Sound stops, but comes back after a sound problems "quick scan"  

Hi, right at the end of running the troubleshooter there's an option at the bottom something like
View detailed report
which will give you something like this:


Look for something that's been fixed- you may be lucky.
After that, you have to try to find out what caused that- which might be a process of elimination, e.g. starting from a clean boot.

When sound dies, go here and check the level indicator (green bars) and try the Test option.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions. I've since found out that putting the computer into Standby and then waking it up again is one cause of the problem. (There may be others.) Here's a summary of the problem:

The System sound (beep) still works. For example, sliding the volume slider causes a beep at the end.
The following do NOT work:

• Playing music from Amazon Music (over the internet)
• Playing a Youtube video
• Playing music using VLC media player (from a local mp3 file)
• Using Zoom
• Playing a "beep" using the macro utility Macro Express

Attach 1 shows all output devices with sound

Attach 2 is the Windows "Get Help" window
I clicked "Yes" to "Did you hear the sound (beep) that just played?"
At this point everything works again. Nevertheless, I continued where it says it couldn't find the issue and wants me to reproduce the issue during a second scan. I played something, but of course it didn't reproduce the issue since the issue goes away after the first beep.

Attach 3 is the window after the failed second attempt.
I chose "Yes" to the question about sending a diagnostic report.

Attach 4 is the next window.
It shows that "File0.zip" is attached but there's no way to open it and it doesn't say where it's located. I can't find the "Troubleshooting report" you show in your reply.

Attach 5 is the "Sound" window. It is unchanged by the Troubleshooting step. (Note my speakers are connected to the front panel which Windows shows with a headphone icon. I've had them connected this way for almost a year with no problems.) When I click Properties > Advanced > Test there is no sound until I run the Troubleshooter. Afterwards it plays correctly.

Hi, I've not seen that troubleshooter before- interesting- the Get Help link can often be pretty useless so I tend to ignore it.

The built-in one most people use can be started from Settings or by rt clicking the volume icon, click Troubleshoot... and you can progress to the Window I showed. Also from the Control Panel:


What we're looking for is what was fixed. Hope it still exists in 20H2.

Your speakers are effectively wired, so no USB or wireless issues.

When the problem recurs, you can try the last part of my previous post, and note the state of the output device.


It could be something running is responsible - depending on how often this occurs you could try elimination- e.g. does it happen after a clean boot...

File0.zip I guess will be some sort of log or perhaps simply details of your hardware and software to support the report.
You could try using a 3rd party fast search tool such as Locate32 (which I like) - free- to find this, but I'm guessing its content won't be of interest assuming it's interpretable.

Very odd. You might check this setting, but I have no clear idea what might cause this.


Suggest checking if the problem exists after a clean boot.

I've suddenly started

- have you had any sort of driver or Windows update that might cause this? (Update History) Installed/uninstalled anything?

- do you have an appropriate System Restore point you could use?