[NFBCS] My Laptop Won't Let Me Change the Audio Driver

Thu Jul 7 03:16:06 UTC 2022

            Okay, so I have gotten the Waves driver to just stay turned off, but now I have the problem that my laptop does not recognize my headphones if I plug them in after I start the computer. Does anyone know of a solution to either make the laptop recognize my headphones or switch manually?

Nicole

From: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2022 2:33 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: 'Nicole Torcolini' <torcolini at comcast.net>; 'Nancy Coffman' <nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: [NFBCS] My Laptop Won't Let Me Change the Audio Driver

Greetings:

The following may be of use to you in terms of your original problem, which was:

"I recently got a new Dell laptop directly from Dell-complete

with all of the Dell gloatware. Everything is going fine-except for that the

laptop and I are fighting over which audio driver to use. I want the

RealTech High Definition audio driver, but it keeps reinstalling the Waves

Max driver, regardless of what I do. Even if I delete the driver for the

Waves driver, after a reboot, it is back again. It does not even seem to

complete the installation of the other driver."

>From Freedom Scientific’s Support Page:

Link to Original Source <https://support.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Bulletin/1786> 

Short Description

On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.

Problem

If your Dell PC or laptop uses the Waves MaxxAudio Service for its onboard audio chipset, problems may occur the longer you use the computer. Windows® may become sluggish. Applications such as JAWS® or Microsoft Teams may close or crash unexpectedly. Virtual memory errors might occur.

See the Detailed Description section below before continuing to the Solution if you wish to have more background information.

Solution

To disable or enable the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application:

1.	Open Task Manager (the shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).
2.	Press the TAB key once. If this navigates to More Details, then press the SPACEBAR to show more details.
3.	Navigate to the Startup tab.
4.	Navigate to the list of items table.
5.	Type w to navigate to the items starting with the letter w.
6.	Press the DOWN ARROW key, if needed to navigate to Waves MaxxAudio Service Application. If it is not in the list, then this is not the cause of the problem.
7.	With Waves MaxxAudio Service Application selected, press ALT+A to disable it.
8.	Restart the computer.
9.	Use the computer for a few hours or so, without rebooting, until you are convinced the performance issues no longer exist. This may take several sessions.
10.	If the problem persists and you want to reenable Waves MaxxAudio Service Application, follow steps 1 through 8 but in step 8, press ALT+N to enable it.

Note:

The only real downside to disabling the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application is that the PC will no longer dynamically respond to plugging in a different output audio device. For example, if you plug in headphones, the computer will not use them until rebooting.

Detailed Description

Problem: Many computers include an onboard audio chipset that uses the “Waves Sound Maxx Audio Service”. When this service is running, your system performance is impacted when your system’s on-board audio is being used by various audio apps. Accessibility software is an example of audio software which makes use of the system’s audio interface in a way which has an impact on how the Waves Maxx Audio Service processes audio. The result is that over time, your system memory is not freed as applications like a screen reader submit audio to be output. Eventually, your system will begin making heavy use of the Virtual memory and memory pages. At some point enough memory will be used where Windows will need to begin closing applications to recover memory so that the system can continue to operate. When Windows unexpectedly closes application processes an application will either gracefully quit or an application may crash. For example, the Microsoft Teams software will often crash, whereas Google Chrome may simply exit gracefully. No crash dumps are generally generated when these symptoms occur.

Troubleshoot: To troubleshoot your system, run the msinfo32 app and tab to the system summary of information and if you find that the amount of available physical memory is less than 2 GB, typically as low as 850 MB of available memory, and if the system is using a large amount of virtual memory as much as 3 to 4 times your physical amount of memory, and your page file space is significantly greater than it usually is when you first boot up the machine, then it is very likely you have this issue. You can check this by rebooting your system and then load msinfo32. Examine the memory values that are listed under Summary. Once you know your startup values you can use the machine for 3 or 4 hours. After that time, if you examine the same msinfo32 information and you find you have little memory left or unexpectedly large amounts of memory is being used when you have almost no 3rd party apps running, then you likely have this issue.

For example, for a typical system with 16GB of physical RAM we would expect Windows 10 to bootup and have all services running with around 12.8 GB of RAM available of use. The total Virtual memory would typically be 18GB of RAM with the available virtual memory of 14.8GB and a Page file space of 2.8GB. If after 8 hours of use we close all applications and reexamine the msinfo32 summary information we should find the memory values to be near the values we had when we first booted up. It may be a little bit lower but if you have the issue described here then you would find the amount of physical memory to be less than 1GB of RAM and the total Virtual Memory to be 48GB or greater and the amount of Page file space to be more than 8GB. We have seen that Windows can have significant performance issues and even will begin closing apps in as little as 2 hours of use. This largely depends on how much one is using the machine.

Cause: The issue is not an issue directly caused by the accessibility software or by audio software like Teams. It is actually caused by the Waves Max Audio Service. We are in discussion with the manufacturer to see what can be done. But, for now, there is no good solution that Vispero can programmatically implement in our software which solves the problem. Intel will need to implement a solution on their end. Fortunately, the Waves Max Audio Service is not essential to the functioning of your computer’s audio. Applications, including screen readers and low vision software and other 3rd party applications that use audio can make use of the Realtek audio device without the use of the Sound Maxx Audio Service.

Workaround Solution: Follow the Solution section above to prevent the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application from starting when the computer turns on.

The following command line is another option to temporarily end the Waves MaxxAudio Service until the next reboot if you still want the service to automatically start up when the computer turns on:

1.	Open cmd.exe as an elevated Administrator.
2.	Type the following command: “taskkill /F /IM Wavessvc64.exe” and press ENTER.

Date Posted: 02/01/2022
Applies to: JAWS, OpenBook, ZoomText, Fusion, Optelec, Enhanced Vision, MAGic and WYNN

Short Description

On Dell computers, Windows becomes sluggish, Virtual memory errors appear, or applications unexpectedly close or crash when Waves MaxxAudio Service is running.

Problem

If your Dell PC or laptop uses the Waves MaxxAudio Service for its onboard audio chipset, problems may occur the longer you use the computer. Windows® may become sluggish. Applications such as JAWS® or Microsoft Teams may close or crash unexpectedly. Virtual memory errors might occur.

See the Detailed Description section below before continuing to the Solution if you wish to have more background information.

Solution

To disable or enable the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application:

Open Task Manager (the shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+ESC).

Press the TAB key once. If this navigates to More Details, then press the SPACEBAR to show more details.

Navigate to the Startup tab.

Navigate to the list of items table.

Type w to navigate to the items starting with the letter w.

Press the DOWN ARROW key, if needed to navigate to Waves MaxxAudio Service Application. If it is not in the list, then this is not the cause of the problem.

With Waves MaxxAudio Service Application selected, press ALT+A to disable it.

Restart the computer.

Use the computer for a few hours or so, without rebooting, until you are convinced the performance issues no longer exist. This may take several sessions.

If the problem persists and you want to reenable Waves MaxxAudio Service Application, follow steps 1 through 8 but in step 8, press ALT+N to enable it.

Note:

The only real downside to disabling the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application is that the PC will no longer dynamically respond to plugging in a different output audio device. For example, if you plug in headphones, the computer will not use them until rebooting.

Detailed Description

Problem: Many computers include an onboard audio chipset that uses the “Waves Sound Maxx Audio Service”. When this service is running, your system performance is impacted when your system’s on-board audio is being used by various audio apps. Accessibility software is an example of audio software which makes use of the system’s audio interface in a way which has an impact on how the Waves Maxx Audio Service processes audio. The result is that over time, your system memory is not freed as applications like a screen reader submit audio to be output. Eventually, your system will begin making heavy use of the Virtual memory and memory pages. At some point enough memory will be used where Windows will need to begin closing applications to recover memory so that the system can continue to operate. When Windows unexpectedly closes application processes an application will either gracefully quit or an application may crash. For example, the Microsoft Teams software will often crash, whereas Google Chrome may simply exit gracefully. No crash dumps are generally generated when these symptoms occur.

Troubleshoot: To troubleshoot your system, run the msinfo32 app and tab to the system summary of information and if you find that the amount of available physical memory is less than 2 GB, typically as low as 850 MB of available memory, and if the system is using a large amount of virtual memory as much as 3 to 4 times your physical amount of memory, and your page file space is significantly greater than it usually is when you first boot up the machine, then it is very likely you have this issue. You can check this by rebooting your system and then load msinfo32. Examine the memory values that are listed under Summary. Once you know your startup values you can use the machine for 3 or 4 hours. After that time, if you examine the same msinfo32 information and you find you have little memory left or unexpectedly large amounts of memory is being used when you have almost no 3rd party apps running, then you likely have this issue.

For example, for a typical system with 16GB of physical RAM we would expect Windows 10 to bootup and have all services running with around 12.8 GB of RAM available of use. The total Virtual memory would typically be 18GB of RAM with the available virtual memory of 14.8GB and a Page file space of 2.8GB. If after 8 hours of use we close all applications and reexamine the msinfo32 summary information we should find the memory values to be near the values we had when we first booted up. It may be a little bit lower but if you have the issue described here then you would find the amount of physical memory to be less than 1GB of RAM and the total Virtual Memory to be 48GB or greater and the amount of Page file space to be more than 8GB. We have seen that Windows can have significant performance issues and even will begin closing apps in as little as 2 hours of use. This largely depends on how much one is using the machine.

Cause: The issue is not an issue directly caused by the accessibility software or by audio software like Teams. It is actually caused by the Waves Max Audio Service. We are in discussion with the manufacturer to see what can be done. But, for now, there is no good solution that Vispero can programmatically implement in our software which solves the problem. Intel will need to implement a solution on their end. Fortunately, the Waves Max Audio Service is not essential to the functioning of your computer’s audio. Applications, including screen readers and low vision software and other 3rd party applications that use audio can make use of the Realtek audio device without the use of the Sound Maxx Audio Service.

Workaround Solution: Follow the Solution section above to prevent the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application from starting when the computer turns on.

The following command line is another option to temporarily end the Waves MaxxAudio Service until the next reboot if you still want the service to automatically start up when the computer turns on:

Open cmd.exe as an elevated Administrator.

Type the following command: “taskkill /F /IM Wavessvc64.exe” and press ENTER.

Date Posted: 02/01/2022

Applies to: JAWS, OpenBook, ZoomText, Fusion, Optelec, Enhanced Vision, MAGic and WYNN

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Nicole Torcolini via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2022 3:06 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> >
Cc: Nicole Torcolini <torcolini at comcast.net <mailto:torcolini at comcast.net> >; 'Nancy Coffman' <nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com <mailto:nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com> >
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] My Laptop Won't Let Me Change the Audio Driver

          I don't have any Dell services running--at least not to my knowledge. I disabled all of them not long after I got the laptop.

          From what I can find about the problem online, it has to do with Windows 10.

Nicole

-----Original Message-----

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Nancy Coffman via NFBCS

Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2022 1:06 PM

To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> >

Cc: Nancy Coffman <nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com <mailto:nancy.l.coffman at gmail.com> >

Subject: Re: [NFBCS] My Laptop Won't Let Me Change the Audio Driver

It might also be worth finding out which Dell services you could disable so drivers are not constantly being reloaded.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 26, 2022, at 11:22 AM, Curtis Chong via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

> 

> Did you read the bulletin from Vispero about how to stop the Waves driver?

> If not, check it out on the Freedom Scientific website.

> 

> Cordially,

> 

> Curtis Chong

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> > On Behalf Of Nicole Torcolini 

> via NFBCS

> Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2022 7:13 PM

> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org> 

> Cc: Nicole Torcolini <torcolini at comcast.net <mailto:torcolini at comcast.net> >

> Subject: [NFBCS] My Laptop Won't Let Me Change the Audio Driver

> 

>            This is related to accessibility because it affects my 

> ability to switch to headphone output.

> 

>            I recently got a new Dell laptop directly from 

> Dell-complete with all of the Dell gloatware. Everything is going 

> fine-except for that the laptop and I are fighting over which audio 

> driver to use. I want the RealTech High Definition audio driver, but 

> it keeps reinstalling the Waves Max driver, regardless of what I do. 

> Even if I delete the driver for the Waves driver, after a reboot, it 

> is back again. It does not even seem to complete the installation of the other driver.

> 

>            Has anyone else encountered this, and, if so, how did you 

> fix it?

> 

>            I am running Windows 10 64 bit on a Dell Latitude 5420. 

> Please excuse me if I did not include any needed information or if any 

> of the information that I provided seems confusing-fighting with my 

> computer has made me tired.

> 

> 

> 

> Nicole

> 

> To err is human,

> 

> To forgive divine

> 

> To really screw something up it takes a computer

> 

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