I guess if the onboard RealTek chip set is the only audio you use it
works. But even then, turning off the sound enhancements offers A
considerable improvement in stability. I happen to use two other audio
interfaces and have had problems with putting anything else in the
system whenever a RealTek chip set is present. Sometimes disabling it in
bios, installing another card, and then enabling the RealTek works. But
in general I've had problems with RealTek since day one regardless of
whatever else is going on. Even if they work I've noticed the difference
when having two systems I work on daily; one having RealTek and the
other having Intel. Speech is much more responsive on the system with
the Intel chip set. And that's only if the audio enhancements are turned
off, which by the way I thank Chris for outlining. I didn't have that
information be it that my RealTek is disabled in bios.
But I do agree that the Windows 7 audio sub system, which was supposed
to be a real focus of improvement, is definitely not as stable as in XP,
regardless of what you're trying to do with it.
I also believe that because manufacturers now ride a very slippery slope
when it comes to the original IBM PC standards, systems vary greatly in
how well they perform in many ways. And I think given the nature of a
screen-reader we are hit the hardest by all the little corners cut by
manufacturers in order to build a system they can sell for half the
price of another with the same specs. Spec sheets have become nothing
more than a marketing tool. It's everything between the lines that truly
make it or break it on a system. I've seen systems with identical spec
sheets benchmarked and the difference in performance and stability can
be phenomenal.
I believe this is why it's very difficult for GW to pin down problems
when 3 people complain about it and 23 people say it works great, or
someone blames Window-Eyes for a problem and they are not able to
duplicate it on any of their systems. And this doesn't even touch on the
sloppy nature of most programs, drivers, uninstallers, things loaded at
startup, etc. on our systems. I've seen huge overall improvement just by
disabling all the junk that's loaded at startup.
I do have system sounds turned off because it only makes sense to me to
do so given my understanding and experience with the audio system. I
used them off and on for years, but turned them off when I got a Windows
7 machine a while back. And I don't miss them. They're rarely telling me
anything anyway. I've only had one speech loss since getting this system
and I believe that was due to a script error.
I use a DecTalk USB external synth 90% of the time. But I do
occasionally switch to a software synth just for a change in audio
scenery so to speak, and I don't notice any better or worse performance
for the days or weeks that I run it before going back to the DecTalk.
Regards,
Tom
On 12/12/2011 3:35 PM, Rob Hudson wrote:
Never had problems with realtech sound cards until I upgraded to win7.
One of the main reasons I went back to xp. Bingo, no sound losses.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Kingston"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 2:25 PM
Subject: Re: loss of sound
For what it's worth, every system I've ever had with a RealTek sound
card has been problematic to say the least. They don't seem to like
any other cards or audio interfaces being used, and they have some
garbage sound enhancements turned on by default that wreak havoc with
everything. So first try to find that in device manager or control
panel and turn it off. Then, if you can, as I did with my latest
system that I couldn't get without RealTek onboard, do yourself a big
favor and disable it in bios; this will require sighted help, then
grab a PCI, PCIE, or USB sound card and life will be a lot easier.
Hth,
Tom
On 12/12/2011 3:07 PM, Alan Siman wrote:
This has been an on going issue and alot of emails lately trying to
isolate the problem. It seems that many of us have reltech sound cards
but it appears to be a win7 issue.
WE 7.5.2 has actually reduced my problem but it still occurs mainly in
tbird. Do you lose all sounds or just we?
On 12/12/2011 11:55 AM, Don H wrote:
Since installing the latest WE 7.5.2 I have been experiencing more
total loss of sound. Only way to get it back is to reboot and about
half the time the only way to reboot is to hold down the power button.
Running on a Win 7 64 bit machine with all updates including video and
sound card drivers.
Also with IE 8 I am needing to do a lot of screen redraws to get a web
page to complete its download.
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