Stealth A16 AI+ - AMD - microphone disappears

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dfrost90159e02e7

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Oct 20, 2021
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AMD Ryzen AI 9, 32 gig ram, NVidia 4070. I have been fighting with this brand new laptop for a month - I may have figured it out. When updating the various apps and programs, the microphone would apparently randomly disappear and refuse to come back. Three tech support calls did not do the trick. I think it's the AMD software/drivers update that comes from the AMD website - it's an AMD microphone array after all. It works with the initial install (which I know because I've reinstalled from the image 4 times now), but after the updated AMD drivers come in the microphone is gone. Anyone else having this problem? Don't update the AMD drivers...
 
Which AMD driver and which version did you install with the microphone issue?
 
Edric - because I am not interested in reinstalling the OS from the image for the 5th time given that i need to use the computer, I must tell you that I can't specifically identity the drivers and versions that came down when I updated thru the AMD website - they use a web-based tool to detect what you need, I guess. Downloaded from this website - https://www.amd.com/en/support/download/drivers.html. Used the 'Download Windows Drivers' box. Here's the file name that downloads if that helps - it has some identifying info in it - amd-software-adrenalin-edition-24.12.1-minimalsetup-241204_web.exe. I have not attached these files. It updated the desktop app that AMD provides as far as i can tell as well.
 
Frankly, it's been a process of elimination to determine which update from which vendor might be causing the problem. My first couple calls to MSI tech support tried to deal with Windows updates, RealTek updates and wiping their drivers to reinstall. Nothing worked. Again, since it's an AMD driver I can only assume that their update killed the microphone. It died right after their update. And by died, I mean that 'System, Sound, Input' input showed no input device found.
 
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Thanks for sharing the info.
Seems like the drivers provided by AMD really have some problem, don't use the AMD software to update drivers anymore.
Windows update is enough though.
 
Edric said:
Thanks for sharing the info.
Seems like the drivers provided by AMD really have some problem, don't use the AMD software to update drivers anymore.
Windows update is enough though.
Click to expand...
Wow - short term solution for long term problem. Really? Microsoft doesn't update amd drivers, last time I checked.
 
dfrost90159e02e7 said:
Wow - short term solution for long term problem. Really? Microsoft doesn't update amd drivers, last time I checked.
Click to expand...
Well...I don't prefer installing the unnecessary drivers.
As you mentioned that the issue can be fixed by restoring the system, so the problem is on the drivers provided by AMD.
You might need to use the AMD cleanup utility tool to remove the AMD drivers while encountering the issue, and reinstall the graphics driver only.
The drivers provided from MSI are all you can get from the website and windows update.
So, if you really need to install those AMD drivers, I would recommend to contact AMD tech support directly for assistance as a long term solution.
Since the drivers provided from MSI works well, probably they won't help fixing this issue.
 
Same thing here, can't get the microphone array to work. Got as for that the device is 'showing' again in device manager, but when I try to use the microphone it says 'no input source found'.... soundrecorder, Teams... anything that uses a microphone. Never had it working btw, OOB did not work. We've got two of them, me and my colleague... same problem. It's for the Prestige model btw Prestige A16 AI+, very similar hardware. With everything we've been throwing at it, I'm starting to think it's a production defect.
 
micglo15e902ea said:
Same thing here, can't get the microphone array to work. Got as for that the device is 'showing' again in device manager, but when I try to use the microphone it says 'no input source found'.... soundrecorder, Teams... anything that uses a microphone. Never had it working btw, OOB did not work. We've got two of them, me and my colleague... same problem. It's for the Prestige model btw Prestige A16 AI+, very similar hardware. With everything we've been throwing at it, I'm starting to think it's a production defect.
Click to expand...
Just curious - did you try the 'restore from image' approach? That at least restores the functionality of my microphone. Mine worked OOB.
 
Edric said:
Well...I don't prefer installing the unnecessary drivers.
As you mentioned that the issue can be fixed by restoring the system, so the problem is on the drivers provided by AMD.
You might need to use the AMD cleanup utility tool to remove the AMD drivers while encountering the issue, and reinstall the graphics driver only.
The drivers provided from MSI are all you can get from the website and windows update.
So, if you really need to install those AMD drivers, I would recommend to contact AMD tech support directly for assistance as a long term solution.
Since the drivers provided from MSI works well, probably they won't help fixing this issue.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, I guess I just don't understand your perspective. AMD updates their drivers for a reason - increased functionality, address changes in bios, address changes in game play. Already contacted AMD support.
 
dfrost90159e02e7 said:
Just curious - did you try the 'restore from image' approach? That at least restores the functionality of my microphone. Mine worked OOB.
Click to expand...
Factory image is not available on the device anymore... it's a company device and has completely been wiped and imaged with the company image. Shouldn't matter of course, something as "simple" as a microphone should just work. BTW, we've already tested it with a clean 24H2 image downloaded from Microsoft and only used windows update for the device, microphone array wouldn't even show... after using AMD driver utility is shows up but doesn't work, also seems to have some issue with Bluetooth Audio 'not enough resources'. It has either been some kind of firmware update pushed before or the device is simply broken from factory. I have to be honest I'm not 100% sure if microphone didnt work OOB, that is what my coworker tells me... he has no reason not to be truthful.

EDIT: small update... device definitely isn't broken :) Just ran a bootable Linux Mint USB and the microphone works... so definitely something iffy going on with the software. Going to try older W11 image.
 
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micglo15e902ea said:
Factory image is not available on the device anymore... it's a company device and has completely been wiped and imaged with the company image. Shouldn't matter of course, something as "simple" as a microphone should just work. BTW, we've already tested it with a clean 24H2 image downloaded from Microsoft and only used windows update for the device, microphone array wouldn't even show... after using AMD driver utility is shows up but doesn't work, also seems to have some issue with Bluetooth Audio 'not enough resources'. It has either been some kind of firmware update pushed before or the device is simply broken from factory. I have to be honest I'm not 100% sure if microphone didnt work OOB, that is what my coworker tells me... he has no reason not to be truthful.

EDIT: small update... device definitely isn't broken :) Just ran a bootable Linux Mint USB and the microphone works... so definitely something iffy going on with the software. Going to try older W11 image.
Click to expand...
Try to install the drivers from MSI website after installing the system and run windows update after that.
https://www.msi.com/Business-Produc..._product=Prestige-A16-AIplussign-A3HMG#driver
 
Abel Lopez said:
Try to install the drivers from MSI website after installing the system and run windows update after that.
https://www.msi.com/Business-Produc..._product=Prestige-A16-AIplussign-A3HMG#driver
Click to expand...
Didn't work... wel not exactly. I've finally got it working after trying various things.
- Started again with a clean image again, after that updated the device through Windows Update... no working microphone.
- Download the AMD Driver Utility and installed all missing drivers with most recent... no working microphone.
- Then installed the AMD Graphics drivers found on the MSI support page, the one from October 2024... not the newer one found at AMD!, using the newest didn't work for me, you're basically downgrading the driver... Microphone visible! BUT still throws an error trying to use the microphone (no input error). Devicemanagement shows bluetooth audio also with an error.
- Go to devicemanagment-> system devices -> AMD Audio CoProcessor ->update driver -> search driver on computer -> select from list of drivers... then I choose the oldest one available, in my case August 2024. Reboot. Bluetooth audio error gone, microphone working!

What put me on the right track was using the bootable Linux Mint USB... when I tested the microphone it said the device was named AMD Audio CoProcessor... then I found some older thread at AMD talking about a similar problem.
 
dfrost90159e02e7 said:
Well, I guess that shows me - AMD said not to update their drivers with their app (Adrenalin), as it causes this very sort of problem. Only use MSI app, they said.
Click to expand...
For me this means AMD is totally unreliable, I have this same laptop and have a lot of problems with it. I can't believe they told to not use their own software. Do you have freezes and hard lockups with this laptop or is just me? I also have the mic issue but I don't care cause I never use the mic.
 
Not having the big problems now, and nothing like you're describing. Their excuse was that MSI has to make sure the 'new' drivers are compatible with the rest of the set up. You will have to restore from the image if the mike is gone (unless you get AMD tech support to maybe help).
 
I am also having an issue with my microphone on my MSI Stealth A16 AI+ laptop. It straight up disappeared one day, and I think after reinstalling SteelSeries GG it showed up on my device manager and in the sound settings again, however it still won't function. I try to test it in the settings, and it says Testing Volume 0% even though the volume settings for it are set to max everywhere. It shows up as SteelSeries Sonar - Microphone (SteelSeries Sonar Virtual Audio Device) but won't register input from any application. I checked permissions and volume settings. I don't know what changed. It worked fine initially.
 
cocampo100156c02d9 said:
I am also having an issue with my microphone on my MSI Stealth A16 AI+ laptop. It straight up disappeared one day, and I think after reinstalling SteelSeries GG it showed up on my device manager and in the sound settings again, however it still won't function. I try to test it in the settings, and it says Testing Volume 0% even though the volume settings for it are set to max everywhere. It shows up as SteelSeries Sonar - Microphone (SteelSeries Sonar Virtual Audio Device) but won't register input from any application. I checked permissions and volume settings. I don't know what changed. It worked fine initially.
Click to expand...
If it is showing SteelSeries as the microphone, then you are not seeing the system mike. The only way I have ever found to address this is to reinstall the whole OS so that the system mike comes back - and don't use the AMD updater! Use MSI only, as above.
 
cocampo100156c02d9 said:
I am also having an issue with my microphone on my MSI Stealth A16 AI+ laptop. It straight up disappeared one day, and I think after reinstalling SteelSeries GG it showed up on my device manager and in the sound settings again, however it still won't function. I try to test it in the settings, and it says Testing Volume 0% even though the volume settings for it are set to max everywhere. It shows up as SteelSeries Sonar - Microphone (SteelSeries Sonar Virtual Audio Device) but won't register input from any application. I checked permissions and volume settings. I don't know what changed. It worked fine initially.
Click to expand...
Try to install all of the audio drivers and clean install AMD graphics driver to the version on MSI website.
Use the AMD clean up utility to remove the AMD drivers.
 
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