Can't start Dolby Audio driver after upgrading to Windows 8.1

Anonymous

Lenovo U410 wirh Windows 8 pre-installed.

Upgrade to 8.1 went flawlessly, but every time I re-start or boot up the machine I get this:

I've uninstalled and re-installed Dolby Home Theater, done an extensive local and web search about this.

There appears to be NO mention on my machine anywhere for a Dolby Audio Driver" or anything that uses it.

I've been on the Lenovo forum and there's a thread there that says to disable driver signature, which I've done to no effect.

I still get this message.

Can anyone throw any light on this?

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Anonymous

Hi Everyone!!

I did something to my laptop and it worked!!! After messing around the fix was simple!

Of course make sure your computer has all the windows updates. I don't know if that's gonna be a contributing factor, but it was part of my methods.

After that go into your "D Drive" which is found under "My computer" --> "Drivers" -->"Audio"

Once you're in the audio folder, you're gonna scroll down, you will see a computer icon that says "setup" click on that. Once you do that you will follow the instructions. It seems by doing this it updates the conextant audio driver. I don't know why it didn't update in the device manager as others have suggested. But after I did this, I checked to make sure it was fixed

You can see if it was fixed by:

Going into your control panel and clicking the Dolby theater which can be found in the sounds, games, etc. --> you should see the actual program pop up instead of the error message!

I am so glad I finally fixed this! If this helps you, please label it as the answer so everyone else can fix theirs too! It seems to be a major issue

Have an "error" free day!

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hi,

Lenovo has updated the Conexant Audio Drivers for Windows 8.1 to correct this error. You can download the updated drivers for your device at http://support.lenovo.com/en\_US/downloads/default.page.

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147 additional answers

Anonymous

2013-10-21T16:15:21+00:00

I'm not sure but I would probably use the repair option or reinstall if that is an option; If you do a remove, I'm thinking you would then need to visit the PC manufacturer's website to obtain a new driver.

Here is my full instructions adapted from Gordon B-P's original solution:

Note if error message is titled "Dolby Advance Audio" or "Dolby Home Theater"

Open Device Manager. (Right-click on the Start button and choose Device Manager)

Expand the Sound, Video and Games Controllers section

Right Click on the Conexant SmartAudio HD item and choose Uninstall

(Follow prompts but DO NOT check "Delete the driver software for this device"

Restart PC when prompted

[You may still get error message at this point]

Open Device Manager from Start menu

Expand the Sound, Video and Games Controllers section.

The Conexant SmartAudio HD item should be present again

Right-Click on it and choose Update driver software

- Follow prompts and Browse to D:\drivers\audio when prompted and click OK

When that's done, close Device Manager.

Open This PC from Desktop or File Explorer from Start menu and navigate to

D:\drivers\Audio\DolbyGUI

Double-click on either DolbyAdvancedAudio.msi or DolbyHomeTheater.msi to reinstall the appropriate driver for your error message

- Follow prompts to reinstall or repair driver

Restart computer

Hopefully the error message will now be gone for good!

Good Luck!
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Anonymous

2013-10-21T14:55:21+00:00

Hi

I tried the above but still get the error message, when I double click on dolby advanced audio, the wizard only lets me either repair or remove, I assume I use the repair option, is this right

Stephen
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Anonymous

2013-10-20T15:03:22+00:00
The re-start did cause Conexant to re-appear in the Device Manager, but the error (could not start the Dolby Audio Driver) continues....

Not sure how to correct this, but everything else appears to be operating correctly.

Any other suggestions??

DC

Did you continue on with the rest of the instructions after the restart?:

Right-Click on Conextant SmartAudio HD and choose Update Driver Software.
- Choose Browse, navigate to d:\drivers\audio and click OK
When that's done, close Device Manager.

Open File Explorer and navigate to D:\drivers\Audio\DolbyGUI and run DolbyHomeTheater.msi (or DolbyAdvancedAudio.msi if that was your error message title).

Follow prompts and Restart

Good Luck!
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