Windows Live Messenger video chat buzzing noise

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I do video chat on Live Messenger with a friend. Over the last few weeks I noticed there is a buzz or crackle at the end of each word he speaks. Tried video chat with my girlfriend and got the same result – buzz/crackle on her words. Also, my friend got a new, improved webcam and I still get the crackle/buzz on his voice. Another computer in a different room does not have this problem. Also no problem when video chatting on our laptop, either, so it’s specifically this one PC. I uninstalled my main sound driver (which came with the motherboard’s Soundmax software) and told Windows 7 to delete the driver. Also uninstalled Soundmax software. Then restarted the computer and let Windows discover the sound chip and install the generic Windows driver. Device Manager also lists multiple instances of nVidia HD audio which were installed with my nVidia graphics driver/software package. I didn’t mess with those drivers. The buzz/crackle remained. Also tried completely uninstalling Windows Live Messenger, Photo Gallery & MovieMaker using Revo Uninstaller, then installed Windows Live afresh. The problem remained. There is no crackle or buzz through my speakers when playing games or music or internet video. Any suggestions on how to overcome this annoying problem?

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Have you tried other apps to see if the problem is specific to Live Messenger? Maybe skype or google talk?

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Yes, I tried video chat using Logitech Vid software and there was no buzz/crackle. It worked perfectly.

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It may be hard to solve, since it seems specific to Windows Live Messenger. Does it happen only when using speakers or does it happen too if you use a headset?

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Curiouser and curiouser ………. Even though I have Windows Update turned completely off, Microsoft still forces some updates onto my Win 7 system from time to time when I click on Shutdown. This happened again last night (and it was about 3 updates I think). When I booted up this morning Windows loaded normally, but after about 30 seconds I got the Blue Screen of Death and the computer restarted automatically. I then chose the option to boot into Safe Mode, thinking maybe a System Restore might be in order. Although plenty of hard drive space is allocated to System Restore, there were no Restore Points available further back than yesterday – how strange! So, rebooted again and started Windows normally to see if the limited Restore options were still in effect. Well, it booted normally and is running OK as far as I can tell, but still no earlier Restore Points available. While pondering this, my friend invited me to video chat on Live Messenger and, lo and behold, the buzz/crackle on his voice is now gone !! So, Windows Update [messes] up my system but fixes my audio problem on Messenger. What next, I ask you?

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I suspect Windows was pushing “critical” security updates to you. It’s generally better NOT to have the computer restart automagically after a BSOD, so you can sort things out, and possibly debug. Computer|Properties|Advanced System Settings|Startup and Recovery.

Zig

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Good point about auto-restart, but I get an option screen during the reboot “Windows did not shut down properly ….” and offers to start in Safe Mode or Start Windows Normally, etc.
Regarding “Critical” updates from Windows, I still don’t want them installed without my say-so. Wish I could enforce that!

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If you really want to leave yourself open to problems and want to completely disable windows updates you can do so in Services. type Services in the start box. But if you had done that you would still be suffering from your sound problem as you would have prevented MS from downloading fixes.

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OK, I grudginglly allow as how the “forced” update(s) fixed my problem, but that don’t mean I gotta like’em for it now, does it?! :o:

Back on 1999 we bought a Kodak DVC325 webcam on closeout somewhere. Having admired it previously (but not purchased one at the going price of $49.99) we snapped it up for $10. It featured a good quality lens and super high resolution of 800×600 (compared to the standard way back then of 360×240 or even 640×480). We could do video chat mostly at low res. or record our own good quality home video with it. Everything was fine for several years with Win 98, 98SE, ME (oops), 2000, and XP with SP1 through SP2. Then Microsoft insisted that we install SP3 or lose continuing support. As soon as SP3 was installed our cherished Kodak ceased working and no amount of searching ever turned up a driver that allowed it to function again. I tried it again last year when a friend brought me their old PC for repair. The old Kodak still worked perfectly and had better color than my current better-than-basic laptop webcam. Guess I never really forgave MSFT for that …….

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Sadly, I must report that after a day or two of normal operation/normal sound on Live Messenger the problem recurred. I finally got fed up and reinstalled Win7 with SP1. It’s a fresh install and all is well so far. I have disabled Windows Update under “Services”. Is there any other tweak required to prevent those “forced” updates that Windows hits you with just before you click on Shutdown?

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