Windows 10 audio stops working after installing Intel Smart Sound Technology driver (version 09.21.00.3755)

Anonymous
2018-10-13T01:18:55+00:00
Earlier this week, Intel unintentionally released version 9.21.00.3755 of the Intel Smart Sound Technology (ISST) Driver through Windows Update, and inadvertently offered it to a range of devices running Window 10 version 1803 or 1809. If your device contained<br> a compatible audio driver, the new driver overrode it and caused audio to stop working.<br><br><br><br><br><br>We are working with Intel to resolve this issue, and as soon as we learned of the issue on October 11, we made sure the driver was no longer being offered through Windows Update. If it was already installed on your device, you will need to uninstall the<br> driver using the following instructions.<br><br> <br><br>  <br><br><ol><br><li><span style="color:#333333">From the Start menu, type <strong>Device Manager </strong><br>in the search box. Select <strong>Device Manager</strong> from the search results.</span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Find and expand <strong>Sound, video, and game controllers.</strong></span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Look for a Realtek device, or a device that has a yellow triangle with an exclamation point.</span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Click on the device to select it.</span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Go to the Device Manager <strong>View</strong> menu, and then select<br><strong>Devices by connection</strong>.<br><br><br><br></span><a href="https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/048ccab5-e448-412c-b600-b4b3aea9fe18?platform=QnA target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/048ccab5-e448-412c-b600-b4b3aea9fe18?platform=QnA style="color:#333333"><br><br></span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Look at the controller device - this should be called<br><strong>Intel Smart Sound Technology driver version 09.21.00.3755.</strong></span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Right-click the controller device.</span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">Choose <strong>Properties.</strong></span></li><li><span style="color:#333333">You should get a dialog like below. Click on the <strong><br>Driver</strong> tab as shown:</span></li></ol><br>  <br><br>  <br><br> <br><br>  <br><br>10.  If the driver version is<br>9.21.0.3755, you have the driver that was sent to you incorrectly. <br><br>11.  Click Uninstall Device. You will get a popup asking if you want to remove the driver. <br><br>  <br><br> <br><br>  <br><br>13.  Check the<br>checkbox as shown, so the driver will be removed. <br><br>14.  Click<br>Uninstall. <br><br>15.  When the driver is uninstalled, reboot your system. <br><br>16.  Your audio (speakers and headphones) should work after the reboot.
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-10-17T23:59:47+00:00

    Not really interested in being harassed on here when the problems many people are experiencing were in fact caused by the most recent update to Windows 10. There were no problems prior to the update and now everyone is scrambling to restore functionalities on whatever computer they are using. 

    I am at least thankful the tech support I have here is nice and will help me again at no extra charge. I have had to pay for this as have lots of people and this seems very unacceptable that we are forced to pay for corrections thanks to Microsoft's update.  We all know they will release a better version of this update once they figure out all the bugs in it currently.

    All of my equipment, and applications and/or programs are current.  Skype is current, it has to be I work at home and have to participate in conference calls that are international as well as national. I have already tried many of the posted workarounds myself and it is not solving the issues caused by the update. Skype is not the issue, as I stated above, it is the audio across the board and including on Skype. Lots of people are reporting this issue since the update. For some of us, it is actually vital because we work remotely 100%. 

    If you search the web on this you will see this update has really messed people up and many of the workarounds are not working for everyone.

    I am going back to my tech support guy on Friday, can't get back over there sooner because I have already lost a lot of time since this update messed up my computer. 

    Yes of course I am aware if I was wanting someone to offer me specific information for my system I would need to provide much more detailed information. I have to stop trying to fix the problems for now and try to catch up on work. This stuff is very time consuming and it has cut into my work in a bad way.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-10-19T03:05:42+00:00

    Add me to the list but my problems are a little different.

    I have retained sound through the Laptop speakers but it is very bad quality.

    No sound at all through headphones at all. (which is a must) 

    I have tried every fix that has been put forward but no results for any of them.

    So it looks like I just keep trying everthing that comes up plus what I can think of myself.

    My Laptop is a Toshiba 64bit.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-10-19T03:32:17+00:00

    I feel your pain. This has been a really bad update and it affects different systems in a variety of ways (which is why a lot of the workarounds people have found do not work for everyone). I'm on a Toshiba too btw. Taking it back to my tech support tomorrow I think he will  re install Windows 10 while I am at a meeting, see if that sets everything back to where it should be. I can let you know if that turns out to be a solid solution. Or maybe he will try a restore point for before the update installed. I would have tried to use a restore point, in fact I tried this twice with 2 different restore points and I was unable to do it, the update seemed to disable a lot of options that otherwise would have worked.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-10-19T11:23:11+00:00

    I hope it is a long meeting.

    Typically a nuke and pave (wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows 10 from scratch) takes 2 to 3 hours, at least on the machines I've had on my bench. Last one was a Dell with a damaged display. Once I repaired the display and got it up and running I discovered she was still running Windows 10 Home 1607. Upgrading to 1803, including any required updates, took a little under 3 hours to complete.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-10-20T00:36:53+00:00

    Add me to the list but my problems are a little different.

    I have retained sound through the Laptop speakers but it is very bad quality.

    No sound at all through headphones at all. (which is a must) 

    I have tried every fix that has been put forward but no results for any of them.

    So it looks like I just keep trying everthing that comes up plus what I can think of myself.

    My Laptop is a Toshiba 64bit.

    This is the same issue I am having; bad/distorted/garbled sound all the sudden. HP Envy custom-laptop; 64-bit

    Any idea when a new Windows update will resolve? nothing working and although I did get rid of the Intel SSD the sound is still garbled.

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