Windows Inside & Out · Updates, Drivers & Restore Points · Lesson 5 of 5

Challenge: The Silent Laptop

Help a friend get her sound back after new headset software broke it.

No sound since yesterday

Your friend Priya calls you in a panic. She has a job interview on a video call tomorrow, and her laptop has no sound at all.

It worked fine until yesterday. That afternoon she bought a gaming headset and installed the headset maker's app. The app asked to install an "audio driver" too, and she said yes. Since the restart, nothing plays, not even through the laptop's own speakers.

She has already checked the obvious things. The volume is up, nothing is muted and the right speakers are picked in the sound settings.

You remember a simple question that solves a lot of mysteries.

A look in Device Manager

You ask Priya to right-click the Start button and open Device Manager. She opens the group called Sound, video and game controllers.

Her laptop's audio device has a small yellow triangle on its icon. She double-clicks it. The Device status box says the device cannot start. On the Driver tab, the driver date is yesterday's.

The Roll Back Driver button is not grey. That means an older driver is saved.

Plan B

Priya rolls back the driver and restarts. The yellow triangle is gone for a minute, then it comes back. The headset app seems to reinstall its driver every time it starts.

You remember that Windows makes a snapshot of the system before drivers and programs get installed. Going back to one from two days ago would remove the headset app and its driver together, and her files would stay safe.

Sound is back

Priya runs System Restore and picks the restore point made just before the headset app install. She selects Scan for affected programs first. It lists the headset app, which is what she expected.

After the restart, her sound works again. Her interview notes on the desktop are still there.

She still wants to use her new headset. She asks you how to set it up without breaking her sound again.