Playing sound will just suddenly go silent unless I press volume/mute

[mbratch]

This is problem that just one day came into being on my laptop running Windows 7. I can't associate it with any particular update since I don't play videos or sound files frequently.

Here's what happens. Let's say I got to YouTube and play a video. The sound will work for about 30 seconds to a minute. Then it will suddenly stop. The video still plays. If I toggle mute (press it twice) or press the volume up or down, the sound comes back but it doesn't last as long. To listen to something, I have to stand ready at the volume (one click up or down) or mute (two clicks) button to press it any time the sound goes away. The same thing happens if I play an mp3 on the music player. So it's not browser plugin related. It seems either sound driver related, or even a HW issue perhaps.

I just upgraded to Windows 10, using a completely different browser and the problem is still there.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this?

Thanks

 

[fireberd]

What do you have listed for the sound? The actual hardware sound driver or the generic Windows installed High Definition Audio Driver? If you don't have the actual hardware sound driver, that is the first step.

 

[mbratch]

What do you have listed for the sound? The actual hardware sound driver or the generic Windows installed High Definition Audio Driver? If you don't have the actual hardware sound driver, that is the first step.

There are two things listed under Sound in the device manager:

Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD
Intel(R) Display Audio​

 

[fireberd]

That's the correct sound driver.
If you just upgraded to 10 and still doing it, could be hardware, sound driver (the Win 7 driver may not be Win 10 compatible or at least not 100% compatible). Check Lenovo and see if there is a later driver, at least a Win 8.1 driver.