Subwoofer no longer automatically works after a restart

Hey all,

I've ran into a very obnoxious new problem as of late. It appears that, every time I restart my computer, Windows refuses to output audio to my subwoofer-- until I go into my sound card software and toggle from 5.1, to stereo, then back to 5.1 again.

Seeing as it seems it's no longer possible to disable automatic Windows updates, I can only assume this is Microsoft's doing. My speaker setup has always worked perfectly on Windows 7 and even after my transition to Windows 10 several months ago. From what I gather, this issue began occurring sometime within the past couple weeks. My drivers are all up to date and I haven't manually updated anything lately that would likely be the culprit.

The odd thing is-- playing a test tune to the subwoofer through Windows playback settings or Sound Blaster Pro Studio always succeeds... yet no audio to the sub from any programs until I go in and pointlessly fiddle with the speaker configuration. I've also noticed my Enhancements tab is now missing from playback device properties.

Any help, suggestions, or reports of similar problems are greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I would just like to take this moment to say how much I despise Microsoft and Windows...

Lots of attachments and whatnot.


System Spec

Computer type: PC/Desktop
System Manufacturer/Model Number: Gigabyte
OS: Windows 10 Home x64
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k
Motherboard: GA-Z170X-Gaming 7
Memory: 16GB DDR4
Graphics Card(s): x2 AMD Radeon HD 7950 (crossfired)
Sound Card: Creative Sound Core3D (software: Sound Blaster Pro Studio)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i

Thanks much for the response! I had checked for driver/software updates previously but I honestly probably didn't look hard enough. I'll dig around once I'm home from work and see if I'm missing any software updates.

Usually with a 5.1 speaker system there are three connections to the PC sound. You only show two??

See THIS it can explain it all.

Ok, so, did some digging and unfortunately came back with nothing but worms.

I have reinstalled Sound Blaster Recon 3di using the most recent driver download available for my board and also tried some other more recent SBX software suites (none of which are compatible).

BUT... I think I have a general prognosis of what's happening-- none of my playback device settings are remembered upon reboot. All my proper settings are displayed in the control panel but this is a false representation as, in reality, the settings have reverted to 2ch stereo with no enhancements. Adjusting any setting in the Sound Blaster control panel will cause all my settings to "wake up".

Another unfortunate side effect of this is-- my HDMI devices also disappear completely until I also go and toggle crossfire on and off upon restart. Needless to say, it's all a bit inconvenient.

I guess my next course is to try and rollback from the Windows 10 creator's update... and eventually just start with a fresh copy of Windows 10 or something.

Update-- the problem is solved after formatting both my drives and starting with a fresh Windows 10 install. Probably not the solution any future readers want to see, but here we are!

Sadly that is needed sometimes. The problem was not the sound card or drivers but a Windows corruption that caused the problems.