Fix: AMD High Definition Audio Device not Plugged in

AMD High Definition Audio is an audio mechanism inbuilt in several AMD modules. They can be compared with their counterpart Intel High Definition Audio Devices. Some graphics cards which have inbuilt audio include Radeon HD, Radeon R5, and Radeon R7. These sound modules provide decent sound quality and are used by people throughout the world.

If you are reading this article, you might be experiencing the error where your computer has greyed out the playback device with a message “AMD High Definition Audio Device is not plugged in”. These types of errors are mostly related to incorrect drivers installed or some sound configurations not set. Follow the steps listed below to get rid of the error.

Solution 1: Restoring Default Settings

If you have been meddling around with the sound settings on your playback devices, it could’ve caused some misconfigurations in the settings and hence, caused this error. Sometimes even modifying the smallest of things can make some modules unusable. You can try restoring the default settings in the playback devices and see if this does the trick. If it doesn’t, you can always make the same changes you did before using the properties of each device.

1. Right-click on the sound icon and select “Playback devices” from the list of options available.

2. Right-click on Speakers/Headphones and select “Properties”.

3. Now navigate to the advanced tab and click on “Restore defaults”. All the settings will now be reverted to the way they were. Exit the window, restart your computer and see if you are able to access AMD High Definition Audio.

Solution 2: Running the DISM Command

Deployment Image Service and Management Tool is a tool that was introduced in Windows 7 and has been there in all the future iterations. Its main function is to perform servicing functions on your Windows image. This command ensures that if there is any problem with your Windows image, it will be fixed by fetching the new files from the internet and replacing them on your computer. Do note that this solution might require an active internet connection.

1. Press Windows + S, type “command prompt” in the dialogue box, right-click on the application and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Once in the elevated command prompt, execute the following command:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

3. Now we will run the SFC Scan in your command prompt. System file checker is a utility in Windows which allows users to scan and restore corruption present in their operating system. It is integrated with Windows resource protection, which protects folders, registry keys, and critical system files as well. In an elevated command prompt, execute the following command:

sfc /scannow

4. Restart your computer after executing both instructions and check if you can successfully access AMD High Definition Audio Device.

Solution 3: Adding a Network Service

Before we move on to configuring and updating different sound drivers on your computer, it is wise to check if adding a network service on your computer solves the problem for us. You will require an administrative account to execute this solution.

1. Press Windows + S, type “command prompt” in the dialogue box, right-click on the application and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Now execute the following command one by one and wait for the previous one to execute completely before you type in the next command.

net localgroup Administrators /add networkservice
net localgroup Administrators /add localservice

3. After both the commands are executed, restart your computer and see if you can successfully connect and use the High Definition Audio device.

Solution 4: Updating PCI Bus Driver

Peripheral Component Interconnect Bus (PCI Bus) connects the CPU and expansion boards such as graphics cards, network cards, etc. These expansions boards are plugged into expansion slots in the motherboard of your computer. To sum up, it is used to attach additional hardware to your computer which includes the AMD GPU. If the PCI Bus driver isn’t up to date or is corrupt, you might not be able to avail all the functionalities of the GPU you are using. We can try updating the PCI Bus Driver and see if this does the trick.

1. Press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. Once in the device manager, expand the category of ‘System Devices’, search for your PCI, right-click it and select “Update Driver”.

3. We will update the device drivers manually. Select the second option “Browse my computer for driver software”,

4. Click “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer”.

5. Now select the entry “PCI Bus”. Press Next to continue with the installation of the driver. Do not select the entry “PCI bus” with only the first letter capitalized if it appears on your computer.

6. After updating the driver, restart your computer and see if this made any difference.

Solution 5: Using IDT Audio Installer

If all the above methods failed and you are still unable to use the AMD High Definition Audio Device, we can try installing the IDT Audio driver on your computer. This is a CODEC whose purpose is to make it possible for you to play sounds on your computer. We can try installing IDT using the installer and see if this makes any difference.

1. Download the IDT Audio Installer.
2. Once you have downloaded the driver, press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
3. Once in the device manager, open the category “Sound, Video, and Game Controllers”. Right-click on the IDT Device and select “Uninstall device”. You might get a prompt before the uninstallation begins. Make sure that you check the option “Remove the driver”.
4. After the uninstallation process, restart your computer and run the installer which you just downloaded. Make sure that you run it with administrator privileges by right-clicking it and selecting “Run as administrator”.
5. Now right-click on the sound icon and click “Playback Devices”.

6. Select the Speakers/Headphones and push the “Set as Default” button present at the bottom of the screen. Save changes and exit. Now check if you properly receive sound on your computer.

Tips:

If you have tried all the solutions and still cannot access the sound, you should check out the tips mentioned below. It is most likely that there is some hardware issue instead of a software one that we were trying to resolve in the above methods.

• Digital Display audio is the audio signal that goes through your HDMI-out port. Unless you are sending an AV signal to some device like an HDTV, you will not be using this. This might be the reason why it says not plugged in.
• Make sure that your Graphics card is working properly without any flaws. Try connecting the graphics card on another computer and see if you can get the audio there. Or you can connect another device to your computer and troubleshoot.
• Make sure that the cables you are using are proper and don’t have any loose ends on both. Try changing the cables and see if they make any difference.
• Make sure that the graphics card is plugged in properly in the slot. You can try removing the card, make sure there is no dust and then plugging it back in until you hear a click sound.
• You should also make sure that you are running the latest graphics card drivers.