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#1
Windows audio randomly dies (probably USB-related)
Hello there,
I've been pondering around this problem for quite a while now and I finally decided to inquire the mighty crowds of computer wisdom i.e. you all :)
I've had this exact same problem in my previous system (with Windows 7 32-bit and quite a bit different internals) but it wasn't nearly as frequent as it is now (with Windows 7 64-bit and brand new CPU/MB/RAM/GPU) - however, this problem never happened on my previous box while it had Windows XP installed for a short while. Namely, the audio in Windows would stop working at random, every app that uses an audio interface would freeze when attempting to access any sink, I can't change the volume or mute anything, and I cannot even reset the Windows Audio service (reset times out) when that happens - the only solution is to reboot after which everything works just fine. The only difference between my old system and this one is that now I rarely get the reset procedure to 'freeze' on 'explorer.exe - Playing log-off sound...' (requiring to force restart to continue the process), but now it more often hangs at 'Shutting down...' screen requiring a physical restart.
My audio stack consists of the integrated sound (disabled, I don't need it, but in my previous setup it was enabled) and two USB-based sound sinks, namely Logitech Z Cinéma speakers (Default Device) and Logitech G930 headset (Default Communications Device). Both are connected directly to the motherboard USB ports so it's not a problem with wonky USB hubs.
The problem is most likely to occur shortly after waking up from stand-by (actually, not stand-by, just monitors and HDDs off), using both audio devices at the same time (most frequently while talking on Skype using the headset and trying to run some video in browser which uses the speakers) and turning the secondary monitor on (I sometimes turn it off, physically, so it doesn't distract me while watching something) - the secondary monitor does have an USB hub to which only my webcam is attached if that's some indication (it does add a new audio recording device when turned on).
Here's a list of things I've tried which didn't solve the problem:
- Changing USB ports to which the said devices are attached.
- Disabling USB selective suspend in power options.
- Reinstalling the drivers, including trying with older versions.
- Writing a simple app which sends a short barely audible noise to each of the devices each minute to avoid internal standby mode should they have it.
I suspect it has something to do with traditionally crappy Logitech drivers/software given that the exact same computer running Linux doesn't give me any troubles whatsoever (except the severely lacking features due to the missing drivers/software).
So, the question is - where to look next for a solution? The Event Viewer doesn't show anything when this occurs (except reporting that some app stopped working from time to time), if the Driver Verifier is turned on it doesn't BSOD when this happens, the drivers/software don't produce any logs... At this point I'd be happy even for a way to restart the Windows audio service or whatever it is that hangs when this happens, as long as I don't have to restart my whole system which is mighty annoying.
Thank you very much in advance for any insight you might provide.