Serious audio problem with the Surface Book

[Lumious]

I am having a pretty serious issue with audio on the SB. Once in a while no sound will play at all and its not like just sound doesnt play...Anything that has audio playback either crashes or freezes e.g. Winamp, Groove, Youtube, Soundcloud, Beatport, etc..

In the action center i have a notification saying "Are you having sound problems? Open the audio troubleshooter."

When i restart the computer it fixes the issue. I have reported it in the feedback hub.

I am running the latest insider build 14390. And what scares me is there is hardly any known issues at this point and i havent seen this mentioned anywhere. So i am trying to figure out if it is the insider build or it is an issue with the SB itself. I need to figure this out soon before my 30 days expire from the time that i bought it.

Anyone have this issue or know whats going on?

 

[zerospace-net]

I'll help you out. I don't do a lot of audio playback on my SB, but I'll fire up some music apps and see what happens. I will report back in a few days after I've had some time to play with it. I'm not on an insider build, so that should help you determine if the issue is related to the insider build or not.

That aside, MS did just push out some audio driver updates .. did you get those? Did they install OK?

 

[Lumious]

I'll help you out. I don't do a lot of audio playback on my SB, but I'll fire up some music apps and see what happens. I will report back in a few days after I've had some time to play with it. I'm not on an insider build, so that should help you determine if the issue is related to the insider build or not.

That aside, MS did just push out some audio driver updates .. did you get those? Did they install OK?

Everything installed ok w/ regards to new updates and drivers. I have just reset my PC with the option to delete everything which is pretty much a clean install of the current build. I have not noticed the problem as of yet, i will let you know if it comes up again. And please let me knwo if you can duplicate the issue.

 

[zerospace-net]

Everything installed ok w/ regards to new updates and drivers. I have just reset my PC with the option to delete everything which is pretty much a clean install of the current build. I have not noticed the problem as of yet, i will let you know if it comes up again. And please let me knwo if you can duplicate the issue.

Will do. So far, nothing, but I haven't had a ton of time to allow audio to play.

 

[Lumious]

i still have yet to duplicate the problem after the clean install but again just like you i am not listening to alot of audio.

 

[Lumious]

Ok so I just turned on my surface book this morning and the sound problem greeted me ugh. Same problem, had to restart the PC to fix it. So I am wondering if this is a software/driver problem that will be fixed in the future or if there is something wrong with my surface book. I think it is the former but need to decide in less than 15 days? something like that before my ability to return this thing expires. What do you guys think?

 

[Dratwister]

In case you cannot visit Microsoft store for exchange and you can work without SB for a while. I think you should send it back to Microsoft for a replacement (or refund).
If you can visit Microsoft store, then head to there and ask for a replacement right at the store.

Since this is not normal, and you're still in exchange period. I think you shouldn't take the risk and should return it back to Microsoft.

 

[DCW1000]

I'm not a big audio user from my Book, but I do have some external speakers set up that are driven through a Dock. I mostly use them just to play news feeds or old Blue Cheer, Seeds, and Spirit videos from YouTube. I have never had anything remotely like the issues you described. I also drive the same speakers from an Echo Dot using an A/B switch, but dead air just means I have neglected to push the right button to get the signal to the speakers. I have never seen the troubleshooting message.

I would contact Microsoft about an exchange or return & repair. Good luck.

 

[Lumious]

I'm not a big audio user from my Book, but I do have some external speakers set up that are driven through a Dock. I mostly use them just to play news feeds or old Blue Cheer, Seeds, and Spirit videos from YouTube. I have never had anything remotely like the issues you described. I also drive the same speakers from an Echo Dot using an A/B switch, but dead air just means I have neglected to push the right button to get the signal to the speakers. I have never seen the troubleshooting message.

I would contact Microsoft about an exchange or return & repair. Good luck.

I really like my surface book and have little issues with it i dunno i almost feel like this happens so infrequently and a 10 second restart fixes it, is it even worth going through the trouble of exchanging it and then who knows if that surface book will ahve the same problem...you know, if it is a software issue with 14393. I almost want to install 10586 to find out but it's such a hassle not sure if i even want to do that.

Thanks for all your imput though guys, was just seeing if anyone had the same/similar issue

 

[Lumious]

I kept having the problem so in order to see if it was the insider build or my hardware i decided to reinstall windows from scratch and install 10586 which i currently have running. So far no problems at all sound works fine. I have a feeling it was the RS1 build as the drivers for the audio got updated with the build when i checked device manager.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Well I've found issue with sound when I switch sound output devices and the default payback device. Typically i have to go into playback devices (right click on sound speaker icon in task bar and select Playback devices) and manually set what device is the default. I have to do this when I use the Mini HDMI cable, Microsoft Display adapter or a Bluetooth speaker.

 

[Lumious]

still no issues on 10586

 

[DCW1000]

still no issues on 10586

Good news. Please report the status after you get the Anniversary Update next month (or whenever).

 

[Lumious]

Good news. Please report the status after you get the Anniversary Update next month (or whenever).

Will do! I am almost positive it's connected with 14393 and not the Book itself now. I checked the driver for the speakers and it does upgrade to 10.0.14393 when i upgrade to that build. When i downgrade it lists the driver as 10.0.10586. I dont think this problem will come back but i wont be upgrading to RS1/Anv update until several cycles of patches and hot fixes come out.

 

[stephanejap]

Hey Lumious, I have been having the exact same issue (cold boot my SB and no sound, restart fixes it) for the past few days. I am on 14393 and this morning I decided to uninstall and delete all audio devices/drivers. I then manually downloaded the new firmware/drivers package from MS and did a manual install of the audio device with the option to "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" then "Have Disk". I then pointed the install to the HD Audio folder from the extracted package and installed those drivers instead. So far today, turned it off a few times just to see if the problem was still there, but all seems ok... I'll keep you posted if it shows up again, but working fine for now.

 

[Lumious]

Hey Lumious, I have been having the exact same issue (cold boot my SB and no sound, restart fixes it) for the past few days. I am on 14393 and this morning I decided to uninstall and delete all audio devices/drivers. I then manually downloaded the new firmware/drivers package from MS and did a manual install of the audio device with the option to "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer" then "Have Disk". I then pointed the install to the HD Audio folder from the extracted package and installed those drivers instead. So far today, turned it off a few times just to see if the problem was still there, but all seems ok... I'll keep you posted if it shows up again, but working fine for now.

thank you, glad to know i am not the only one with this problem.

Not sure if i want to go through all that trouble but i may upgrade to the anv update 14393 again soon anyways...

 

[stephanejap]

thank you, glad to know i am not the only one with this problem.

Not sure if i want to go through all that trouble but i may upgrade to the anv update 14393 again soon anyways...

Scratch that!!! Just turned it on now and NO SOUND!!!! So maybe you wanna hold off on that upgrade and wait for anv. Maybe MS will have new drivers out by then. I tried...

 

[Lumious]

Scratch that!!! Just turned it on now and NO SOUND!!!! So maybe you wanna hold off on that upgrade and wait for anv. Maybe MS will have new drivers out by then. I tried...

.5 released today and it doesnt look like they fixed anything. Please upvote my feedback in the feedback hub and post your own unique feedback thread. We need to get heard on this and get it fixed!

 

[stephanejap]

.5 released today and it doesnt look like they fixed anything. Please upvote my feedback in the feedback hub and post your own unique feedback thread. We need to get heard on this and get it fixed!

Already on it!!! I wouldn't expect those minor build bump-ups to fix such a major issue anyway... I think I already posted on the feedback hub too. I'll upvote yours and here's my link:

feedback-hub:?contextid=68&feedbackid=0a10d7c4-a0f1-4b21-afe6-f3db993a9a86&form=1&src=2

 

[Lumious]

Already on it!!! I wouldn't expect those minor build bump-ups to fix such a major issue anyway... I think I already posted on the feedback hub too. I'll upvote yours and here's my link:

feedback-hub:?contextid=68&feedbackid=0a10d7c4-a0f1-4b21-afe6-f3db993a9a86&form=1&src=2

When i was on 10586 i didnt have this issue at all...i recently went back to 14393.5 and now it came back almost every other time i restart the computer. Very annoying it seems almost no one has upvoted me on feedback hub (except 1) and havent heard of this issue anywhere. I tweeted directly to Dona Sakar hopefully she responds with some kind of answer.

Please please if you have this issue post it here, post it in the feedback hub, tweet it! I can't be one of the only ones. This is microsoft hardware on a final version of RS1 (Oobviuosly fixes to come) but it seems pretty major to have this type of issue this late in the game. I would expect it on something like 14291 or smething like that.