Persistent Error: "Untrusted system file dsound.dll" (0xc000007b) When Launching

Hello,

I've been facing a persistent issue for over a week now whenever I try to launch Apex Legends with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). The game fails to start and gives me the following error message: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)." Additionally, I receive a notification in the bottom right corner of my screen saying, "Untrusted system file f1?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\dsound.dll."

Here's what I've tried so far

Reinstalled the Game (Several Times, basically in every disk available)

Ran SFC and DISM

I used both the System File Checker (sfc /scannow) and DISM to repair any potential system file corruption(including safe mode), but no issues were found or fixed.

Repaired EAC

EasyAntiCheat_EOS_Setup.exe crashes when opening.

No Issues with Other Games

Other games that use anti-cheat systems (CS/Valorant/etc..) run without any problems, so this seems to be specific to Apex Legends.

I'm completely at a loss as to what could be causing this problem. The dsound.dll file seems to be flagged as untrusted by EAC, but I'm not sure how to resolve this. Any guidance or suggestions from the community or support team would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for any help!