New 3201XCI Problem?

I have been getting sound problems on my machine. I installed klitecodecs so I could watch some divx video. The sound and picture were fine, except for speech sound! (you get music and sound effects, but you can't hear anyone talk) Initially I thought I was just missing some sort of audio codec which the klite package didn't provide, but I've noticed I get a similar sort of problem with speech during the playback on some mp3s (in winamp) as well as in some games. The cutscenes in Manhunt for example had the speech scrambled at times and missing.

Anyone have much experience with this? Is this because klite codecs have screwed my sound drivers? (I really can't remember if the sound was like this before I installed klitecodecs as it was one of the first things I installed on the laptop)
Or is my sound chip faulty? Is it a driver issue maybe? Do I need to return my Acer laptop!? Reformat my hdd!?

Most grateful for any assistance.

 

With the voices not being there, it could be the drivers that is causing it. If the driver set your system to 4 speakers, it may have reversed the channels and therefore you're listening to the back channels and not the front. Most voices in games are played through the front channels and ambient noise in the back. Check your speaker settings and make sure it's set for 2 speakers and not 4. You may also want to uninstall the klite codecs you installed as this may also be the problem. To play DivX, you just need a DivX codec and possibly an MP3, AC3 or WMA codec for audio. A good codec pack I have used is the Nimo Codec Pack. It contains everything you need and didn't cause any problems for me.

-Vb-

 

Thanks, well I have my Sound settings set to Laptop stereo speakers already. Maybe i'll try removing klite codecs (I'm sure people were telling me before that nimo codecs mess things up!). All windows sounds work as they should btw.

...sigh bloody laptops!

 

I've removed klite codecs, fiddled with the sound settings, config, etc.. but still get either no speech sound or muffled/jerky speech sound. Has noone come across this before? If not.. it must be something I've installed on the machine.. but I really haven't installed much! I just tried a DVD, and it's unwatchable! Can make hardly anything out of what people say.. then as soon as there's music it's quite loud and fairly clear.

Is my only option now to reformat/reinstall windows?

 

I don't have one of these units, but I did come up with some audio issue on my desktop after installing new Creative Labs sound drivers. When playing DVD's or video files (WMA in particular), the audio will all of a sudden pause and start skipping for a second and then back to normal. It'll do this every so often. I tried increasing the buffer and that helped a bit, but ultimately it turned out to be the audio drivers causing the problem. I installed an older version and that seemed to have helped even more. So for your case, you may want to try re-loading an older version of your audio drivers, maybe the version you have installed now is the cause.

Good Luck!

-Vb-

 

I've never altered my sound drivers but I might try and update them or try some different ones before I put this new hdd in and put windows on again.

I believe the 3201XCI uses realtek AC'97 sound chip. What do people recommend for this?

 

Try the drivers from the Acer Euro site and see if they help.

ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/TravelMate_3200/

-Vb-

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Venombite

 

I can't be certain that it's the latest (v4.12 on ATI site). Most manufacturers have drivers tweaked specifically for them to work with their hardware, so unless ATI mods the software for Acer for every release, they may be a few versions behind. You can try the ATI mod utility on www.DriverHeaven.net so that you can use the drivers from the ATI site on your Mobility GPU.

-Vb-