Fixing the Audio in Windows 7:

I reported yesterday a bug in the release candidate of Windows 7 whereby the system suddenly began to have problems with audio output. On watching a flash video, playing a game, or listening to music, the sound would lag to the point of distortion, and after a second or two of this go on like normal for perhaps another dozen to thirty seconds before recurring. Given that it seemed to occur independently of any particular application, the logical conclusion was that it was a driver or codec problem. Why it started suddenly is a mystery.

Before I did much, I checked to make sure that it was independent of headphones vs. speakers, optical drive vs. hard drive, and unrelated to specific applications or rogue computer processes (via the task manager). It was, and so I set to find a solution. Fortunately, tucked away inside the Windows Update were a number of "optional" low level updates that actually included an IDT High Definition audio codec. A quick install and reboot and... no sound. Damn.

But it turned out that there was sound output to the headphone jack. I checked, and everything seemed to be working (audio with no lags or distortions), as long as I had the headphones in. No sound, however, for the on-board Altec speakers on my laptop. Undaunted, a simple investigation of the audio device setup inside the control panel revealed that for some damned reason, the codec installation had made the headphones become default for the system. One click on the speaker/headphone icon and "set default" and I'm sitting pretty. Problem solved.

I think this one is a score for Windows 7. Given that it's a release candidate, things like audio codecs and other little details like that are expected to be an ongoing process. A great thing about Windows has always been its ability to go out and do the hunting for things like codecs, driver updates, and the like. It's almost like having a system administrator to take care of all the little details for you, which is nice compared to some of the more time-intensive operating systems that require constant meddling to get them to work right with your hardware.

So, I still don't know why the issue started suddenly, but a fix is a fix. The jazz is playing loud and smooth as I type. Nevertheless, all is not candy and angel twats in the land of Windows 7. Stay tooned for a searing indictment of Internet Explorer, likely to become the first casualty of our little Windows experiment.