No sound after Windows 10 20H2 update even through a sound card or USB audio adapter

Sue Schaefer 1 Reputation point
2021-04-12T17:18:43.333+00:00

My sound issue has been going on since 1/13/21 when I installed the 20H2 Win10 update. After that upgrade, I've had no sound through my displays or speakers.

Prior to that my Realtek on-board sound chip worked well with my JVC receiver and surround speaker system. I've tested the receiver and speakers and they work. So I tried sound cards from 2 different manufacturers. There is no BIOS to disable the Realtek sound chip, but I completely removed the device drivers, etc., when I installed each sound card. My latest attempt was to use a USB Audio Adapter. That showed promise when I tested the speaker config in their software - it produced sound through the speakers. However there was still no sound when testing the USB audio in Windows' Sound Settings.

There is still no sound through the Nvidia graphics card, monitors or speakers. I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling, and/or updating drivers for Realtek, Nvidia and each sound device. Also tried going back to the older Realtek driver that had worked before, which is where I've left it.

My current config is:
Win10 Pro v. 20H2, OS build 19042.906, Win Feature Exp Pack 120.2212.551.0
Realtek Audio vers. 6.0.1.8186 (6/14/17)
Intel Display Audio vers. 10.27.0.9 (2/25/20)
Nvidia HD Audio v. 1.3.38.40 (10/16/20). Nvidia GEForce FTX 745 ver. 465.89

All devices and drivers show as working properly in Device Manager. The sound cards and USB audio adapter also showed as working properly when they were installed.

The mfgs of the sound cards and USB sound device have made suggestions, but no luck. From online forums, it appears I'm not the only one having issues since the upgrade. Any help would be appreciated.

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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  1. Teemo Tang 11,346 Reputation points
    2021-04-13T02:00:09.5+00:00

    Open the Settings app ( Windows + I ).
    Go to Privacy – Microphone.
    Ensure that the toggle switch under Allows apps to access your microphone is enabled on the right.
    Next, please following the suggestions here to fix your audio issue.
    Fix sound problems in Windows 10
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/fix-sound-problems-in-windows-10-73025246-b61c-40fb-671a-2535c7cd56c8

    If all methods in Microsoft website failed, I suggest to execute a in-place upgrade with an ISO image file.

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