Windows 10: Windows Audio and sounding like a chipmunk/on helium!

Your AVG and Firefox are creating a lot of hard pagefaults. I've tried AVG multiple time and I had to remove it completely because I run into a lot of issues with it. Computer ran very slow and was stuttering like crazy.

I used to like Firefox, but I have recently had issues with that too. They changed something internally in it in the latest versions and the only reliable browser for me currently has been Chrome.

 

AVG was one antivirus flagged by Sonar (my recording studio program) as a potential to cause audio problems. I switched to Microsoft Defender (back when it was called Security Essentials) and haven't had any antivirus issues.

 

For what it's worth, I had the same problem of squeaky voice in Skype and eventually came up with a workaround after persistent tweaking: disable "Nvidia HD Audio" in Device Manager, reboot, and "Troubleshoot" the webcam device in Control Panel. It's not clear what "Troubleshoot" does, but it's necessary to get it working after disabling Nvidia audio and rebooting. The troubleshooter claims the USB device "may have been disconnected" even though it was not.

My default audio output uses on-board Realtek and the mic is Logitech. I know they're different devices and software mentioned in this thread but it sounds like a similar driver conflict and thought the info might help someone.

Every once in a while the "Nvidia HD Audio" becomes enabled again but I can't figure out why. Nvidia drivers are not set to auto-update, so it's probably something with Windows.

I'm checking with Nvidia to see if anybody else reported the same issue.

 

Thanks. I'd given up on this thread. The problem happens without starting Firefox which only left AVG and uninstalling that completely (full AVG removal malarkey) didn't fix it either. That had me assuming it was something else but to beyond caring to investigate. That sounds like a possible quick one to try so I'll give it a whirl. If it fixes it I'll report back.

 

Okay, good luck!

Also wanted to be clear that "Nvidia HD audio" is not something I use on this PC, and I do not run AVG or any 3rd-party AV or firewall software, just Windows Defender.

I might try uninstalling "Nvidia HD audio" and manually running the GeForce Experience "bare metal" driver update (or whatever they call it) to make sure the audio options are deselected.

 

If you perform a full uninstall of the nVidia driver set ( Display Driver Uninstaller Download ), when you re-install, the audio component is an optional install as are all the other additional bits (just un-check what you do not want

 

I disabled/re-enabled all the audio devices in device manager and re-booted. Troubleshooting didn't help but when I re-enabled them all... the problem seems to have vanished! Fingers crossed that it stays gone. *Wink

 

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up replacing my Logitech webcam with a cheap mic and the new recording (which effectively applied your workaround of toggling recording devices) and it works fine on Skype. If the problem rears its ugly head again I'll try the device toggling again, and might automate it, too.

 

I had this problem after the Anniversary Update with my Logitech 9000 webcam. I eventually found a workaround which worked every time. After some other Win 10 updates, I tested it again, and the problem was gone, so I removed the fix The problem came back today. If it happens again, I'll reinstall my workaround. The basic workaround was to toggle the default recording device from the webcam to stereo mix, and back again. Here are the notes I kept on automating this process at startup:

Automated workaround:

1. Download nircmd from nir software. This allows the default device to be changed from a command line.
2. Wrote a simple batch file (Called ToggleDefaultMic.bat) to toggle the devices –


Rem - Toggle Recording Device
nircmd.exe setdefaultsounddevice "Stereo Mix"
nircmd.exe setdefaultsounddevice "Microphone"

Both nircmd and the batch file are in the C directory



3. Put a shortcut to the batch file in the Windows Startup Folder –

C/Users/YourUserFileName/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Startup



The shortcut display is set to “Minimized”.