I first wrote about this issue in another recent thread, when I was trying to deliver HDMI audio+video from my P70 with M3000M NVidia GPU (running Win10) to my LG OLED HDTV connected through either miniDP->HDMI or HDMI->HDMI cables, and failing to get audio. After a fair amount of research I initially came to the eventual conclusion that it was an NVidia problem, somehow related to their latest "retail" 411.95 WHQL driver I was using on my P70 (which was set in the BIOS to run with "discrete graphics").  Reverting back to successively older driver packages also available on the NVidia driver download site, I discovered that version 392.00 was their last WHQL driver package which did successfully install the NVidia HD Audio device which facilitated sending digital audio to an external HDTV via HDMI cable.

So 411.95, 411.81 and 411.63 all failed to install the NVida HD Audio device. But 392.00 (and older versions 391.89, 391.74) all DID install the NVidia HD Audio device. Hmmm.

I opened a ticket with NVidia Tech Support several days ago, and they asked me if I had tried the official Lenovo-provided NVidia Graphics Driver package and if that made any difference, which to be honest I had not... since I don't run my P70 in Optimus (i.e. "hybrid graphics") mode but rather operate in "discrete graphics" mode and have always used the latest retail NVida drivers. So today I decided to reset my P70 back to "hybrid graphics" mode so that I could install the very latest Lenovo NVidia Optimus Graphics Driver which happened to be released very recently, at the end of November.

So that's what I did. Here is the driver version history contained in the README:

  NVIDIA           NVIDIA HD Audio   Intel Graphics   ID         Rev.    Issue Date
  -------------   ---------  -------------         --------        ----   ----------
  24.21.13.9836    1.3.37.4     24.20.100.6344   N1CDH81W    01    2018/11/29
  24.21.13.9836    1.3.37.4     24.20.100.6344   N1CDH80W    01    2018/10/31
  24.21.13.9836    1.3.37.4     23.20.16.5018      N1CDH79W    01    2018/08/28
  23.21.13.8908    1.3.36.6    23.20.16.5018      N1CDH78W    01    2018/05/09
  23.21.13.8875    1.3.36.6     23.20.16.4877      N1CDH75W    01    2018/02/27

Since the Lenovo driver package contained version 398.36 of the NVidia graphics driver, I honestly fully had expectation that this should work just fine since it was not a version 411.xx which is where I thought the problem was located.Well imagine my surprise when installing this "official Lenovo-certified" NVidia driver package DID NOT INSTALL THE HD AUDIO DEVICE EITHER!!!  Remarkable!

Suspicious that this story now had something to do with the NVidia HD Audio Driver version and the interface to getting it installed in the graphics driver installer package, I  then reverted back to the previous Lenovo version which still included 1.3.36.6, which contained graphics driver version 389.08.  And sure enough... IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!  NVidia HD Audio Device installed, and HDMI audio supported. To be honest I probably shouldn't have been too surprised here, since reverting the retail NVidia WHQL driver back from 411.xx (with 1.3.37.5) to 392.00 (with 1.3.36.6) also proved a successful solution.

Looking closer at the HD Audio Driver included in each of these most recent NVidia driver versions (both available WHQL from nVidia as well as from the Lenovo driver download site), I noticed that all graphics driver package versions 398.36 and newer included NVidia HD Audio Driver version 1.3.37.4 from Lenovo or 1.3.37.5 from NVidia.  And ALL of these driver versions DID NOT INSTALL THE HD AUDIO DEVICE.  Thus it was impossible to send digital HD audio out over HDMI cable to the external HDTV, since the NVidia HD Audio device did not exist..

In contrast, all graphics driver package versions 392 and older (either WHQL from NVidia or "official certified" from Lenovo) included NVidia HD Audio Driver version 1.3.36.6.  And ALL of these driver versions DID PROPERLY INSTALL THE HD AUDIO DEVICE.  This it was possible to sened digital HD audio out over HDMI cable to the external HDTV, since the NVidia HD Audio device existed.

I must confess I'm surprised that Lenovo did not notice this, assuming I'm not alone here in experiencing this symptom.  Sure, there is no problem whatsoever with video or graphics using my M3000M, either on the laptop screen or externally connected monitor or externally connected HDTV.  Video works 100% fine, in all older and newer NVidia driver packages.  But as evidenced by my recent experience it appears that there is some MAJOR DEFECT (almost certainly caused by NVidia) with the recent driver installer packages which include the latest 1.3.37.4 or 1.3.37.5 HD Audio drivers.  Despite the fact that the confirmation screen at the end of the installation shows that the HD Audio Driver was successfully installed, it apparently WAS NOT!!  There is no NViida HD Audio device shown in Device Manager.

In the next post I will provide screenshots to demonstrate the problem.

I created this topic to share my recent discovery with others, specifically with my P70 +M3000M running Win10 1803. The trigger symptom was that I couldn't get digital audio delivered over HDMI to my external HDTV/AVR as expected.  Looking deeper into Device Manager and Playback Devices I observed that the required NVidia HD Audio Device was missing, hence no way to select that device for digital audio output.

Also available to me for my research was a Win7 on my dual-boot P70, as well as a Thinkpad W530 + K1000m which was also running Win10 1803.  Both of these alternate situations WERE WORKING PROPERLY, and supported digital audio output to the external HDTV/AVR. And not surprisingly both of these other situations showed NVidia HD Audio Device in Device Manager and Playback Devices. And not surprisingly any longer, both of these other situations had installed NVidia graphics drivers 392.00 or older, all of which are now realized to have included the previous HD Audio Driver version 1.3.36.6.

And when I experimentally upgraded my W530 to a newer NVidia WHQL graphics driver (411.95 + 1.3.37.5) lo and behold things stopped working, since the NVidia HD Audio Device had now disappeared from Device Manager and Playback Devices.  Reverting back to the earlier 392.00 brought everything back the way it was previously, with a working digital audio via HDMI capability again.

I would like to know if I'm alone here in observing this. Surely there are people who've upgraded their P70/P71/P72 (or other Quadro-based machines) to the newest NVidia Optimus Driver package provided from Lenovo's support site:

Note that it is only the Win10 version (398.36 graphics) which has a graphics driver component newer than 392.00 and thus includes the "flawed" 1.3.37 version of the NVidia HD Audio Driver in the package. Thus this would be the only failing version.

Note that the other available drivers for other configurations still include the older 391.25 package, which thus includes the "perfect" 1.3.36.6 version of the NVVidia HD Audio Driver in those packages.  So these would all work fine.

Can several others please confirm or deny that they, too, see the same symptoms I do?  Given my experience with both P70 and W530, it's clear that the problem is "universal" and is related to the NVidia Graphics Driver package and the "defective" changes made by NVidia to support newer NVidia HD Audio Driver 1.3.37.  Older driver packages that have graphics components that still interface with the older NVidia HD Audio Driver 1.3.36.6 all work just fine.

Anybody else?  I'm sure this will [hopefully] help motivate Lenovo more strongly to recognize this new defect and take action accordingly, e.g. working with NVidia to resolve the issue promptly. Thanks.

My P70 is tied up for another (unrelated) problem investigation so I did a quick test on my P50.  According to driver readmes, on P50, N1EDL34W is the first driver package that includes the suspect 1.3.37.4 audio driver.  After installing this package, I had no problem to direct the audio to HDMI out and have it play on my Sony TV.  The "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" device shows in Device Manager and the version is 1.3.37.4

One thing I noticed is that after rebooting, the "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" device does not appear in device manager until I plug in the HDMI cable.  This is true for both the old and new driver packages.  So if I never attach a HDMI cable, then "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" never appears in Device Manager.  When I updated to the new driver package, it was immediately after a reboot and before I connected the HDMI cable.  I don't know if this detail matters or not.

I need to retest this on my P70 when it becomes available.  Probably Thursday.

---

 wrote:

My P70 is tied up for another (unrelated) problem investigation so I did a quick test on my P50.  According to driver readmes, on P50, N1EDL34W is the first driver package that includes the suspect 1.3.37.4 audio driver.  After installing this package, I had no problem to direct the audio to HDMI out and have it play on my Sony TV.  The "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" device shows in Device Manager and the version is 1.3.37.4

 

One thing I noticed is that after rebooting, the "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" device does not appear in device manager until I plug in the HDMI cable.  This is true for both the old and new driver packages.  So if I never attach a HDMI cable, then "NVIDIA High Definition Audio" never appears in Device Manager.  When I updated to the new driver package, it was immediately after a reboot and before I connected the HDMI cable.  I don't know if this detail matters or not.

 

I need to retest this on my P70 when it becomes available.  Probably Thursday.

---

In the next few posts I will provide additional diagnostic screenshots, supporting my contention that there is a dramatic functional difference between results from using either (a) 389.08 Optimus package for the P70 (N1CDH78W) which includes HD Audio Driver 1.3.36.6, and (b) 398.36 Optimus package (N1DCH81W) which includes HD Audio Driver 1.3.37.4.  In my opinion 389.08 works perfectly, and 398.36 is defective. I will ignore research using the somewhat newer 392.00 WHQL retail driver package available from the NVidia download site (and which also works perfectly, same as 389.08 from Lenovo), which also includes the older HD Audio Driver 1.3.36.6.  I will stick only to the two Optimus packages available from Lenovo, 389.08 (which works) and 398.36 (which does not work).

In summary,  I would describe the 398.36 package as "broken" (for my P70 with M3000M) in two ways (including a second defect I only observed today while researching this subject further in order to produce my new screenshots):

(1) digital audio via HDMI to external HDTV/AVR simply doesn't work, because "NVidia High Definition Audio" device doesn't show up in Device Manager EVEN WHEN AN HDMI CABLE IS PLUGGED IN.  This is confirmed by looking in Playback Devices where even with right-click options "display hidden devices" and "display disconnected devices" both checked there is nothing shown aside from the analog Realtek audio (speakers).

(2) before beginning my research today, I had Windows Display Settings -> multiple displays configured as "show only on 2", as I normally run in my desktop configuration with a 31" external Eizo monitor (monitor 2) and have no need for the laptop screen (monitor 1). And this only-on-monitor-2 output holds true whether I'm using my Eizo monitor or my external LG TV.  The laptop screen is normally kept dark. 

Today, with 398.36 still currently installed before reverting to 389.08, I tried to reactivate my laptop screen so as to then be able to set Windows Display Settings to "duplicate these displays", I discovered that with my LG TV (2) currently plugged in with an HDMI cable I was unable to activate the laptop screen (1) using NVidia Control Panel "set up multiple displays".  The laptop screen showed up in NVidia Control Panel but didn't show as "1".  Only the LG TV showed as (2), and when I checked the box next to the un-numbered laptop screen line to try and reactivate it the check flashed briefly and then disappeared. In other words I was unable to reactivate the laptop screen as (1) in NVidia Control Panel.  In turn, I was also unable to set "duplicate these displays" using Windows Display Settings since technically speaking there wasn't actually a laptop screen physically present.

In contrast, when I reverted back to 389.08 the exact same test scenario worked perfectly!!  The laptop screen DID show up as (1), and I WAS able to check it to reactivate.

So with both the laptop screen and LG TV now active, I was now able to get into Windows Display Settings and set "duplicate these displays" which was my objective. Again, this WORKS with 389.08 installed but DID NOT WORK when 398.36 was installed.

In passing note that there really is a significan difference in the Optimus packages available for the P70 (supporting up to Quadro M5000M, including my own M3000M) vs. those for the P50 (only supporting up to Quadro M2000M). 

Also, note that following Optimus 389.08 (N1CDH78W) there were three subsequent driver packages (N1CDH79W, N1CDH80W and N1CDH81W) released by Lenovo all of which included graphics driver 398.36 and HD Audio driver 1.3.37.4. There was a difference in the version of Intel HD Graphics driver in the three packages, which I suppose really was the net difference in the three releases.  My testing was using the most recently released (11/29/2018) package N1CDH81W.

Initial state: 392.00/1.3.36.6 (from NVidia WHQL) currently installed before starting today's research.

First step is to "upgrade" (with NO HDMI CABLE CONNECTED) to 398.36/1.3.37.4 (from Lenovo), leaving the "clean install" option un-checked. So whatever was present from 392.00 and not upgraded through 398.36 should remain installed and configured just as-is. This driver install is performed only with the laptop screen active.

So before upgrading to 398.36/1.3.37.4 the current 392.00/1.3.36.6 state of things looks as follows (again, no HDMI cable connected and only the laptop screen is being used):

(a) Device Manager, note that NVidia HD Audio Device shows in "sound" along with Realtek. This will result in four NVidia digital audio device options appearing (as "not connected" since there is no HDMI cable connected) in Playback Devices.

  (b) Playback Devices (note that it still shows Oppo 203 which is how I was previously set up, although for today I'm simply going to connect HDMI directly to my LG TV):

I then ran the "upgrade" from 392.00/1.3.36.6 to 398.36/1.3.37.4 (i.e. left un-checked the "clean install" option):

(a) install options:

(b) installation complete:

(c) After re-booting, and still with NO HDMI CABLE CONNECTED, Device Manager seems to show a hybrid combination of the leftover marks of 392.00/1.3.36.6 and the new 398.36/1.3.37.4. In particular, there is still the NVidia HD Audio Device shown in Device Manager Sounds and it even shows driver version 1.3.37.4.

And Playback Devices still shows all four of the NVidia digital audio devices. (although the previous Oppo 203 which was shown has been reset to the default):

I then shut down in order to connect an HDMI cable from the P70 to my LG OLED TV.  I then re-booted, and had to turn the TV on in order to display video output.  As previously mentioned my laptop screen had previously been disabled so that I could run only with external Eizo monitor (i.e. "display only on 2"), and this setting seemed to apply when my external display was now the LG TV. So the laptop screen was dark, but video was going to the LG TV.

However the process of connecting the HDMI cable seems to have reset the NVidia HD Audio Device in Device Manager "sounds", so that it no longer appears.

And this, in turn, caused the disappearance of all of the NVidia digital audio devices from Playback Devices:

Note that in Nvidia Control Panel we see anomalous indicators.  The LG TV is presented as an available as an HDMI Audio device, but in fact this is not the case as  proven by Playback Devices.

And as stated earlier, for some reason the laptop screen is not shown as (1) in the "set up multiple displays" dialog of NVidia Control Panel.  Only the LG TV is shown as (2), although Physx clearly knows the laptop screen is present. This anomaly makes it impossible to activate my laptop screen in order to "duplicate these displays" in order to present the same content on both screens simultaneously.

I don't know why the laptop screen (1) defect appears with 398.36 of the graphics driver, but it does. As will be proven in the next set of duplicate experiments reverting back to 389.08, NONE OF THESE DEFECTS OR ANOMALIES OCCURS USING 389.08/1.3.36.6!!!  Everything tried with 398.36/1.3.37.4 and that fails or behaves strangely instead works perfectly with 389.05/1.3.36.6.

Next, I reverted from the now installed (and "malfunctioning") 398.36/1.3.37.4 back to 389.08/1.3.36.6. In order to go back-level and wipe out any remnants of the newer and flawed driver steup I "checked" to "perform clean install" box.  This was again done without an HDMI cable installed, running strictly on the laptop screen.

(a) revert to back-level 389.08/1.3.36.6 install options:

(b) installation complete:

(c) After re-booting, still with no HDMI cable installed, Device Manager DOES SHOW NVIDIA HD AUDIO DEVICE in "sounds", and with the expected 1.3.36.6 driver level.

And Playback Devices shows the expected NVidia digital audio devices (still "not plugged in", but present):

I then shut down in order to plug in the HDMI cable going to my LG TV.  After re-booting, not only is the NVidia HD Audio Device still shown in Device Manager "sounds", but the speakers of the LG TV have automatically been selected as the default audio playback device.  So it also now shows in Device Manager "audio outputs".

And of course Playback Devices shows the LG TV now as the selected default audio device (again, this was done automatically simply by virtue of plugging in the HDMI cable before re-booting the machine).

As far as NVidia Control Panel goes, once again EVERYTHING IS PERFECT! The LG TV is available for HDMI Audio, and now the laptop screen appears properly numbered as (1) in the "set up multiple displays" dialog thus now allowing me to check it "active", so that I can choose "duplicate these displays" in Windows Displaty Settings in order to present output on both screens simultaneously.  This wasn't possible with the flawed 398.36 graphics driver and NVidia Control Panel.