Post Clean OS Install Audio Distortion

Following a clean reinstall of XP Pro-SP3 on my Acer One D250 netbook, the sound became severely distorted. Even the Windows system sounds stutter and lag; it is almost impossible to hear anything without a headset even with the volume at max; and my softphone which worked perfectly before the reinstall now produces random flashes of static for both myself and the party I called. At first I thought I had incorrectly installed the sound driver (Realtek HD Audio v5.10.0.5928_A dated 8/31/2009) so I reformatted and reinstalled the OS again and then systematically installed the drivers in the correct order. All are updated now and everything else works just fine….except the audio. And by the way, What worries me is that my post-reinstall OS-audio-distortion problem appears to be common although solutions are not. So my question is can you offer me a fix? Laurie

try installing this driver from the acer site.(seems same, so not confident it'll make any difference, but it's a slightly later date than the one you've installed, so you never know)

windows xp pro 32bit :- 5.10.0.5928 :- 59.5MB :- 15/9/2009 :- direct download link :- http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Dr…&SC=EMEA_27

if no joy with that one then i'd try older/newer drivers direct from realtech, and hope at least one of them solves your problem. :- http://www.realtek.com/downloads/

Thanks Terry…but no cigar. I tried both driver installs and not only does the audio distortion remain. I tested them out on a video (flv) and it appears that the choppiness in the sound is also in the video. Any other ideas? Laurie

see if this link helps narrow down the problem,
it might just be some setting in sounds and audio devices needs adjusting.

http://www.pcauthorities.com/windows-xp/ho…-in-windows-xp/

i'd probably try a different media player like vlc too just to see if the problem remains. :- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Thanks Terry…but no cigar. I tried both driver installs and not only does the audio distortion remain. I tested them out on a video (flv) and it appears that the choppiness in the sound is also in the video. Any other ideas?

Laurie

Do you mean that video display on your monitor screen is also problematic with lag/stutter/distortion of the images?

What brand/model is your "softphone"?

My first suspicion would be a botched installation of that software and driver package.
Any chance that your sound did work well up to the point your installed the "softphone" ?

Can you uninstall the "softphone" and test sound performance before reinstalling it?

When you completely reinstalled your OS, did you also install the Chipset Drivers from the manufacturer's website?

have you tried driversweeper?

Sorry for the delay. I just got off an overnight flight…but the problem remains. The answers to your questions/suggestions are: * I tried vlc media player and got same results. * Yes, I installed all the drivers from the Acer websight in the recommended order and then updated them via my DriverMax Pro subscription. There are no yellow or red warnings of any kind in Device Manager. * The main softphone I use is Magic Jack but I also have X-Lite 4 installed. As far as I know neither installation was botched…but just to test, I uninstalled both then tried to view a flv video on a website using the latest version of Adobe Flash Player 10 and got the same problem. Although I can't imagine how my sound hardware could "break" in an OS reinstall, I'm wondering if it's the sound card. And if so, is there anyway to test it? I'll try just about everything. By the way, my warranty on the netbook expired just a couple of weeks before this problem emerged. Just sayin'……. Laurie

have you tried driver sweeper though? have you tried a linux live distro as well?

Sorry but I'm not familiar with driver sweeper and have no experience with anything linux. Where do I begin?

here;s the link to driver sweeper:
http://phyxion.net/Driver-Sweeper/Driver-S…/Version-3-1-0/

Please note:must be ran in safe mode.

here's how to do it!

1)install driver sweeper if needed.

2)uninstall your sound card drivers in safe mode.

3)reboot your pc

4)reboot again in safe mode and run driver sweeper to completely clean the old drivers

5)follow the prompts (if given)

6)reboot the pc into normal mode

7)now try to install the sound drivers, I recommend using the latest.

Ok…I attempted to follow your steps but I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly. After uninstalling the sound device from Device Manager and then rebooting, the driver automatically reinstalls itself…so I'm hesitant to run driver sweep. Is there another way to uninstall Realtek HD Audio permanently?

Another question: You said to uninstall the sound card DRIVERS…plural. Is there more than one?

sometimes there's more the one for audio control, or headsets or stuff like that. those instructions I've posted are also general. Now, driversweeper should be fine to use with the soundcard. you may need to, if it keps popping up again is disabling it through task manager and then trying to do the steps presented above. but do that as a last resort.

LAFitz, You apparently have access to the installation file for your Realtek HD Audio v5.10.0.5928_A dated 8/31/2009 and/or for the one suggested by Terry1966. Therefore you can uninstall it completely via Control Panel Add/Remove, then use "sweeper" suggested by remixedcat, and then reinstall. Though "safe" to do, I am not particularly keene on recommending this course of action. I'm more inclined to recommend you to review and be sure you've covered every trouble-shooting step as recommended by Terry1966. Best Regards

Unless the sound is supposed to get worse before it gets better by running driver sweep, I'm sorry to say that it did not work. You know the five tones Windows plays when it boots up? Well those normally take no more than 2 seconds now take 10 to play on my machine. So it's not just the video sounds but the system sounds that are distorted. As for the troubleshooting steps recommended by Terry…I've done all of that and still no improvement. I'll ask again: Is there any way to test the sound card hardware? Should I look into replacing it? In spite of your suggestions which are much appreciated, it seem like I'm going to have to learn to live without sound or video on this machine. Gracias, Laurie