Windows 10 cuts off the sound device when there is no playback ATM

Xtreme512 · 01 May 2017

Hey, I've been having this issue for long time now but I didn't mention until now because that's not a big problem in my PC as my USB Sound card will open itself up when there is a sound to play back immediately. But in my notebook's internal sound device, it won't. Any fix for this?

Scenario below;
1) I'm playing a sound coming from whatever you name it foobar2000, YouTube.
2) After a fixed 3-4 seconds closing the player, you hear a pop noise, understanding that sound device is turned off like disabled, like never there.
3) Open player again, no sound at all.
4) Until you change the volume from the taskbar right below to anything above 30%.

Then same scenario happens. The thing is in PC with USB card, its automatic but in notebook, I have to click on the volume bar at least 1-2 times above 30%. If I click below like 25% it won't work either (funny).

Xtreme512 · 03 May 2017

no one knows how to fix it? no one encountered this problem?

edit: accidentally posted it in wrong forum area. can someone move it to the general support?

indianacarnie · 05 May 2017

Welcome to the forums Xtreme512!

No, I haven't encountered this particular problem. Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling your sound drivers? What have you tired to do to fix it? How long has it been happening? Any new hardware or software installed right before it started? Have you tried a system restore to a point before it started? You're not really giving us much to work with here you know.

Xtreme512 · 05 May 2017

Hey,

Nothing different at all, I did everything same as I did with Windows 8.1 which had no problem over the years. So, it was a clean install of Windows 10 both on my PC and notebook. In PC I have this Xonar U7 installed its own drivers and in notebook its Realtek HD onboard card and I let Windows 10 install drivers it like so it even installed the compatible Realtek audio software. And the situation for both of the devices are as above I explained.

Uninstalling and reinstalling is not necessary as everything works fine from the scratch and there were no upgrade from older drivers or driver corruptions etc.
I didn't actually try anything for this particular problem because I don't know how to address it. But I always set up my settings as high performance etc. so I was suspecting its a some kind of battery saver feature of Windows 10 to turn off audio device when not in use. I also set my audio settings for bit-perfect playback, no DSP effects at all, so the sound is not affected/altered by anything.

It is happening from the scratch, so no restore points etc.

I did give all the information in the first place. From this point on, I can't really speculate about this situation any further. I can only guess that it's some kind of intended feature or bug that cripples the device within the Windows kernel. Most likely I can't fix it by just changing settings and it needs to be patched.

edit: Im not saying its critical. I can live with it but curious if anyone had the issue before and maybe even have a fix sort of.

indianacarnie · 05 May 2017

No, as I mentioned earlier I haven't noticed this problem on my machine. I have a Bluetooth external speaker set-up btw, but haven't noticed it either with them or the on board. Sorry I couldn't help more.

Xtreme512 · 05 May 2017

How can I forward this to Microsoft engineers? Opening a thread on Microsoft forums is enough?

fireberd · 05 May 2017

I've worked a lot of audio problems in the last 15 years on forums and your problem is a first. I use both my PC sound and as I also have a recording studio, I use my USB connected recording interface unit (MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid). Neither have the problem you describe.

Can you post a screenshot of the Device Manager, Sound section.
How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums - Windows 10 Tutorials

Xtreme512 · 06 May 2017

Windows 10 cuts off the sound device when there is no playback ATM-untitled.png

nothing fancy.

fireberd · 06 May 2017

The Device manager looks OK. I would have to say some application is causing the problem.

Xtreme512 · 06 May 2017

not possible because on both machines this problem occurred from the very fresh install.