Windows 10 volume jumps to 100% on random

Question

So today I installed windows 10, and I love it except one thing:

The volume is bugged. I'll be sitting watching youtube videos on Microsoft Edge, click next video and my ears will be blown off because for some reason, the volume is all the way at 100% until I tweak it with the function key on my keyboard, in which it says it's at 30% and the audio jumps down to 30%. This mostly happens with Edge, and since Edge does not have a spot in my volume mixer, there's something funky going on there.

Everytime Edge loads a new video or audio element, the volume will jump to 100%, also sometimes when I switch between tabs, it will do the same.

I've also had Windows notification sounds jump to 100% in the volume mixer too. This is very frustrating as I am sometimes using a studio monitor, and having that blow because of a bug is just silly.

Is there any known issues with volume and Windows 10?

I should also mention that there is no headphone device in the volume settings, which there were before the upgrade.

Answer 1

Apparently it's a driver (Realtek supposedly) problem with Windows 10 that causes this issue, that is, playing a video anywhere (youtube, local file, etc.), pausing, waiting a few seconds, and playing again would result in a volume change without any real change in the speaker volume meter.

The following fixed it for me:

1. Click start and type sound and hit enter (to open the Sound window). Or you can alternatively right-click on the sound icon in the tray area and select Sounds.
2. Select the Playback tab and then right-click on the Speakers and select Properties.
3. Go to Enhancements tab (if you have it) and uncheck Disable all sound effects (or any similar thing you might have in there).
4. Also uncheck the immediate mode on top of the list.

For me it immediately fixed the problem, so give it a go and see what happens.

Originally posted here: Windows 10 maxes out volume sometimes

Answer 2

Seem to have fixed the Windows 10 / YouTube issue on my laptop w/ ear buds by doing this:

Lower-right hand of screen (system tray) Right Click audio icon > Sounds. New box appears, click "Communications" tab. Click radio button for "Do nothing" and click OK.

For whatever reason, it seems my machine was interpreting something as incoming or outgoing communication, thus initially lowering the volume. So far, so good!

Answer 3

I have an answer that works for my ASUS ROG G551JW. I found it here - look for crdev1's August 2nd post (I will paraphrase the post here because there are a few extra steps I feel are necessary). His solution rests on ASUS' Realtek drivers being fundamentally unfit for purpose, forcing users to have to block Windows' driver recommendations and install another OEM's drivers (Dell's) in their stead. Once again this goes to show that Microsoft's attempts to force updates through for all users regardless of user preference are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. I can confirm that as of ASUS' R6.01.7571 driver update, these steps are still very much necessary. Get it together, ASUS!

• Download drivers from Dell. Make sure to Choose the first download ending in A00.exe. Do not Install them yet! The update is available here - I have mirrored it on MEGA because the internet has taught me to be distrustful.
• Run the installer utility and instruct it to extract the files to a folder on your desktop; do not install the drivers yet.
• Download the wushowhide utility from Microsoft at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930.
• Go to Device Manager in the Control Panel (Right-click your start menu).
  • Disconnect your internet connection/s to stop Windows from interfering with your drivers and downloading the broken official update.
  • Under Sound, video and game controllers right click on Realtek and choose Uninstall from the Menu. Check the checkbox for "Delete the driver software for this device" and click OK.
• Restart your machine.
• Re-connect your internet, and then immediately run the wushowhide utility.
  • Click "hide updates" and allow it to perform a scan; once it appears, check the checkbox for "Realtek Semiconductor Corp Audio Device" and allow the utility to block updates for it coming through.
  • For me, doing this gave me a cryptic error with a yellow exclamation point. If this occurs, follow the list to the bottom and then run Wushowhide.diagcab again at the end.
• Go back to Device Manager and once again under Sound, video and game controllers right click on Realtek and choose Uninstall from the Menu. Check the checkbox for "Delete the driver software for this device" and click OK.
  • Do not restart this time when it asks you to.
• In the folder you extracted the drivers to, go to the RealtekHDAudio folder and run Setup.exe.
• Restart.

I can confirm this works. It's not an ideal solution because the ROG G551JW has a headset port and I use a headset, but the driver recognises it only as a pair of headphones, but at least we're getting a degree of driver functionality, which is more than we were receiving before.

If this helped you, please consider telling ASUS to pull themselves together because this is frankly unacceptable.

Answer 4

The audio driver you have looks to be very limited, with a very lacking Enhancement tab.

Try to find a new driver for it on the Realtek website.

If you want us to help, please go to Device Manager, and under the Sound branch enter Properties, and report the value of "Hardware Ids". Post also a screenshot of the entire Sounds branch.

---

According to the Hardware Ids, your sound device is the Realtek High Definition Audio.

I have located two possible drivers in :

1. Microsoft Update Catalog (requires Internet Explorer)
2. Realtek High Definition Audio download

I suggest to try them both in the above order, doing each time :

1. Download and install the driver
2. Delete the Realtek device in Device Manager
3. Reboot and test

If both drivers fail, then the problem is with Windows 10 itself, and the only advice left is to downgrade back to your previous version. If you decide to go this way, see this other answer of mine.

Answer 5

New answer July 2016!

I believe the latest Realtek drivers, sourced from a strange, password-protected area of the Realtek corporate site, fix this. Don't ask how I got these files - the important thing is I think I've found a working solution. It's been about an hour and I haven't noticed the issue once yet.

Because I don't trust the net, you can download an archive I've compiled here. It includes three things:

• Installer for the latest (July 2016) Realtek HD Audio driver. It works with my Asus GL551JW without issue, and it uninstalls other drivers it finds in the process.
• A file called rtkhdaud.dat. This needs to be placed into C:\Windows\System32\Drivers. It will disable the Realtek power management, which is supposed to be useful but actually causes constant popping noises and cannot be disabled via any intuitive means
• A readme documenting an optional registry key fix for the above (I'm not sure which one works, but the two seem to when used together).

Install the driver, copy the file, make the registry change. This will incur about fourteen reboots. After this, everything should FINALLY work properly. This also means users with headsets plugged into their ASUS laptops should now regain headset mic support that was lost when using the Dell driver I posted in a different answer. I'll be keeping that one online in case this solution fails to help people.

Answer 6

In my case, steps from this blog post helped.

You need to downgrade to the generic Windows driver in the system.

• go to Device Manager
• open up Sound, video and game controllers (for me, Realtek High Definition Audio was the one I hade to change, same as in the blog post)
• right-click on the Realtek speaker item and choose Update Driver software
• Click on Browse my computer for driver software -> Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
• choose the high definition audio device
• click Next button to install it.
• reboot
• profit

Answer 7

You can use free and opensource application EarTrumpet for settings

Install it from Mcrosoft Apps Windows Store: http://microsoft.com/en-us/p/eartrumpet/9nblggh516xp

or

get sources from GitHub: https://github.com/File-New-Project/EarTrumpet/releases