Audio rapidly mutes and unmutes

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I run Windows 10 Home. (Version 10.0.16299 Build 16299)
When I load Audacity, the system audio rapidly mutes and unmutes itself, continuously.
This happens even before I click anything within Audacity.
The problem continues even after I close Audacity; only a full restart can fix the problem.
I had this problem with Audacity 2.2.0 . I also tried 2.2.1-rc2, but that didn’t fix anything.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled several times, to no avail.
There is no error message.

How can I fix this?

2

When I launch Audacity, there are not any tracks, so there aren’t any mute buttons. What are you doing different?

I did once have something similar to this happen - it was due to a key on my keyboard sticking, so that it was constantly firing a key press even when the key was not being pressed. Could that be the problem?

3

When I launch Audacity, there are not any tracks, so there aren’t any mute buttons. What are you doing different?

When I launch Audacity, there are no tracks and no mute buttons. It’s the same as you. Except that for me, the sound mutes and unmutes rapidly. I should note that there is no visual indication of this within Audacity itself. The only way to “see” the muting and unmuting is to look at the volume icon in the Windows taskbar, which is constantly changing from the “muted” icon to the “not-muted” icon. And of course, if you play any sounds (in Audacity or otherwise), it sounds terrible, because the sound is constantly muting and unmuting.

I did once have something similar to this happen - it was due to a key on my keyboard sticking, so that it was constantly firing a key press even when the key was not being pressed. Could that be the problem?

That is not the problem. The problem only happens when I boot Audacity. It happens even though I haven’t touched the mute key. It continues to happen even if if press and unpress the mute key. It is resolved once I reboot the computer, even though rebooting doesn’t involve any physical change to the mute key. So that’s not the problem.

4

I have found a workaround. It’s strange, but it works. I’ll leave it here in case anyone else has this same problem.

  1. Start Audacity. (Audio will rapidly mute and unmute.)
  2. Record something, then stop recording. Do not save the file.
  3. Attempt to shut down your whole computer. (Leave Audacity open.)
  4. Windows will ask if you really want to shut down, or if you want to return to audacity so you can save your file. Choose to cancel the shutdown.
  5. When you return to the desktop, Audacity will still be open, but the audio will no longer rapidly mute or unmute. Adjust the volume if necessary, and use Audacity as normal.