So this is part two of a solution that I had to discover on my own after hours and hours of searching for the answer to a problem that had a very obscure solution. [ See Part 1 here. ]
So after the first fix which was repairing the netprofm service in the registry, I was left with no audio. When attempting to start the Windows Audio service, I got the error very vague message of “Endpoing is a duplicate.” So I searched through the services in the registry looking for something in the AudioSrv key that may be causing the problem. I noticed two keys which were “AudioEndpoingBuilder” and “AudioSrv”. Everything seemed to be correct except for one thing.
(UPDATE 4/20/2015: For an automatic fix, look below at the bottom of this post for download links and an explanation on my registry exports. No knowledge of the registry is required.)
For the manual fix and details, read on…
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Services -> AudioEndpointBuilder -> Parameters
Check the ServiceDLL data, on the problem system it was:
%SystemRoot%\System32\Audiosrv.dll
It should be:
%SystemRoot%\System32\AudioEndpointBuilder.dll
There didn’t seem to be any problem with the AudioSrv -> Parameters -> ServiceDLL data as it was already set to it’s correct value of :
%SystemRoot%\System32\Audiosrv.dll
So if yours is off, I would go ahead and change it.
After a reboot of the system, all sound was back and the services were started with no errors.
I have, as of writing this later, come across these combined problems twice now. The first time took me hours if not a couple days to finally discover these solutions. The second time I knew exactly what to check.
Both computers where Dell systems. One was a laptop, one was a desktop. Both were lower end consumer grade desktops. Not sure what models. I don’t really know what software was in common. I wish I had taken a log of both systems to compare any similarities. If you end up finding this useful, try to grab some information so we can attempt to track down what is causing this odd change in these two keys. I have a feeling it may be something to do with the factory image they use when creating these particular problematic systems. Possibly a bad driver or update that was pre-installed.
Anyways, I hope this helps someone else as it has me on two occasions so far. Please feel free to comment.
UPDATED 4/20/2015: I have been asked to provide further information on how to edit the registry. My stuff on here is for self-help techies with the assumed knowledge of what I know. However, for those that may need help in editing the registry, I’m attaching registry exports that you can execute to automatically fix the registry keys mentioned in both of these posts. I’ve included an export of each of the mentioned keys as well as one combined export. It honestly won’t hurt anything to run the combined file regardless if you only need on or both fixes, but if you prefer to only fix one of them at a time, go ahead and download the individual keys. To use the downloaded files, just save the REG file to your PC and then just run it like a normal setup file. You may want to disable your antivirus. You may also receive a UAC prompt asking for permissions to make changes to your system, you want to be sure to allow this change. You will most definitely then receive a message from Registry Editor warning you about changing or deleting values in the registry, click Yes to continue. You should then relieve a message that the registry key was added successfully. After applying either of these registry keys you will need to reboot your computer.
Keep in mind, after making these registry changes, you may still have issues that this fix just isn’t the root of. I can’t provide Much else tech support via these forums, but if you have issues running the registry export, then post on here and I’ll try and help you out a bit more with my fix.
Downloads:
- Netprofmsvc.reg (Download either this one…)
- AudioEndpointBuilder.reg (…and this one.)
- Combined.reg (Or download this one only.)
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! :)))))
These 2 issues of audio and control panel happened to me on a new Dell (2 months) laptop. With AVG. After installing an update of the shitty win8.1 .
U R a champion – you really saved me!!!
Thanks again!
Amit
I LOVE YOU.
and yes, here AVG update as well. Just hope there aren’t any other dll files affected. I called AVG and they said they’re working on a fix.
Hi,
I followed the instructions and everything was solved, except for the sound. My sound is still absent and now it says “No Audio Output device is installed”. I’ve reinstalled the driver but it did not help. Any ideas what may be wrong?
Thanks
Thanks a lot, it solved the problem for me on a Lenovo G50. If you need more details about that system just ask.
Thank you so much, fixed the problem on my Samsung. Excellent 🙂
Well. It workout just fine, thanks for the guide.
Thank you so much! It really works well for me now!
My situation was just as mentioned and happened after updated from win 8 to win 8.1 automatically.
Thanks again.
Josh, many thanks – Had windows update – both problems control panel and sound. Manually changed registry – never done before. Very good description – All working again – Running a cheap end Lenovo Thanks again
Oh and another question sir, I wonder if when the computer I’m using updates itself it, does it also update AVG? Because avg updates seem to be the root problem.
Windows Updates and AVG updates are separate. When one runs, the other does not.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR!!
I woke up 10 in the morning to fix this issue. And then I seartched on the internet and everyone said AVG virus problems and stuff (not on my watch), after that, someone on youtube linked your post for those who had problems with the “Endpoing is a duplicate” problem, YOU HELPED ME!
This guide is the best.
Thank you very much Josh
Kind regards, Ely
Thank you SO much for this… It’s fixed my initial problem of the control panel, and sfc not running…. And I’m confident that I can now get the sound back on also. Awesome!!
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. i tried EVERYTHING I SWEAR EVERYTHING. tweaking.com went on for 9 hours + and i couldnt take it anymore.. but then just when i was about to give up, i decided to try your site and thank god it worked.. thank you so so so so much. you have no idea how grateful i am. I literally tried everything, all blogs and forums, they all said the same thing.. i had been stupid enough to uninstall AVG so i couldnt view my archives etc. and i went through computer management every 15 min. it was so intense thank you so much you are a life saver!!
god bless
S
Thank you so much for this guide to fixing this issue!
My laptop was fine all throughout yesterday, and then when I got home in the evening and started it up again, suddenly I was having trouble accessing the control panel as it just froze and there was no sound. Initially thinking it was some kind of virus perhaps, but after running every scan under the sun that didn’t seem to be the case.
My mum actually linked me to your page here whilst helping me search for a solution and I followed your instructions and everything seems to be working just fine again, so happy. Thank you very much for posting this!
Kind regards,
Ella.
Solved!
Thank you for this. I tried ten other alleged solutions, but this was the one that finally solved it.
For me as well it was the AVG update, and I also, like some others, deleted the program before I checked the virus vault. After reinstalling the virus vault was of course empty, but sound was still absent.
The combined file didn’t fix it for me though, but as I installed the two separate files, sound was back after restarting the computer. So once again. thank you!
when i try to dl this i get nothing but a page that looks typed no download button just says
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\netprofm\Parameters]
“ServiceDll”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
6e,00,65,00,74,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,66,00,6d,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,2e,00,64,\
00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\netprofm\Parameters]
“ServiceDll”=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\
00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\
6e,00,65,00,74,00,70,00,72,00,6f,00,66,00,6d,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,2e,00,64,\
00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00
James, try right clicking on the download link and look for Save As or Save Link As. The file should download as a .REG file. If you still have problems then open them as you did before to see the code. Then open Notepad on your computer. Copy and paste my code into Notepad and then save the file to your desktop as “whatever-name-you-want.reg” with quotes – – Windows will remove the quotes in the file name, but using quotes prevents Notepad from saving the file as name.reg.txt and giving the wrong extension. After you have done that, just double click on the new .REG file that you saved.
Hope that will help you out.
Thank you so so much, I’ve spent hours trying to fix this. And then you just fixed it for me 🙂 Thank you!
i can’t reach the link that you provided above. “This webpage is not available” “ERR_TIMED_OUT”
can u help me with this? Thanks in advance. T.T
Josh your registry edit fixed the sound to the loudspeaker of the laptop I wrote about a couple of days ago in Part 1 which posting was moderated and accepted – thank you. However, there is another problem with the sound system in that computer. When one tries to play a system sound it doesn’t work. When you open the volume mixer the mixer icon shows it’s muted. Clicking it unmutes it as normal but what it not normal is that when the volume mixer is closed and open again the mixer still shows its muted.
I’ve looked for answers that someone else may have arrived at but found none – like the frozen and blank Control Panel problem discussed in your Part 1 and sound (from the speaker) in this Part 2 which you also show the exact fix.
Have you an answer or view of where to look as to what is stopping system sounds from playing?
Thanks.
Well a week later after a freeze; two files detected as malware by AVG and submitted to them for further analysis (I think they may be false positives); another run of chkdsk C: /f the computer came up for back to work. What was pleasantly surprising was the sound problem I wrote about last week has gone away. The thing now plays system sounds!
When i open the combined file, i get an error where it says “the extended attributes are inconsistent” please help! :'(
After a week i finally managed to fix it, thank you sooo much!
Thank you so much for the help. This really saved my time. 😀
God bless you!
You rock Josh! I spent hours on forums and YouTube with a bunch of failed attempts to fix audio and freezing screen issues. A couple of regedits and a reboot… easy fix! Like others above me, I’m convinced that this problem was a result of a Windows and AVG update.
Caroline,
I think you’re right, all my issues came about after letting avg take care of a file for me then when i next restarted it all stopped working.