Sudden loss of audio on Elitebook 840 G4

[Goi]

Hi,

I have suddenly lost audio on my Elitebook 840 G4 after a Windows 10 BSOD, upon reboot.

I got a popup message "A conexant audio device could not be found. The application will now exit." and there's a red X in my taskbar's speaker icon.

I googled and did the steps stated in https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/A-Conexant-audio-device-could-not-be-found-The-applicat... which are the following:

1. Download and install the latest Conexant driver (http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp85001-85500/sp85090.exe)
2. Reboot
3. Run C:\Program Files\CONEXANT\SA3\HP-NB-AIO\setup64.exe and let it UPGRADE.
4. Reboot
5. Run the sound troubleshooter

This did NOT fix the problems as I got "Troubleshooting couldn't identify the problem"

I'm still not getting sound, and "Sound, Video and game controllers" is also still missing from the device manager.

How can I fix this?

Edit 1:
I googled a bit more and came across this page at https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledg...t-audio-factory-the-smartaudio-will-now-exit/

It suggests that CxUtilSvc may not be running in services.msc. Well, my services.msc does not even have CxUtilSvc installed, and I don't see it in my C:\ either, though I do seem to remember seeing this folder in C:\ previously.

This service/folder is missing despite re-installing the latest drivers from the HP website.

How can I restore the CxUtilSvc?

Edit 2:
Now my C:\Program Files\Conexant folder just disappeared. Reinstalling the latest HP drivers shows a success, but still no folder

 

[C1]

You have an OS/software issue that needs resolving.
These can be tricky and lots of work and time to resolve.

One of the problems with sound is that other devices or applications use it or are dependent on it so order of operations (hardware and software installations) can matter.

You will get your sound system (and game hardware) back eventually and here are some things to try.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/audio-device-stopped-working/td-p/6279594

 

[Goi]

You have an OS/software issue that needs resolving.
These can be tricky and lots of work and time to resolve.

One of the problems with sound is that other devices or applications use it or are dependent on it so order of operations (hardware and software installations) can matter.

You will get your sound system (and game hardware) back eventually and here are some things to try.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Audio/audio-device-stopped-working/td-p/6279594

So today the sound suddenly decided to come back. I received a notification (with sound) informing me that the Conexant drivers require a restart. Doh.