Yesterday I began to have trouble with the audio from my X1 Carbon Gen 6 speakers. The first thing I noticed is that the mute button on the keyboard was unresponsive: the light indicating that the volume was muted stayed lit regardless of wheather I pressed it. After fiddling for a bit, the problem rectified itself, but then I noticed another problem this afternoon.

Now no audio plays from the laptop speakers, regardless of whether the audio is muted or not. I have spent a long time trying to troubleshoot the issue, with no success:

* restarted windows
* ran Lenovo system update
* ran Windows update
* checked system volume controls
* checked program volume controls
* ran Windows audio troubleshooter
* disabled audio enhancements (including Dolby Atmos)
* changed default format under advanced audio properties
* deleted and reinstalled device driver software
* restarted Windows Audio service
* disabled Intel Display Audio in the device manager

I noticed a couple odd things along the way:

* When I went to restart the Windows Audio Service, the system reported the following error: "The following services are dependent on the Windows Audio service. Stopping the Windows Audio service will also stop these services. Lenovo Hotkey Client Loader"
* Each time I turn off the Dolby Atmos enhancements in the audio properties dialog, I find that the enhancements are on again once I restart the computer.
* When I try to restart the Windows Audio Service via services.msc (rather than an elevated command prompt, the system returns the following error: "Windows could not stop the Windows Audio service on local Computer. Error 1053: The Service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Afterwards, the system is unable to restart the process.

* On one attempt, the speakers did not play audio from my mp3 program, but when I opened the Windows Sound Settings dialog the speakers began to hiss static. I initially muted them, but when I went to unmute them they were silent again.

* When music is playing and I press the mute button on the keyboard, the speaker pops very faintly. 

Any ideas? This is quite frustrating.

sounds like a hardware issue. Have you tried a hard reboot? i.e. pressing the tiny button using a paperclip? At least that will cycle the power and rule out and hardware 'hanging' issues first.

Wow, that actually worked. After performing a hard reboot, I'm getting audio from the speakers again. Thanks so much for your help!

Given that this was the solution, what are the possible sources of the problem? (I'm wondering in particular whether there may be an underlying hardware issue that I need to get Lenovo to fix while the unit is under warranty.)

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 wrote:

Wow, that actually worked. After performing a hard reboot, I'm getting audio from the speakers again. Thanks so much for your help!

 

Given that this was the solution, what are the possible sources of the problem? (I'm wondering in particular whether there may be an underlying hardware issue that I need to get Lenovo to fix while the unit is under warranty.)

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Ahh I’m glad and surprised it worked as it was just a passing thought. I guess the rule of thumb is when there’s a hardware issue try turning it off and on again, which the button does. 

So on that note, no I’m not sure what the issue was but these laptops seem to exhibit weird problems like yours that require a power cycle. I doubt it’s a fault with yours but something that’s generic across this model.

In your case, I would only sound the alarm if it happens frequently.

Got it. Thanks again!

You’re very welcome.

Isn’t that the first course of action when using Windows?? ??

two days having my new arrival laptop x1 carbon 20kh, spend hours to set up all email accounts/apps password and the speaker is dead. same problem....

called tech, gave me 3 options.

1. call sales, to return and send a new one. 

2. ship it to repair center.

3. try my luck at local partner.

seriously? Lenovo you can do better than this. 

Train your tech to fix the problem, i follow this tip of hard rest with a pin. DONE. 

how hard is that Lenovo?