Audacity cannot find any audio devices

Dear Audacity Forum Members,
I’m posting this issue in the hope somebody can help shed some light on a problem which has recently developed. I’ve not sent Audacity the exception report as it is completely wrong about the computer details, but the exception is 0xc000005. I’m using Audacity Version 3.0.3.
I use Audacity to make recordings of my clarinet playing and I bought a new Dell laptop in January this year. Since then I have used it regularly to make recordings without any problems until recently.
I am using an AKG Lyra Microphone which is a USB device and also it has a headphone monitoring jack socket which allows me to play to a metronome track. The laptop is a Dell XPS 13 9310 and has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor. Windows 10 is the operating system.
The laptop has developed a fault which Dell is responsible for fixing. I’ve done everything that Dell has asked me to do, and so far have not discovered what is wrong.
Using the laptop’s built-in microphone and speakers with the Voice Recording App, I can make a recording but when I plug in the Lyra microphone the sound is greatly distorted, whereas it used to be excellent. I’ve tested the Lyra on a Windows 7 computer making a recording with Audacity and all is well.
The situation is that the built-in audio devices work correctly but when I start Audacity it now reports that it cannot find any audio devices (this is with the Lyra not connected). The devices are enabled in the BIOS and all the settings are correct, The Windows boot screen checks do not find a hardware problem. All the Windows 10 settings are correct I think, but I am much more at home with Windows 7.
I do hope someone can help.

Do you mean 0xc000005, or 0xc0000005 - which is a memory access violation which could be caused by anything. Regardless, it doesn’t tell us much - it is best to report the problem so those responsible can at least drum up a more pertinent error message.

When Audacity first starts, it makes a map of all of the I/O devices available. If there is a serious problem with any one of them, it might cause Audacity to not see any devices. So you have your built-in microphone and your built-in speakers. If you have any other devices, e.g. bluetooth headphones, HDMI audio port, camera, etc., that device could be your disrupter. You can try disabling and/or removing suspect devices, hoping that the problem will go away.

Many thanks for your reply - I think you have identified the link between the symptoms.