Windows 10 Audio Disaster - Please Help

[leo1798]

So my PC's audio randomly stopped working today, and I've given myself several headaches trying to troubleshoot this nightmare. The original problem was that there was a red "x" on the audio icon on the bottom right of my screen, and as a result I could not adjust the volume, see any of my audio devices, or hear sound when I would run an application. Initially, I ran the troubleshooter and it told me that my audio services were not working. I looked up a few articles online which instructed me to uninstall and reinstall my audio drivers, which I wound up doing multiple times in addition to restarting my PC to make sure that such took effect. It also instructed me to go into my services and restart the Windows Audio service. I saw that the service was not running at all, and when I would try and start it, it would tell me that my access was denied. I played around with the permissions, which at first resulted in my devices being recognized again, but still with no sound. I eventually restored the default Local System permission, and while the devices are still recognized, I still have no sound. Whether it's my dedicated speakers, my built-in monitor speakers, my headphones, or whatever else I try, nothing is working. This is extremely problematic as several of my applications won't start and are giving me error messages such as "Failed to initialize DirectX Audio." When I run the audio troubleshooter now, it says that "Audio services are not responding." My "Plug and Play," "Windows Audio," and "Windows Audio Endpoint Builder" services all say that they are running, and at this point I have no idea what to do. Some people with a similar issue on the Windows Forums said that they had to reinstall windows to fix the issue, but I'd rather not do such unless as a last resort. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Master Disaster]

First thing you should do is download Malwarebytes, install it, update it and run a full system scan.

[ImAlsoRan]

Start the Windows Audio Service again, then go to your headphone's settings (under Sounds in Control Panel) and change your sample rate.

[leo1798]

3 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

First thing you should do is download Malwarebytes, install it, update it and run a full system scan.

Why?

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, leo1798 said:

Why?

Because something changed your computer's permission settings and that can be a sign of malware.

 

Better to rule it out rather than making assumptions.

[leo1798]

3 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Because something changed your computer's permission settings and that can be a sign of malware.

Well I installed and ran the program and had zero threats detected. I use Windows Defender and scan fairly regularly, so I assumed this would be the case. I don't really run unknown .exe or batch files so I don't think my PC is infected. Thanks for the advice though.

[leo1798]

11 minutes ago, ImAlsoRan said:

Start the Windows Audio Service again, then go to your headphone's settings (under Sounds in Control Panel) and change your sample rate.

The speakers I use don't support other sample rates, it won't even play the sample tone for the default sample rate.

[ImAlsoRan]

Just now, leo1798 said:

The speakers I use don't support other sample rates, It won't even play the sample tone for the default sample rate.

Really? Not even CD Quality?

[leo1798]

Just now, ImAlsoRan said:

Really? Not even CD Quality?

Nope, at least my PC says that they're not supported.

[leo1798]

Looks like I'm going with a clean windows install