My voice is distorted on Zoom and the like

[pmuwood]

This is a longstanding issue that I have not been able to solve.  On things like Zoom, my voice is 'slow.'  If I go to test my mic and say "hello hello" in about two seconds, when I play it back, it will stretch to about five seconds and sound much deeper, as if I reduced the playback speed on a video.  Listening to music/vidoes/whatever is fine, which leads me to believe there is a problem with the internal microphone or in the recording process.  I am not especially tech-savvy though, and have struggled trying to find appropriate help articles because I do not really know how to phrase the search.  I have tried updating the relevant drivers (to the best of my knowledge) and have run the Windows troubleshooter, to no avail.  If I restart the laptop, there is a chance that things will work fine, but it always breaks again eventually.

[banhien]

@pmuwood 

Please do a clean install Audio software/driver, this should help.

   (a) Download the following driver and save on your computer,
                   https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp107501-108000/sp107674.exe

   (b) Go to Device Manager, Sound to uninstall sound driver (Realtek) and reboot,
   (c) Right click downloaded file and select Run as administrator,
   (d) Reboot again.

Regards.

[pmuwood]

Before I permanently mess something up, if I open device manager > sound, video and game controllers, I see Conexant ISST Audio and Intel(R) Display Audio.  Are you referring to the latter?  Thanks.

[pmuwood]

I uninstalled the driver I mentioned, rebooted, and when I ran the one you linked, it says "The driver is not supported on this OS version (10.0.18362)."  I apologize if I gave incorrect information in the post, but as I mentioned earlier, this is all Greek to me and I'm not at all familiar with anything like this.

[banhien]

@pmuwood 

Now I need to know what EXACTLY is your HP Envy x360 m6 Convertible ? Please use the following way to find out the model/product of your machine

                 https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00033108

Please do NOT post its Serial number (s/n).

Regards.

[pmuwood]

Model:  m6-aq105dx

P/N:       W2K44UA#ABA

Is that what you need?  Thank you.

[banhien]

@pmuwood 

That's better. It actually uses Conextant software, NOT Realtek as shown:

          https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-envy-m6-aq100-x360-convertible-pc/12499188/model...

There is no newer Audio driver on the above link. Please try

           https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp106001-106500/sp106154.exe

Regards.

[pmuwood]

Something odd happened when I tried things again.  I downloaded the bottom link, and then went to device manager and uninstalled Conexant ISST Audio.  After a short time of uninstalling, I was prompted to restart the computer to finish the uninstallation, which I accepted.  Upon reboot, I went and checked device manager again, and the driver was still there.  I ran the one I downloaded as administrator anyway, and after going through the wizard, was given the error "Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the device for this driver."  However, I also got a system notification that said "Your PC needs to be restarted to finish setting up this device:  Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) Audio Controller."  I accepted that as well.  Upon second reboot, I went into Zoom to test my mic and it is working, although it was also working this morning, before I did any of this.

One other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that, if I go to test my mic while the problem is occurring, the mic level barely moves at all.  It will remain empty, and occasionally spiking to the bare minimum.  When things are working properly, the levels fluctuate as they should.  Maybe this can help identify the source of the issue, if it returns.  As I said, it is working for the moment, but it also sometimes works upon reboot anyway, although not indefinitely.