check sound
- Update Intel chipset & drivers, check sound (esp Bluetooth audio and Thunderbolt devices)
- Install RealTek audio driver, check sound
- Install RealTek control panel, check sound

I seriously feel like it's some sort of conflict, especially since Windows couldn't even try to play the test audio tone. It would be really nice if Acer had actual install media available, apparently the Acer store can send out a "restore media" but it sounds like it's just a Windows boot USB that restores to factory defaults; won't help a genius like me who deleted the Acer restore partition!

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Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/689326/predator-helios-300-ph315-55-no-sound-after-manually-reinstalling-windows-11

Why did you reformat the boot SSD and Clean Installed Windows11 on a Windows11 laptop? All you had to do was Reset in Windows11 and you would have kept the factory default settings and original Acer drivers. Now you completely removed the Acer recovery volume and OEM folders on your boot drive. I recommend bringing your laptop to Acer Services in your country and ask them to reset the system to factory defaults. There will, be a small service charge for that ($25 in the Philippines).

sab88

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1219876#Comment_1219876

Like I said in the original post, it's usually pretty straight forward and I've never had issues like this before. In fact the only issue I have is an audio issue, which seems to be a driver conflict.

And I found out it is in fact a driver conflict because I reinstalled Windows 11 again and this time installed one recommended driver at a time. I found out that the DTS driver and utility caused the problems.

I've never had an issue like this doing drive installations and fresh installs of Windows on hundreds of laptops across other brands like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Motorola, Toshiba and probably a few others. So I figured it would be safe to do it on an recent model Acer with drivers available on the manufacturer's support page and an active warranty. Boy was I wrong!

And to top it off, my answers in the community chat were to 1) do a thing I mentioned I already did! and 2) "why did you do that?"

Thanks though, it was thoughtful to reply at least.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1222028#Comment_1222028

Take this from an "Old School" guy: Installing Windows over pre-installed Windows is not standard routine, no matter how many times this is advised: If you cannot do a system Repair, Reset or Restore your disk from a backup copy, Clean Install Windows should be a last resort. In my 40 years or so working with Windows PCs, after Windows98/2000, I never had the need (or urge) to Clean install a Windows version (or perform Windows updates manually). Make backups/images of your drives to a large external BU drive on a regular basis and make Windows Recovery USB flash drives after upgrading Windows OS. 😉

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1222028#Comment_1222028

These gaming laptops audio functions are all interconnected, and the audio is not only governed by the Realtek audio driver. As you have found this out the hard way😁, if you run the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant you will see that there are many aspects to these laptops audio functionality, like the list below for my Nitro AN515-56.

Btw, the FxSound is a sound enhancer and its sort of like the DTS in your laptop and its free and works 100% and perfectly and doesn't restrict sound like the DTS does and the Doby bloatware. So, as you can see above, all these audio drivers have to be installed for the audio to work 100% and properly, especially the Realtek and the NVidia which happened to me when I tried to update the Realtek only audio driver and no sound worked on my laptop, so I know your frustrations as I experienced it myself, and what I had to do is completely reinstall the NVidia gpu driver and audio and the oem Realtek driver for the audio to work in my laptop.

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