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Microphone names don't show (Win 8.1, firefox 42)

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by LoneTech

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Tried to use a browser-based voice chat program (Discord) and not only did it break audio in other programs, there is no way to select the microphone in Firefox. The list near the address bar shows three blank entries, none of which appear to work. Tried the same functionality on http://html5-examples.craic.com/microphone_input_with_spectrogram.html with similar failure.

Programs that had sound before trying to use sound in Firefox (TeamSpeak, Elite: Dangerous) have to be restarted to regain sound functionality after closing Firefox. Firefox plainly breaks the audio system in novel ways. Unfortunately, so does the Discord "app", but I expect through embedding a web view.


... Windows audio system appears to be a jumble of very broken functions. I have figured out that both Firefox and Discord cause the default sound output to break, but if I reselect the real output device in TeamSpeak that works. Uninstalling the Creative microphone & webcam drivers somehow fixed that, and the microphone has a name and showed twice in Firefox (with a blank line between). Just a few minutes later it was back to three blank lines, and it never actually worked.

Tried to use a browser-based voice chat program (Discord) and not only did it break audio in other programs, there is no way to select the microphone in Firefox. The list near the address bar shows three blank entries, none of which appear to work. Tried the same functionality on http://html5-examples.craic.com/microphone_input_with_spectrogram.html with similar failure. Programs that had sound before trying to use sound in Firefox (TeamSpeak, Elite: Dangerous) have to be restarted to regain sound functionality after closing Firefox. Firefox plainly breaks the audio system in novel ways. Unfortunately, so does the Discord "app", but I expect through embedding a web view. ... Windows audio system appears to be a jumble of very broken functions. I have figured out that both Firefox and Discord cause the default sound output to break, but if I reselect the real output device in TeamSpeak that works. Uninstalling the Creative microphone & webcam drivers somehow fixed that, and the microphone has a name and showed twice in Firefox (with a blank line between). Just a few minutes later it was back to three blank lines, and it never actually worked.
Attached screenshots

Modified by LoneTech

All Replies (3)

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Programs that had sound before trying to use sound in Firefox (TeamSpeak, Elite: Dangerous) have to be restarted to regain sound functionality after closing Firefox. Firefox plainly breaks the audio system in novel ways. Unfortunately, so does the Discord "app", but I expect through embedding a web view.

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... Windows audio system appears to be a jumble of very broken functions. I have figured out that both Firefox and Discord cause the default sound output to break, but if I reselect the real output device in TeamSpeak that works. Uninstalling the Creative microphone & webcam drivers somehow fixed that, and the microphone has a name and showed twice in Firefox (with a blank line between). Just a few minutes later it was back to three blank lines, and it never actually worked.

Modified by LoneTech

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So, by hiding the option to edit the question, this supply forum led me to post further details as answers. And I cannot remove those posts. So now I am guaranteed that noone will ever bother to look at the issue because it's already "answered". How is this forum better than a bugtracker again?