Solved Cannot re-enable disabled RealTek HD Audio

[Silver18]

I was having problems reconnecting a bluetooth speaker for my Acer desktop with windows 8.1 OS so tried disabling the default RealTek HD Audio. Now it doesn't show up as a speaker--only my bluetooth speaker that it says is disconnected show. When I look at my device manager it is there, and says that it is working. But I don't see how to re-enable it.

In my device manager under Sound, Video and game controllers there is
--Bluetooth Audio Device (with caution sign)
--ES151A Stereo--bluetooth speaker I was having problems reconnecting in the first place
--Intel(R) Display Audio
--RealTek High Definition Audio (the speaker that I disabled and now cannot re-enable)

When I go to Manage Audio Devices under Sound the only thing showing is the ES-151A stereo which it says is disconnected. I did not expect disabling the RealTek Audio to remove it from the list and thought that it could be re-enabled the same way that I disabled it.

Suggestions?

 

[fireberd]

Uninstall the RealTek in the Device Manager. DO NOT uninstall the RealTek drivers. Restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the RealTek sound. This fixes most Windows/Sound corruptions.

 

[Silver18]

Thanks fireberd! That worked! I did the RealTek uninstall just as you said--and thank you for specifying NOT to uninstall the driver. When I restarted the system did a device reinstall. Thanks again for your help. This had been making me totally crazy.

It sounds as though you think something related to the sound got corrupted? Tonight before I got your e-mail I was trying to connect the bluetooth speaker to a web book that I have--and the ACER connected to the bluetooth speaker instead. Would the connecting and disconnecting of the bluetooth speaker tend to cause corruption or is there anything else I should watch out for? Thanks again!

 

[CountMike]

Uninstall the RealTek in the Device Manager. DO NOT uninstall the RealTek drivers. Restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall the RealTek sound. This fixes most Windows/Sound corruptions.

If I may ad that it's good tactic to use with all of the misbehaving drivers, not only sound.

 

[fireberd]

Hard to tell what caused it. Many potential factors.

 

[Silver18]

Thanks Firebred and Count Mike. I'll try to remember to keep that tactic in my toolkit.

 

[alan93]

fireberd's suggestion actually worked! When I re-booted it got stuck in the "Windows is getting ready" message but hard powered off and restarted. It then took a LOOOOONG time to boot and my speakers in Realtek became enabled again when plugged in. I still get the "you are seeing a blank page because no devices are plugged in ..." when clicking speaker icon in tool tray but i don't care. sound works again.