Issues caused by Waves MaxxAudio & Realtek drivers

When I stream music, both of the Maxx Audio services are showing 0% CPU usage.

Your system seems to have a corrupted install of the Audio components.  If you don't like the OEM utilities to install software, maybe you should not continue to depend on them?

First thing, download the Realtek Audio driver for your system.  

I would recommend you go offline and remove both the Realtek and Waves software/drivers.  Uninstall them and check the box to remove all drivers until you get your sound device back to a basic Windows driver.  If you want, you can run it in that configuration to see how the sound services behave.

Now you can reinstall just the Realtek driver.   You might reboot and run it in that condition to see how the system behaves.   Depending on your system, the Waves software may install on its own, although it appears some systems need to install it separately.  But don't do anything extra for a few hours to see how your system works.

If, after a period of time and Waves has not reinstalled, then use the download to install it, but wait as long as possible.

The Waves MaxxAudioPro software is what controls plugging in external devices.  

I have no experience with a Mobile Workstation, so up to you to let us know if there are relevant differences.  Keep an eye on the audiodg.exe utility in Task Manager, I have seen it run away and cause other problems.

Thanks for your quick reply @Saltgrass. I'm glad that everything seems to be working properly for you, even though its on entirely different platform. And to be honest I do not understand your comment regarding the use of Dell drivers - I'm happy with using them as long as they are working properly.

I've never had such difficulties with Dell drivers, until now. But it seems that many other users weren't so lucky (plenty of reports regarding the faulty MaxxAudio/Waves on many forums).

Like I mentioned, I've tried most of the methods of removing/reinstalling/updating the drivers & devices with no success (your proposal included). Compared to all the other recently reported issues with Waves, it seems its only related to its drivers. Disabling the software solves it for the most part - although it's a workaround, not a solution. I bet I'm not the only one who doesn't want to miss on the functions Maxx provides (especially with Optimizer).

An urgent investigation and a fix for this is needed, not a notion that a certain system has a corrupt install of audio components - as it does not concern just one system. Worth noting, that in my case there was no activity regarding audio drivers at all in the past weeks - only Dell Command Update and Windows update could've caused this - investigating this as we speak.

A few examples of issues regarding Waves/MaxxAudio drivers:

It's obvious that not only these drivers had history of being buggy, but also the recent update has caused issues among many users. It is a pain, since I'm using my workstation for online meetings and this renders mu Precision pretty useless for this (can't detect headphones/mics, freezes explorer).

As soon as I have more spare time I will be trying a complete purge of all driver files related to Realtek audio and Waves/Maxx in order to check if that helps the case.

Kind regards!

First, I was not referring to the drivers but to the utilities which you seem to be using to install them.

Beyond that, you seem to have discounted my suggestion.  Maybe you will think about it and try later.  Hope you get it worked out.

Like I wrote in my post before, I did not discount your suggestion. It just did not work, which I though I mentioned. Thanks for the hints though!

I'll update as soon as I have new information on this issue.

I also had serious security issues with these integrated audio drivers. It seems that Dell understood the problem and they stopped to use Realtek drivers integrated tightly with WaveMaxx addons.

Same problem here, NOT SOLVED.  Headphones not detected - Windows-10 on Precision 7770 - Dell Community See Would like to hear from Dell on this...

I have no doubt that BIOS updates have a play in this issue (see some of my previous unresolved postings), but this does not resolve the MaxxAudio issue for me.  I also have done a complete factory reset and the issue remains.  See my latest posting here: https://www.dell.com/community/Precision-Mobile-Workstations/Headphones-not-detected-Windows-10-on-Precision-7770/m-p/8296529/highlight/true#

Hi,

I'm Priya, one of the Managers at Dell Social Media Support. I've reviewed your journey with us, and I apologize for the inconvenience you’re experiencing due to the issue with your system. Your resolution expert might require further details from you to diagnose and resolve the issue.

I understand that you prefer having the troubleshooting done remotely by one of our tech experts. Hence, please let us know when you're available to continue the conversation we'll be glad to accommodate this request. Don’t worry, I’ll be making sure there are no unnecessary delays in resolving this issue by constantly monitoring the case until closure.

Having said that, we do not want to disturb you with numerous messages. If we do not receive a response, the case will be archived. To re-open the case, just drop us a message at your convenience, and we will be happy to help you.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding.

Best regards,

Priya

Manager

Dell Social Media Team

I am currently on the phone with Dell Support.  I am having the same issue with WavesSysSvc.  Despite the fact that my computer is new and still under support, the representative is telling me that I will need to pay to have this problem resolved.

This is clearly an issue with software provided by Dell on Dell hardware, for a new machine under warranty.  Why should I have to pay to have this resolved?

 Remington258

Please use this link to reinstall Waves Maxx Audio 

I also have the same problem and have been experiencing it for over a year now. I manually shut the application down using Task Manager. The application pops up and my CPU usage spikes up, causing the fans to begin spinning like crazy.