Driver issues on laptop

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by 607, Apr 22, 2019.

  1. Oh no, the download was nearly 75% done (on my second attempt, as there was a setting that made the computer go into sleep mode after 15 minutes while on battery, which I turned off), and then I accidentally hit the power button. D: So I changed the behaviour of that to just turning off the display, in case I ever accidentally hit it again! And being able to turn off the display easily could be useful.
  2. 'Netwerkfout' it says now, and resuming it doesn't work! It seems harder than you think, Tom...
    Edit: It's continuing! It might finish yet...
  3. Oh! I just selected a mirror in the Netherlands and now the estimate is 6 minutes instead of 3 hours!
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  4. What build did you get, and from what mirror? I've tried two different ones and even redownloaded the comparison text file to make sure, but I can't pass the integrity check.
  5. No clue, it was literally more than 6 years ago. :p Maybe this works? https://www.tecmint.com/install-linux-os-on-usb-drive/
  6. That starts with
    Getting the ISO image is what I haven't been able to do.
  7. Do you also need me to try the Linux installation first, or have all my answers been able to tell you something? :)
  8. I found a USB stick, and finally managed to do it!
    It sounds like the problem does not persist, but I can't test all problems without Audacity. However, I could not manage to connect the Linux installation to wifi; when I finally found the name of my device, it just said something like "not allowed".
    Maybe I can install it from Windows unto my SSHD.

    Edit: But yes, finally I advanced a step! :D
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  9. Woot! That is good news, that should mean that it is not a hardware issue. :) Then I think there is some issue somewhere within Windows. I am fairly sure that a full reinstall of Windows would fix the issue (but I obviously can't guarantee anything). Doing this is ugh though. :p

    I just thought of another thing to try: you could try removing the audio drivers using "DDU" (display driver uninstaller). Use the program to boot into safe mode (go to settings, click that setting, reopen the program), remove the AUDIO drivers (Realtek probably, not Nvidia/AMD), and reinstall them using the newest installer.

    ---

    Funnily enough, I've also been having audio issues for 2 days, after I upgraded my motherboard+processor+RAM: I can't install the driver at all and therefore have no audio whatsoever... >.< Fortunately I can route it through my monitor as well, so I'll just have to deal with that until I reinstall Windows anyways in 2 weeks. :p
    607 likes this.
  10. That would be very ugh, as I have been spending weeks to get it how I want it. This is one of the few remaining problems, and if possible I do not want to refix all the others. :p
  11. I just noticed something.

    That's a lot.

    Edit: turning off all but the bottom one didn't get rid of any of the issues. It also doesn't seem to have created any new issues, so I'm not sure what they are supposed to do...
  12. From where? By the way, I do still need to confirm that the issues don't appear in Linux.
    But meanwhile I also can't play Minecraft or change the brightness or contrast in Re-Volt or record EmuHawk with OBS Studio, so my graphical drivers are apparently also off... *sigh*
  13. Sorry about late reply after my long previous reply, it's been a busy week for me ;)

    Based on what you've stated though, it's definitely a software issue like others have said. Usually, I would say just reinstalling your audio drivers would work, but given that your video drivers are also now suddenly not working and reinstalling audio drivers didn't work before, I would have to agree that reinstalling Windows is your best option.

    Uninstalling the audio drivers and nvidia drivers manually, then rebooting may fix the issue, as well. Windows will automatically grab audio drivers online for you and install them, which may work better. The Nvidia drivers will have to be re-downloaded and installed manually, but the computer will function without them using Windows built-in video drivers.

    However, if that doesn't work, a Windows clean install may be your only option. It's actually not as difficult a process as it sounds, though. If you have been able to boot into Linux on your laptop, then reinstalling Windows will be a cakewalk for you ;)

    Just to confirm though, your laptop is running Windows 10, correct? If so, you can use Option 1 from this guide to do a full "clean install" of Windows 10, which is the best way for you to do it: https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/ Windows 10 does have built-in reset tools, but those may not fix the issue like a complete clean install would.

    If you have your Windows 10 account linked to a Microsoft account, your settings will be re-applied once you log in with your account on the laptop. Also, backing up files to either the cloud or to an external device then putting them back once the re-install is finished can be time consuming, but not terribly difficult.

    Unfortunately any other "fine tuning" you've done will have to be redone. However, I find that doing a Windows clean install once a year can be good for a computer anyways. Lots of things can be installed and setup on a computer over a year, and a clean install can help clear out a lot of unused items that are taking up space and slowing down a computer. Not everyone may agree, but it's a good process for myself :p

    Also, what is the status of returns/warranty protection from the place you bought it from? If any troubleshooting you do up to and including a windows 10 clean install doesn't solve the issues you're having, you may have to look into possibly using this option if it is available.
    SkeleTin007 and 607 like this.
  14. I couldn't find a way to install Linux Audacity from Windows within a few minutes, so I decided to try to connect Linux to wifi again instead: and when I booted it again, it had a taskbar, with options for wifi, sound, opening a terminal, et cetera! :eek: I'm not sure why this was missing the first time, then; but I didn't think much of it, as I had heard that you needed to use the terminal for almost everything.
    So now it was easy to connect to wifi. However, I still couldn't test for the issues, as it turns out to be pretty hard (at least for someone inexperienced) to set up recording on Linux. :p Still, I am almost convinced that there are no issues on Linux. I did go on YouTube and listen to a video, and no pops happened. I couldn't try for long, though, as at some point audio wouldn't play from the headphones anymore. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Thanks for the new reply. :)
    Reinstalling Windows would be a last resort. I do wonder why (both of) you think it would fix things, given that, judging by the notifications I got at the first boot, and no files being left over from the previous user, I think it had just got a clean install.
    I haven't contacted the company yet. I'd rather not bother them until I know we can't fix this. I would like to figure out if I can replace the audio card in my laptop. However, although that would probably fix the audio issue, I would still have the video issues.
    I will check out "DDU"! I'll try to make a system restore point now, as I saw that was recommended. Huh, it succeeded already. :confused: I thought it would take a while, but at least a few minutes. :p
  15. I'm pretty certain that that wouldn't fix the issue, actually. :p

    I've also been trying to find a solution to my problems, I'll post back if I succeed in anything. :)

    The one from the Dell site. :)
    607 likes this.
  16. Why not? It would mean having to get new drivers, and they would probably work, if I buy one that looks good. But maybe it is impossible, as it could be integrated with the motherboard. Also, the audio cards I see wouldn't be able to go into a laptop, I think, as they have connections that need to be on the outside of a pc. Hm.
  17. Yeah, excluding the fact that I don't think you can replace the audio card of an average laptop, replacing it with the same thing doesn't suddenly remove the drivers. I'm pretty sure that if I replace my graphics card with an identical other one, I won't have to reinstall any drivers. :)