Solved Audio Driver Malfunction on Restart

[MistUnleashed]

Hi Guys,

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GPU: Gainward NVidia GeForce GTX 460
SOUNDCARD: Asus P7P55DE-LX - Inbuilt to Motherboard
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Issue I am facing: On system restart, the audio drivers for both NVidia & VIA are 'deleted' and I have to reinstall the drivers every time I restart/start my computer - which is getting very tedious.

On running a bootlog (attached) i found that the drivers load but preceeding each audio driver load there was this driver called 'ksthunk.sys' which seems to malfunction.

Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouclass.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\swenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\umbus.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vga.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nusb3hub.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\nvhda64v.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\nvhda64v.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\nvhda64v.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\nvhda64v.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\viahduaa.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ksthunk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\monitor.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbccgp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\hidusb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\LUsbFilt.Sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\LHidFilt.Sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdhid.sys

Also I have noticed that other drivers also are not loading on system start-up. How can I resolve this?

I've honestly got no clue on how to proceed, any help is appreciated.

PS - Drivers are up-to-date

Thanks

MistUnleashed

 

[fireberd]

ksthunk.sys can be malware. Suggest you run a malware/spyware scan with a program such as Malwarebytes, as a start.

See this posting on it. ksthunk.sys Windows process - What is it?

 

[MistUnleashed]

ksthunk.sys can be malware. Suggest you run a malware/spyware scan with a program such as Malwarebytes, as a start.

See this posting on it. ksthunk.sys Windows process - What is it?

Hi fireberd,

I have scanned ksthunk.sys which was in C:\Windows\System32\drivers and i've received no errors both on Avast and Malwarebytes.

Whats next to do?

Thanks

 

[fireberd]

Rename the file to something such as "oldksthunk.sys" and then restart the PC and see what happens. According to the site in the link it may work without that file.

If you run into other problems, rename it back to "sthunk.sys".


A side note, I see you have a 64 bit OS but only 4GB of RAM. This is not the cause of your problem, but the reason to use a 64 bit OS is that it can address and use more than 4GB of RAM. With only 4GB (and if it can't be upgraded) the 32 bit OS would have been the best choice. A 64 bit OS uses more of the available RAM than a 32 bit OS and thus you have less available for programs.

 

[MistUnleashed]

Rename the file to something such as "oldksthunk.sys" and then restart the PC and see what happens. According to the site in the link it may work without that file.

If you run into other problems, rename it back to "sthunk.sys".


A side note, I see you have a 64 bit OS but only 4GB of RAM. This is not the cause of your problem, but the reason to use a 64 bit OS is that it can address and use more than 4GB of RAM. With only 4GB (and if it can't be upgraded) the 32 bit OS would have been the best choice. A 64 bit OS uses more of the available RAM than a 32 bit OS and thus you have less available for programs.

Hi fireberd,

I cant rename it or modify it. I get an error (attached).

What do I do?

Thanks.

 

[fireberd]

After looking back over your listing, that file may not be the problem.

Reinstall the Intel Motherboard Chipset Drivers, then restart and see if that helps.
The chipset drivers are listed on the ASUS downloads.

Motherboards | P7P55D-E LX | ASUS Global

 

[MistUnleashed]

After looking back over your listing, that file may not be the problem.

Reinstall the Intel Motherboard Chipset Drivers, then restart and see if that helps.
The chipset drivers are listed on the ASUS downloads.

Motherboards | P7P55D-E LX | ASUS Global

I recently updated the chipset driver, is it necessary to reinstall it again?

 

[fireberd]

Did this happen after the chipset update?

 

[MistUnleashed]

Did this happen after the chipset update?

No, this started happening I THINK after I updated my graphics card.

 

[fireberd]

Rollback the video driver (you can do that in the Device Manager) and see if that makes a difference.

Go to the Device Manager, RIGHT click on the entry for the video card and then Left click Properties.

 

[MistUnleashed]

Solved

Hi All,

Thanks for all your help, unfortunately it wasnt anything that had already been suggested. I dissected the problem down and i can say the KSTHUNK.SYS was the problem all along. What was happening was that on Windows start-up, the OS was trying to read the file KSTHUNK.SYS but instead was wiping/deleting all of its information, such as version number, manufacturer etc. Hence after logging on, the audio drivers were trying to verify KSTHUNK.SYS but couldn't find any information in the file so it didnt load the audio drivers.

To solve this issue I did the following:

1. Uninstalled VIA HD Audio Driver and HD VDeck Tool.
2. Ran the Guru3D Display Driver Removal Tool: Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.0
3. Ran CCleaner Registry Cleaner To Remove Left Over Keys.
4. Went into C:\ and deleted any leftover NVidia or VIA Files.
5. Went to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ksthunk.sys and renamed in ksthunk.OLD (Had to tweak permissions to let me rename it)
6. Disabled automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
7. Restarted Computer.
8. After restart I went to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ > Windows had loaded a backup version, I right-clicked and verified that it had version information, manufacturer etc then MADE A COPY ON THE DESKTOP - Just in case it was needed.
9. Then I Installed the latest VIA Audio Drivers & NVidia Display + 3D Vision + Audio + Physx Drivers
10. Re-enabled the automatic driver installation
11. Went to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ksthunk.sys, Properties then set KSTHUNK.SYS to READ-ONLY.
12. Restarted Computer.

Hopefully if anyone else comes across this problem then the above instructions may help!


Thanks again for your help.


MistUnleashed