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Windows audio completely broken – no output devices found and duplicate SoundWire entries everywhere
I'm stuck with a completely dead audio system on my laptop. The volume slider is greyed out, Windows says "No output devices found," and my keyboard volume keys do absolutely nothing. When I check Device Manager under Sound, video and game controllers, I'm seeing a flood of duplicate SoundWire Audio entries plus an AMD SoundWire Audio Streaming Device, many of which have yellow warning triangles. I've tried uninstalling them and updating drivers, but they just come right back after a reboot—no change at all.
I'm not sure if this is a driver conflict, a corrupted Windows audio service, or something else entirely. The laptop is a Dell 14S DS14265, and I haven't installed anything unusual recently. I've already tried restarting the Windows Audio service and running the audio troubleshooter, but neither helped. At this point I'm out of ideas. Anyone run into this before or know how to actually clean this up?
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The warning symbols in your screenshot are more useful than the repeated SoundWire names: several devices can share a friendly name, so deleting entries indiscriminately is not a reliable repair. Open Properties for each warning-marked device and record its exact Device status code, hardware IDs, and driver version. Those details distinguish a device that cannot start from a missing or incompatible driver. Because service restarts and generic driver removal already failed, obtain the audio packages recommended for your exact Dell model and Windows version, following any chipset prerequisites listed by Dell. Microsoft's missing-audio guidance specifically recommends the manufacturer's driver when Windows cannot detect an output device. Restart and check whether an output endpoint appears under System, Sound. Avoid third-party driver cleaners or installing random SoundWire packages. If the warnings remain, provide Dell with the collected codes and versions; the screenshot alone cannot establish a single driver conflict or hardware failure
