We have noted an issue with some SoundMax applets monopolizing the sound resources or blocking the WDMA drivers.
Sometimes the SoundMax Applet running intercepts or block the USB audio stream.
Check under Task Manager to see if SMax4PNP.exe is running under Processes.
Start/Run/Regedit
Look for and Remove SMax4PNP.exe (or similar file) from the “Run”-Key in the registry (if found), and also remove all key entries for Smax4PNP.exe
It’s recommended that you Export the Registry to your “My Documents” first then remove SMax4PNP.exe from the “Run”-Key this way if it doesn’t work you can Merge the original registry settings back in.