Distorted sound and static in Skype using the integrated microphone

Bug report? Distorted sound and static in Skype using the integrated microphone

Hello,

I have a sound problem using Skype (tested with Microsoft Lync as well, same problem).
While making a call, the other end can hardly understand what I say. I tested then using the Skype test service and I heard my voice with a lot of static and it was very distorted.
I tested with Skype on the Mac side (my host) and sound was clear.

My guest is Windows 7. I reported a problem with ID 14368269 using the "report problem" function.

The Sound driver in Windows 7 is set to "Parallels Audio Controller (x64)".
The Sound output is fine. The problem is only the input (I'm using the integrated microphone of the Mac"27 mid 2010)

Does anyone have the same problem and found a solution for it? I'm testing Parallels at the moment and it is just perfect. This is actually the only thing I'm missing

Thanks
Reinhard

 

Folks,

I found a solution for the problem and I'd like to share it with you, just in case someone else has the same problem:

In the device manager, I removed (uninstall) the Parallels Audio Device driver. After it was uninstalled, I started to search for hardware changes in the device manager.
Windows searched Windows Update for a appropriate driver and found "AMD-8111 AC'97 Audio Controller Driver". After a reboot the audio worked quite find. I only had to adjust the microphone level in the sound settings for "recorder" and thats it.

Thanks
Reinhard

 

Sorted!

I followed Reinhard's instructions from the previous post - went into Windows device manager to remove and then used Windows update to find and re-install the sound driver. It worked and now my Skype sound in Win 7 environment is a clear as it is on my Mac environment. For me, it is rare to find such advice which works exactly - this was very pleasing!!

 

Thanks It is great to hear such feedback!

 

Thank you!!

Had the same exact problem and this fixed it! Thank you so much!! This was stressing me out all night.

I wonder why the parallels sound driver did not work for us....

 

I am having the same issue with audio input distortion. However, I don't know enough about using Windows 7 to force it to use the AMD driver; I wasn't able to get Windows Update to find it, but I found a download on Softpedia. When I go throughout the suggested process above, Windows just keeps reinstalling the Parallels x64 audio driver.

Anyone mind coaching the Windows admin fool? (Been a Mac guy since '92; haven't had a need to use Windows much, but now have a Windows only app I need to use.)

Thanks,

Claude

 

Nevermind; found a Realtek driver with an installer. Uninstalled (by deleting...an important step) the Parallels x 64 audio driver first, installed the Reatltek AC97 for Win7 64 bit, restarted, jacked up the levels to 95%, and now it's fine.

C

 

Thanks for the tips

Thanks for the tips. I did what you said about uninstalling the parallels sound drivers. Next I went to this page www.windows.com I put "drivers" in search and they explained to me how to Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware. I followed the instruction and then the windows update did the search for the audio driver. It installed the AMD-8111 AC'97 Audio Controller Driver. It worked perfectly and the problem was solve.

 

This worked for me as well

Just needed to enable automatic updates to windows drivers and make sure I deleted & remove the old driver before scanning for changes. If your struggling with getting windows to automatically update the drivers via the internet, check the following:

You can check Windows Update at any time to see if it found new drivers and icons for your hardware, especially if you recently installed a new device. If you want to have Windows Update automatically check for the latest drivers and icons, here's how:

Open Devices and Printers by clicking the Start button , and then, on the Start menu, clicking Devices and Printers.

Right-click the name of your computer, and then click Device installation settings.

Click Yes, do this automatically (recommended), and then click Save changes. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

If Yes is already selected, click Cancel to close the dialog box.

 

I'm not familiar with Windows, I don't see an uninstall option. Also is it Parallels Recording driver or speaker driver? I think I'm not in the right spot under devices.

 

You need to open the device manager, find the audio controller and right-click uninstall. As an alternative you just could update the driver and choose the AMD one...should work as well.

 

Just tried doing a simple recording inside of Lync (inside of Parallels) and the sound quality is TERRIBLE, even after installing the AMD driver. Any ideas?

 

Parallels x64 Driver doesn't work for record

I just spent quite a few hours with Parallels support on this issue (August 30, 2012). We created a virgin install of Parallels (7.0.15106) and Windows 7. The Parallels Audio Controller in the 64bit VM does not work for recording when using Windows Sound Recorder (and presumably any other software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking). You get the distortion mentioned above. Playback is OK.

The Realtek solution described above does seem to work. My Windows 7 32bit VM works fine.

The issue has been escalated.

If anyone has successfully gotten Sound Recorder to work in Windows 7 64bit VM, it would be good to report it here.

 

Problems Solved

Parallels support just advised this. It seems to work just great!


(Note: instructions involve changing to the Windows Registry, so it is advisable to take a snapshot of the virtual machine or create a backup of the virtual machine or a backup of the Registry)
- in the affected virtual machine please open Registry Editor: Start->type in "regedit" in the search field->press 'Enter'
- In the Registry Editor navigate to the following branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\
- Inside that branch you need to locate "IgnorePICB" value: it can be in ..\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005\Settings\ or ..\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\Settings\, or some other branch, the exact location depends on the particular Windows installation.
- Once you locate that value please change it to "1": right-click on "IgnorePICB"->Choose 'Modify'->change value to "1"
- After that please close the Registry Editor and restart the virtual machine
- Please test sound recording after the suggested steps.

 

There has to be a better way?

I can't believe the above is the official answer to something as basic as a sound issue. When are they going to distribute an actual update and fix. I just installed the suggested auto update and all it did was wipe out the AMD dirvers that "kinda" worked with the Parallels drivers that absolutely do not work.

Does anyone know if the new version/upgrade of Parallels takes care of this issue? It's making Parallels close to useless for recording Lync meetings.

Appreciate any help.

 

Fixed in Parallels 8

Hi everybody,
I just downloaded Parllels 8 and Sound works good with the Parallels driver without changing the registry.
BUT: Sound recording in Skype is very good - sound recording in Lync is not that good (still ok but could be better).
I will try the registry fix later and see if that changes anything

EDIT:
The key is not available in Parallels 8 but sound is clear and good.

 

Can't record anything in Link?

Now in Parallels 8 nothing is recording... No idea what's going on. How can they release something new that doesn't work. The installed Intel sound driver and all settings appear to be fine. Ug...