Windows Vista

[mastamper]

I'm having similar issues with Skype now that I've upgraded from XP to Vista Ultimate. My microphone level can be set to 100 but recording programs and Skype barely hear me even when I've practically got the mic in my mouth. I don't know what to do.

After reading this thread, I updated from Skype 3.0 to 3.1 and now whenever I click to run echo123, Skype immediately closes! I'm using Audigy SE.

Message Edited by mastamper on 03-16-200708:57 PM

[sander454]

hi guys,

i would like to confirm that my system is affected by this bug as well. i'm running onboard soundmax system on my asus p5nd2 motherboard. i try 3 different microphones, which btw works fine on my laptop (but i have xp system there), but none of them is working under vista.

[whozat]

I am pleased to report that my "no/low volume" microphone problem *may* be, at long last, if not completely over, at least vastly improved. I have suffered with this microphone issue since installing Vista in early January. Since that time, I had found the situation no better while using a SoundBlaster Audigy SE sound card than while using my onboard Sigmatel audio. I had tried everything that I could think of, and kept updated with all the latest drivers, but to no avail. I was *not* a happy camper.

The last few weeks, I'd been using my Audigy SE card (latest driver date 2/16/07). Then, a few days ago, I noticed that my mobo manufacturer (Intel) had posted an updated Vista driver for my Sigmatel audio (v6.10.5405) on their website. So, I switched back to my onboard audio, and after installing the new driver, to my surprise, found that my microphone volume was not only loud enough now to carry on a conversation using Skype, but the volume level also stayed steady throughout the conversation. (No longer does the microphone volume level slider in "Sound" suddenly revert to zero on its own.) Although the maximum volume level is still somewhat lower than I would like, I am able to use my Skype again, which makes me very happy.

I had also previously been unable to hear my voice on any WAV file I made using Vista's "Sound Recorder" (found in Accessories), but I am now able to hear such recordings of myself, as well (though, again, not as loud as I would prefer). So the microphone volume improvement is not just in Skype, but in other applications, too.

Therefore: While there is still room for improvement here (in the maximum volume level, at least), it appears to me at the moment that--in my case, anyway--this whole issue has actually been due to audio drivers not yet ready for Vista.

[azz710]

Dear Whozat,

Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention! Unfortunately, though my Dell motherboard has the same SigmaTel chipset that yours has, the copy of v6.10.5405 which I downloaded from the Intel site will not install on my system (enigmatic "object not found" message after the installer wiped-out my old drivers) and Dell has not yet responded to my demand for a version of the driver which will install on my system.

What continues to baffle me is that the old drivers were clearly not tested - not by SigmaTel, not by Intel, not by Dell and not by Microsoft, which certified them. Are all of these people morons or do they all think that we are?

Regards,
Jeff

[whozat]

---

azz710 wrote:
Dear Whozat,

Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention! Unfortunately, though my Dell motherboard has the same SigmaTel chipset that yours has, the copy of v6.10.5405 which I downloaded from the Intel site will not install on my system (enigmatic "object not found" message after the installer wiped-out my old drivers) and Dell has not yet responded to my demand for a version of the driver which will install on my system.

What continues to baffle me is that the old drivers were clearly not tested - not by SigmaTel, not by Intel, not by Dell and not by Microsoft, which certified them. Are all of these people morons or do they all think that we are?

Regards,
Jeff

---

Jeff:

YW,and I'm very glad to be posting good news for a change. Each day, I try out my Skype with a lingering dread that the same old problems will have recurred, but no: it's really looking like the improvement (definitely caused by the new Sigmatel driver) is, in fact, permanent. And boy am I glad!

As for the Sigmatel driver provided by Intel not working on your Dell mobo, it unfortunately appears that you are going to need one specifically provided by Dell. (You might find some of the information at http://www.idt.com/?id=3969 to be of interest in this regard.) So, you're probably stuck with waiting on Dell.

WHO, exactly, is to blame for this whole situation (Microsoft or Intel/Dell/etc or Sigmatel/Creative/etc or some combination of them all), I certainly can't say. But SOMEONE sure dropped the ball here.

And BTW: I have no way of saying for sure that better audio drivers are necessarily the answer to *everyone* who have been experiencing similar microphone volume problems. But my recent experience has now convinced me that the issue doesn't, at least, lie in a bug in Vista itself, which is what I had come to fear might be the case.

Whozat

[Melachrino]

I hope this helps as we encountered similar problems with Vista and Skype.

The fix we developed was to uninstall all audio drivers, reboot and let Vista reinstall the drivers. At this point Vista will ask how you want the LINE IN/Mic port configured. Selecting Mic things seem to stabilize and work well from then on. We let Skype (or the application ) control de volume.

It is very strange that all our attempts to reconfigure the offending port directly failed. Maybe someone else knows how to reconfigure direct, without the described surgery, in case the settings get corrupted again.

The test bed was Vista Home and Skype 3.1

Melachrino and Master Commander

[whozat]

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Melachrino wrote:

I hope this helps as we encountered similar problems with Vista and Skype.

The fix we developed was to uninstall all audio drivers, reboot and let Vista reinstall the drivers. At this point Vista will ask how you want the LINE IN/Mic port configured. Selecting Mic things seem to stabilize and work well from then on. We let Skype (or the application ) control de volume.

It is very strange that all our attempts to reconfigure the offending port directly failed. Maybe someone else knows how to reconfigure direct, without the described surgery, in case the settings get corrupted again.

The test bed was Vista Home and Skype 3.1

Melachrino and Master Commander

---

Man, I dunno. Reinstalling one's audio drivers sounds like pretty radical "surgery" to me, especially if it takes a team of two surgeons to pull off such a complicated "fix."

Message Edited by whozat on 04-16-200709:13 PM

Message Edited by whozat on 04-16-200709:14 PM

[Melachrino]

This is to report that the "radical surgery" suggested earlier to fix the Microphone behaviour on Vista seems to still work upto today, the Dell PC remains stable and operates well with its audio cards and Skype 3.1.

What we HAVE stopped, however, is to let Yahoo IM install its audio setup because circumstantial evidence points to it as breaking the Vista Mic configuration. Probably, other audio applications may disturb Vista and switch Mic to Line In with the consequent large gain attenuation.

The root problem for us at the moment is that we cannot find a direct user access in Vista to configure the audio ports correctly. Also, we are not at the point of finding the Registry entries which need correction and avoid "radical surgery". Short of that, uninstalling the device drivers and letting the PC re-install them is a standard recovery procedure when faced with brick walls.

We have not tried the Restore function in Vista, but if the system breaks down again we will try Restore first and report here to MAYBE help others. Not fun being Beta testers for Vista and paying for the privilege...

[CraftyCarp]

Hi fells, what's the latest with this? I'm experiencing the problem with a USB desktop mic on EVERY program including games and video chat. The latest is Gmail video chat.

Any help appreciated.

[patkaps93]

I have this same problem. I think it has something to do the with a new download from vista, the "no sound in vista?" pop-up that then leads you to download an update for ur sound driver, not sure tho