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Question

Google Hangouts Issues

Feb 27, 2016 6:43PM PST

Hey CNET,
Recently started having an issue with Google Hangouts on my system - its worked fine up until a few weeks ago, nothing has changed in my system recently.
Relevant specs:
Core i7 4790k
nVidia GTX 970 4GB
16GB DDR3
MSI Z97 PC Mate, using integrated audio jack with latest Realtek Audio drivers and also hardwired into my internet connection via CAT 5
I get 350mbps from my ISP so I highly doubt this is a bandwidth issue.

The problem I'm having is that in random times during the course of the hangout, my video will freeze and all of the audio on my computer will start "chirping" at regular intervals of about 2 seconds. I can still see the people on the other end of the hangout just fine - nothing changes with their video. The video remains frozen and the audio chirping until I completely close out of hangouts and any sound-making applications on the computer.

I've also experienced the audio chirping on a few rare occasions while running some video games (usually Star Wars The Old Republic) - the game keeps playing but the audio cuts out and chirps about every 2 seconds until I restart close out all sound-making applications on the computer.

I have this system dual-booted with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 - I've had the problem in Windows 8.1 on Chrome, Firefox and IE, and had the problem in Windows 10 using hangouts beta in Chrome and Firefox (haven't tried it in Edge).
I've updated my audio drivers to the latest, and still no change; my video drivers are updated as well. I'm at a loss as to what's going on here, but my job uses Google Hangouts a lot and its getting to be a pain to keep closing them out and reopening them.

I've checked the event log but there are no errors generated when this problem happens. I'm at a loss as to where to go next. Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Chirping to me is driver or machine issues.
Feb 28, 2016 7:58AM PST

Get back to the maker to have them detail the OS and post OS driver work.

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Custom Build
Feb 28, 2016 2:46PM PST

This is a custom build I made myself. Shouldn't be OS since its happening in both Windows 8 and 10 - the driver has been updated to latest. Should I completely roll back drivers and reinstall from scratch?

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Tell me how you know drivers are updated to latest.
Feb 28, 2016 2:55PM PST

Some folk use Windows Update Driver buttons and well, that's bad.

I forgot to note about the BIOS. When starting a new build, I update that early to avoid finding out there's some bug they fixed later.

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Manufacturer Website
Feb 28, 2016 3:01PM PST

I downloaded drivers from the MSI website, (date 2-4-16).
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver, Version 6.0.1.7708

BIOS is currently 4.7 (date 12-26-14) - kinda hesitant to do those, since this is my work machine. Also, all of the available BIOS updates don't list any bugs with audio (not that that's definitive).

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Then it may be hardware.
Feb 28, 2016 8:55PM PST