Realtek Audio Control Panel wont open

I just wanted to say thanks, and give a bump to this thread in case anybody else runs into this problem. My problem was a little different. Any time I tried to open the Realtek Audio Manager, it would crash, and give two popups saying Realtek Audio Manager has closed. My SPDIF output was also disabled in my control panel, and every startup, I got the RunDll32 has stopped working message. So I did as FyreFiend did. Uninstalled Realtek Audio from the control panel (Uninstall a program), reboot. Used the Soundblaster Disk that came with my Dell for full install, reboot. Then installed the Realtek driver from my driver disk from dell, reboot. Boom! Everything is working and I'm rocking out with my SPDIF Optical out, and have full access to my audio software (Soundblaster/Realtek/Waves).

My issue was caused by my restoring my computer to "factory settings", and I guess I didn't think about the Soundblaster disk. Thank goodness I kept it!

Anyways, thanks for a great FIX thread!

Herb

first install the the realtek audio driver version 2.73 which will definetely have the audio manager in control panel. then download the latest version. open the device manager. in sound right click on realtek high definition audio and click on update driver, select "browse my computer for driver software" then browse the folder containing lastest driver and click on next button which will update the latest audio driver. after updation you can see the realtek audio manager in control panel.

I'm glad I didn't try all the hard fixes first. I tried the sleep trick with the headphones plugged in, but that did not work. Having taught troubleshooting classes, I realized that I needed to think about the last thing I did before I could not access Realtek Manager. Yah! I remembered that I had Bluetoothed to a sound system the other day. I had left the radio on. I unplugged my headphones, turned OFF the Bluetooth, I was able to then open Realtek in Control Panel, I plugged the headphones back in and the sound system immediately recognized them as well as Realtek adding a tab for 2nd output control.

I know this thread is old, but I hope my solution helps somebody and keeps them from taking more drastic approaches.

As we taught in troubleshooting: Always try the easy fix first, just in case that is the answer.