Hi Guys,,,I'm not new to computers in anyway, but I'm as green as it gets with linux..

Recently I created a Bootable USB with linux MINT 18 on it and tried it out on my DELL Alien 18 (Windows 10).

All went well and I had MINT up and running no problem...when I booted back up on Windows 10 I noticed my date/time was out and researched the problem and found that this happens,,,after a few boots from Windows 10 the date/time issue disappeared...however I was getting some error notifications from Windows 10 that I had a problem (no specifics) and that it was trying to fix the problem..

After a few more boots on Windows 10 I no longer was getting this warning message....no problems, everything seemed to be running just fine.....BUT THEN

Now this is my problem, when I boot up on Windows 10 I have "no sound" not even a beep...When I boot up on my MINT 18 USB "I have sound"....

I ran extensive DELL diagnostics on the PC (Windows 10) and it says there is an error with my sound card...

Yes, I did delete all sound devices and recreate, I did down load and install latest drivers, etc, etc,,all the obvious stuff....

I know my sound card is good because I get sound running LINUX MINT 18 but no sound running under Windows 10

Any Ideas what is the cause of the problem?

Hello,

welcome to the forums Canadauser!

I do understand you right: You are running Mint entirely from your Live Disk, i.e. it is not installed on your system (yet)?

I have heard about some problems, with dual booting systems, where after running Fedora, sound would be gone on Windows 7 or 8 afterward. But in these cases, the OS was installed alongside with Windows.

Either way, there are two things you can try:

1. Enter BIOS and make sure, that the integrated devices, specifically the internal speaker, is turned on.

2. Some people have also reported, that putting Windows to sleep and wake it up, did restore the sound. I remember there was something about that on Quora. If I find the Link, I will add it here.

Of course, if you like Mint and if it works all fine, you could just use that OS and forget about Windows... :P (Just kidding!)

Hope that helps!

Thanks Ben,,, could not find anything listed in BIOS settings regarding anything to do with sound, sleep/wake didn't do anything either...I have a lot of PC having problems with Windows 10....my gut is telling me it's a software issue and likely something to do with Windows 10...

Still have problem,,, still open to ideas

OK, well if there is no BIOS option, then that's not the cause.

That might be another option. Especially if you are running your Linux from a USB Stick, it is unlike that it causes any issues. After all, the installation runs purely virtually on the Pendrive and does not make any changes to the system.

As for Windows 10, I don't generally bash on it (or on any other Windows version), despite the fact that I don't like it. But I know by experience and from many of my clients, that there have been a lot of issues lately. Especially after the annual update. As I said, if you are happy with your Linux install, you could just migrate to it step by step.

You could mention that issue on the Windows support forums or see, if someone else can help you with this further here on LQ. I would have recommended to uninstall the drivers and re-install them, but as you have already done that and already checked the settings and stuff, there is not much more I could think of. If you check out Google, you notice, that another option would be to reinstall Windows 10. However, the same people reported that after a while, the same issue did appear again, making this somewhat a waste of time. If the MS Support Forums or someone else here don't have any solution, you might have to wait for yet another MS update...

Actually, the reason why I switched to Linux (despite a friend's advice), was because of Windows 10. You will find out, that most programs will have a Linux version or a free alternative as well as a decent amount of professional commercial software. If you urgently need some kind of Windows Software, that you cannot replace, you can usually solve this by using Wine. I have both Wine and a virtual machine running Windows XP installed. By now, I am firing up the VM maybe once every month or two, if I want to play a game not working on Wine. And Wine, I use maybe once a week or twice, to play. For all of my other software, I have now found a Linux native solution.

Greetings back to my old home!! Hope Canada is doing fine! (You are from Canada eh?)

If hardware..
Cause could be partial reboot. Remove ac and battery after power down. Press power button a few times or wait an hour or more then start to windows and see.

If software then it could be that windows doesn't correctly use drivers or using wrong driver or some damage to existing driver. I had a tablet that was heck to get rotation back on. Used OEM web site to find drivers and re-installed. So, you may have to first find the audio drivers and then install again.

??? dunno.

He did that already, see

Thanks Guys,,,Ben I like your thought on reinstalling Windows 10, I just did that 2 days ago with another PC that was running some home automation software that kept crashing...only been a few days but the PC has been stable without crashing with the fresh install...I too think Windows 10 is crap,,even got more horror stories but that is for another day...

It would not be a catastrophic loss if a reinstall of Windows 10 messed up my already install applications,,I'll do a data backup and try it. Got to leave town for a few days so when I get back I'll do it..I'll post what happens,

Just so weird,,, Got sound with Linux and no sounds with Windows 10

,,from Canada

Well then you could try that. Especially if not big data loss is at stake.

Just make sure with your backup, to be careful, so you don't end up backing up (and restoring) whatever has broken the sound. Someone back at school told me always, that Windows (back than 95) would be like a card house. You build it and after some time it falls apart, so you have to rebuild it again.

Good luck. Looking forward to hear if that works.

I had a similar problem with Win 10 on my multiboot (Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 10, Fedora 25, Fedora Rawhide, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10) desktop. Apparently, it was one of the Win 10 updates - speakers were not being recognized (but headphones worked). Unplugging and replugging the speakers while in Win 10 solved the problem, at least for that run.

I Give up!,,,,,Dell Alienware has a Alienrespawn option that restores PC back to the day I got it with Windows 7 installed . Did it, sound is back, I must have broke something in Windows 10

Hello,

not the perfect solution for sure... but at least sound is back.

If you feel like doing it, you could try installing a dual-boot Linux again without upgrading to Windows 10 and see if that works for you. I would not really recommend upgrading to Win 10 anyway, but that is a personal decision.