If Windows System Restore was turned off there won't be any restore points.

I'll try to think up something else you can try. Just got home from work and have some things to do first.

Hello.

I would use Windows System Restore. Find a Restore Point that is dated before yesterday. That should undo the Java update.

How to Insert a Screen Shot into a post on the Dell forum.

How do I find out where my system restore points are?  If I type "System restore", all I get is the opportunity to create a restore point - there's no list of previous ones.

Here's my device manager list.  You will see that there is no entry for a sound controller.

I accidentally deleted the "Sound, video and games controller" entry in device manager.

I didn't know that was possible. Even if you shut down the laptop and cold boot it, the category is still missing?

So there's no way I know of the install a sound driver

Have you tried to download and install the driver from the N5010 support page? There is no driver for Win10 of course, so you would install the Win7 IDT audio driver using compatibility mode.

1. Download and save the audio driver to your desktop or any convenient location on the hard drive.
2. Double click on the new folder to extract (unzip) the driver files.
3. The extractor wizard will create a new folder for the driver files. It will be at "c:\dell\drivers\xxxxxx". Write down the exact location that the wizard creates.
4. If the driver begins to install automatically, halt (cancel) the installation.
5. Browse to the driver files on the hard drive (the location you wrote down).
6. Find the "setup.exe" file.
7. Right click on setup.exe to open the context menu.
8. Select the Properties.
9. Select the Compatibility tab.
10. Check the box "run this program in compatibility mode for"... Win7.

Thanks very much for your clear instructions, Jim.

The installation seemed to go OK, and it has restored the Sound, video and games controller in the control panel device manager screen.

I have two devices shown:  AMD High Definition Audio Device, and IDT High Definition Audio Codec.

When I reboot the laptop, I get a "waking up" sound.

But if I try to play an MP3 audio file, using QuickTime player, there is no sound.

So unfortunately my problem is not solved.

Is there a quick way of generating a sound from the keyboard, to check that the sound system is working?

Previously, if I plugged a lead into the audio input jack, the IDT Audio COntrol panel would automatically appear.

But now it doesn't.  And if I open the IDT Audio Control Panel from the "start" button, I get the message "unable to connect to COM interface".

Any further ideas I could try?

We seem to be getting there - perhaps because the laptop is now using the AMD driver instead of the IDT driver?  (How can I tell?)

Audacity works, for recording and editing.  A huge relief!

And I can listen to You Tube.

And, although QuickTime doesn't work at all now to listen to MP3 files, I've discovered that both Groove Music and Windows Media Player will now happily play MP3 files (they didn't previously work).
So I have work-arounds which will keep me going.

Thanks for all your help!

the laptop is now using the AMD driver instead of the IDT driver?  (How can I tell?)

If the laptop has an AMD cpu, then an AMD driver in the Sound Controllers category of Device Manager would be the HDMI audio driver -- in other words the driver that controls the audio that goes over an HDMI cable to a TV when connected that way. IDT is the audio driver that controls the IDT audio hardware on the laptop's motherboard. IDT is the laptop's integrated audio, and it includes the laptop's speakers, and audio input/output jacks.

(How can I tell?)

By opening the Sound properties and seeing how the devices are described. The names of the devices are provided by the driver, so if Speakers is "IDT High Definition Audio Codec" then the IDT driver is installed. If you ever see Speakers named simply "High definition Audio Device", that would mean that the IDT driver is uninstalled and the laptop is using the Windows native audio driver.

Thanks again for the very helpful information.

In the meantime (before your last message) Windows 10 detected a fault in the audio system, repaired it, and created a recovery point.   And now everything seems to be working perfectly!

So maybe I shouldn't be so hard on Windows 10 after all.  Just upset with Java.