I've screwed up the sound on my PC and have no idea what to do!

Here's the story, I've been having a number of problems with my PC lately. Just recently, I found I had to restart the Realtek driver to get my PC to switch from in PC speakers to my external speakers I typically use. Suddenly, my external speakers started buzzing as well when idle. I decided to reinstall the drivers, so I uninstalled all the sound drivers and rebooted. Upon rebooting, still no sound. I searched and searched, I found Realtek drivers but none of them would install, all threw error codes. I found one that would install, but found I also have to download Maxxaudio, so I installed that as well. Maxxaudio immediately told me I need to update Windows upon opening (another problem I'm having, Windows consistently fails updating now and reverts changes) and upon closing out of that notification, I found everything in Maxxaudio is locked and can't be activated. The Realtek driver I was using did work but wouldn't switch to headphones, it didn't even offer an option to switch to headphones manually. I did some more digging and found that Dell's website could identify my PC using SupportAssist (Another problem I'm having is SupportAssist keeps failing to install updates to drivers) and tell me what drivers I need. I came across the exact Realtek package I need and downloaded it. When I tried to install, it said it failed, with 0x00000002 for an error code. This is the exact driver that Dell says my PC needs. I've tried clicking on the sound icon which shows sound is off, it immediately starts the troubleshooter. It says it found the correct drivers and needs me to reboot, so I do. Upon logging back in, still no sound. I click the sound icon again, it does the exact same thing. Tells me to reboot to install drivers. It just keeps doing this and not installing anything. The troubleshooter has also told me the Windows Audio service is not responding. It's like there's something that's required for installing drivers that's simply not working. I'm desperate for help here, I know I have a mess on my hands but I'd appreciate any insight. System specs are attached.

dalchina said:

Hi, given the mutiple problems, I would first do a couple of routine basic checks:

a. Check disk(s) (Hard Disk Sentinel - excellent - valid for SSDs too).
b. If ok run
chkdsk c: /scan
from an admin command prompt.

If ok, get a current Win 10 iso file and perform an in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all progs and data - tutorial available- I've posted a 4-5 line quick guide many times.

You need at least 30Gb free on C:

This also refreshes service status and like any upgrade gives you a fresh set of drivers.

Managing PC crises:

The routine and regular use of disk imaging (of at least all O/S partitions) is endlessly recommended here, e.g. Macrium Reflect (free/paid) + large enough external disk for image files.

With that you can have multiple dates to which to revert when things go badly wrong- even if your disk fails. Can help you avoid seeking technical help, and avoid clean installing.

Start a new regime of disk imaging after the above repair.

Thanks for your reply. I'll try that this evening. It'll be tough because my C drive is pathetic and I only have 19gb free and that's after clearing out a lot of unneeded stuff when it became full one day suddenly. This will be a last ditch effort, if it doesn't work, I'm going to have to just package up everything that I consider important and wipe my C driver and install Windows fresh.

dalchina said:

Wiztree (free) gives a great view of how your disk is used.

You could, of course clone your O/S to a larger drive.

You need around 30Gb free min for any major Win 10 upgrade, of course.

I've been planning on buying a new larger solid state drive and replacing it for a while now. At this point, I'm just gonna have to whittle some space out. I use TreeSize to check on what's chewing up space. Is it possible that my windows update isn't going through because I don't have enough c drive space?

I have the i5 CPU version of your PC - Inspiron 15 Gaming 5577. Is yours actually Inspiron 15 Gaming 7577?

Given all the potential problems, if what dalchina suggests doesn't fix it, worse case is a factory reinstall.

I do some support on the Dell forums. We find wrong Realtek drivers can wreak havoc. Dell's require model specific sound drivers along with the Waves MaxxAudio Pro for proper sound and audio jack device detection.

Here is the Dell instructions to uninstall Support Assist and reinstall the latest version. The latest version has fixes for later Win 10 compatibility.
SA uninstall/reinstall - Dell Community

fireberd said:

I have the i5 CPU version of your PC - Inspiron 15 Gaming 5577. Is yours actually Inspiron 15 Gaming 7577?

Given all the potential problems, if what dalchina suggests doesn't fix it, worse case is a factory reinstall.

I do some support on the Dell forums. We find wrong Realtek drivers can wreak havoc. Dell's require model specific sound drivers along with the Waves MaxxAudio Pro for proper sound and audio jack device detection.

I don't think the issue is the wrong driver, unless Dell's website is incorrect. I downloaded the update directly from Dell's website. It uses SupportAssist to identify my exact system and tell me specifically what I need, and that's what I tried to install. Currently, I actually managed to get it to install, but there's still no sound. When I do a sound test on my PC speakers, it says it failed to play the test sound. Troubleshooter says it found the problem and needs to be restarted, so I reboot. After rebooting, there's still no sound. Running Troubleshooter again brings up the exact same result, restart to apply fix. Something's wrong deeper.

The specs you see in my post are screenshot from my own system.

dalchina said:

Which update is it? - See your Update History.
You're at 21H1, so there shouldn't be anything big enough to cause problems.

It's the big ones (not the enablement packages) that require the space and create Windows.old.

I'll take a screenshot today when I get home and send it your way