Latest Windows Update Disabled my Sound Card Drivers!

When I tried launching Sonar this morning, it wasn't seeing my sound card drivers.. I double checked everything and the drivers were there and functioning properly.. I did a system restore prior to todays Windows update and now everything works fine.. Just a word of caution!

Thanks Bob! That was a head scratcher for a few hours, that's for sure! As a result, I turned automatic updates off and will wait a few days before installing to see if there are any mentions on the forum..  Happy Holidays!

I have no issues I'm totally up to date.

With driver issues generally worth updating them to latest if there is a later version.

Otherwise deleting from device manager and redetecting (or rebooting).

If that does not work uninstall/reinstall of latest driver.

Also update to latest firmware.

Generally following this procedure does the trick regardless of what might have triggered it...

Cheers..

I also found Sonar's Preferences oddly setup recently for my audio device.
Took a bit of time to route that out....So windows is making mess-ups again eh....thanks!
 
I found my outputs changed to a secondary 1/2 output...on a second desk of A & H I just got installed recently.
I did not put that selection in....as I use the Primary desk to play back to my monitors, and sending to stereo amp/ and do edits with headphones....So to find the reason why it was not playing back audio was a bit of a challenge.
And I had not turned on the second unit to see if it was working...
 
I did find the output going to the second units 1/2 outputs...and when changed back to the first units outs...all was ok.
 
In that there after, I had lots of problems with visuals of the Mixer channels..not seeing the end on the right, it was cut off, and I could not get the sliders to show busses, or output metering.
Took forever to find the view that shows this feature....and it seemed, that the mixer was not pegged properly...to size the mixer window.
Then the left app that shows track effects disappeared....Just like that, it was gone...
And I had to get that sorted out...
Then another odd thing....I had 32 tracks showing , and then I only had one track...track number 9...and it was the only track....
 
So, what was causing all this confusion?....and oddly unknown controller making changes to my setups?...ah mysteries abound when MS is doing updates......
 
Like I said in past postings....Sometimes updating can cause Issues to arise.....eh?

Yah some of those MS updates do the restore thingy before updating....but not all do.
I manually update, so it is my fault.....wink.

Tremor
Well what a surprise to find others having this issue. I had three windows updates between 27 Dec and 2 Jan and one of them stopped all my VST in their tracks. Midi data seen on the track but no audio and no output from my Focusrite Sapphire 40 either. Focusrite spent two hours with me on the phone trying to sort itout with no success. I tried a demo version of Reaper to see if that worked OK - which it did, all VSTs running OK. Uninstalled X3 and re-installed it three times - still no joy. Eventually did a restore back to 27 Dec and guess what - all back to normal. Bl**dy Microsoft!

 
Strange that I have a Saffire Pro 40 as well and no issues with Windows update. Just because you rolled back and did a restore does not necessarily mean it's a Windows update issue, unless you can point it to a particular patch then I would regard this as speculation, there could be LOTS of reasons why this happened (i.e. Windows update could have triggered a bug with a driver for instance).
 

Tremor 
I now also get a message saying " synoacc.dll file is missing from Windows". Don't understand that, but hasn't so far affected anything on my DAW.

 
Please check:
https://www.steinberg.net/nc/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/windows-elicenser-error-message-synsoaccdll-could-not-be-located.html
 

johnnyV
I too had this blue screen issue that might have been related to a bad update. I had to "refresh" Windows and it fixed the problem. I've been away so I'm not finished re installing everything yet. I'm making re store points as I go along and hopefully no more blue screens on start up. 
It seems to have finished with updates but I bet there was a buggy one they removed. 

 
You would have no idea what the cause would have been unless you troubleshooted it and found the exact reason. Regardless you got your system up and running which is good news!

johnnyV
Bottom line is always set restore points before updating. 

 
Totally agree! And clone your hard drives to external storage devices!
 
 
I totally agree that sometimes windows update causes issues, but this is extremely rare nowadays. Unfortunately MS gets blamed for some issue that is entirely external to their OS (I often feel sorry for them). Cakewalk often has to go through the same sort of thing whereby (for instance) drivers are causing Sonar to crash or behave oddly. Unless there is a smoking gun to point to I tend to side with the view that "something unknown" happened!
 
Running Windows update is essential and people should not be dissuaded :)

One of the updates from last August did similar to me and that update cycle created a similar thread here. I did a restore, and then reinstalled a month later, but this particular one (to this day) still shows up as an "available" download, but has failed to download since (I.e. will not download from the MS server). I can give post the specific update when back on the computer, but the stranger part is that it remains in the listing if not truly available.

@mettelus... I think I've managed to delete unwanted update entries from the list. I forget the procedure but I'm pretty sure I did it. Maybe right click on the bugger.

 So I have this new selected feature now for win 8.1 :"check for updates, but let me chose whether to install and download them".
 
So the auto installing of downloaded updates via blue screen without my permission, and no choice or way out of that blue screen and message of Updates pending installation, already downloaded, and rebooting to install them, goes against that protocol I selected, or was changed to via unknown hands or setting in other updates..., which memory serves me as "Never check for Updates"...Right?
 
Thus I assume it was not a MS updates wanting to be installed already downloaded, regardless of the selection for Auto updates in my case, either way?...or it was a virus attack?, and cancelling the process when rebooting was a correct thought to do to over 30 of them.
 
Not sure it was effective though....As Virus can be tricky with cancellations .... although nothing has been detected via Trends Micro protection....I assume it must have been a Oddity of unknowns...in my case.
 
So to say those listed KB listings of mine be taken with a grain of salt..and not taken as a valid truth of the issue, but may have been part of the possibility ...is best at this point to keep a eye on!..
 
Now I have reset in my update selection: "Never check for updates" set again...again, and see if it changes again in future, would be a breach of Protocol By MS....I could push to some fighting for resolve ...At what end point of sought after Pending violations of set protocols, in loss of time, and causing troubleshooting to occur on my system, or any one else who finds this happening, be a valid repay or relay if so found next time round, as changing by itself or caused by updates, to change selected Protocols by users, to something other than....
 
Again not saying not to update...But to always prepare for them when doing them...by making a restore point, and backup of the working system before hand is best to do.
 
Programs and features/view installed updates..right click uninstall should get rid of the buggers...but who knows for sure?...As I have wiped drives clean in formatting ...and still was able to retrieve some data from that formatted drive....Eh?...so is it really uninstalled? or formatted completely, to wipe out what is not wanted,... is just another unknown process to ponder...Today..

About updating Windows. I have a Win7Pro SP2 machine as my music PC that has never been updated. It was installed over two years ago. I run X3e. You can work with out updates. (It has never been on the net.)

That being said, I have Win8.1 as my everyday PC. It is set for automatic updates. And recently I have also had trouble with the windows updates. These updates failed and hosed my system. It would not boot. It would get caught in a reboot cycle. But to MS credit, it now has options to fix itself much much better than it use to. I had options to use a restore point and other things.

So it's getting to where I am liking Win8 better than Win7. But right now my music PC is stable, so I am
leaving it alone!

Don't bother updating your drivers with Windows update (as it's generally useless and out of date, and regardless these would be in the optional section anyway so most often won't be installed unless you changed the setting), please go to the manufacturers third party site and download direct.
 
> As I know windows updates will not update firmware or bios...Right?.
 
Right.

It was more a "confirmation attack"...check to check it got through... on the MS updater program, and what It does not do...x and y..So do not let it update drivers......Not that I did not know...I do, as it was said I know....but win 8.1 is new to me...and it does have some qerkies at the moment....but I think I have sort of fixed my problem with no audio play back, via finding the output change, and putting it back to where it was when I saved the project before updating my selective choices from MS, after declining auto updates and the blue screen, saying I have to restart my system to install new updates...no way around that blue screen....which I found odd to begin with...So beware...something is doing nasty things on internet...I guess?.
 
So what is amuck?....who knows?....but qerkies and gremlins fears spawning no doubt about it, with this now to ponder out.
 
Be careful Peeps!....MS need money?, and may be doing this to gain support tickets at a cost for their support plans, and Indi call room relationships continually running profits .....(assumed of course)...wink
 
Have the greatest of days...in bliss if possible.
If I find any other oddities and or solutions... I will note em,  or retrieve via any other postings to solve for, or of likeness if necessary to verify .
 
Respect and regards!
 
Sir Les.