Windows: I cannot connect or have poor quality audio/video

Support Center > Troubleshooting Audio/Video Issues

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Symptom

Updating your operating system is a good idea for security and performance reasons, but unfortunately can result in a disconnect between your operating system and everything you were using it for. This can result in:

  • Being unable to detect your video camera, or being unable to use it properly, resulting in pixelation.
  • Being unable to detect your microphone/speakers, or being unable to use them properly, resulting in poor sound quality.
  • Being unable to connect properly to your wireless router in order to have a SecureVideo session at all.

 

This is more likely if you are making large updates (e.g., from Windows 8 to 8.1), but if you have turned automatic updates on for your computer, a small update may throw things out of sync as well. 

Possible Causes

If you've successfully connected to a SecureVideo session before on your Windows computer, but suddenly can't, you may have some outdated drivers for hardware required to connect to a video session. 

Resolution

Microsoft has a FixIt solution for download on its website. Once installed, it can run a diagnosis for you and let you know which drivers you will need to update, enable, or reinstall.

 

Download it from their website here: 

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/hardware_device_problems

 

You can also check if there are updates waiting on your computer that may resolve your issue. 

 

Instructions for Windows 7

1. Click on the Windows icon in the lower left-hand corner of your screen, and search for Windows update. In the search results, click on Windows Update.

Screencap showing where to find the Windows search

 

 

 

2. Click on Check for updates.

Screencap showing where the Check update button is

 

 

3. Click on the link for optional updates to see the list of available updates.

Screencap showing updates link 

 

 

4. You will see a list of updates awaiting approval. Pay attention to any updates referring to your wireless card, your camera ("Realtek" often refers to built-in cameras and speakers on Windows computers), or video card. Once you have selected the most likely suspects, click on the OK button in the lower right-hand corner. (NOTE: the below screencap shows examples only--the updates list on your computer will be different!)

 

If you do not see any potentially related updates, you can also check the Important section by clicking on Important in the column on the left-hand side. 

Screencap showing the list of updates

 

 

5. Click Install updates to confirm.

Screencap showing the install updates button

 

 

6. Restart your computer, and test again.

 

 

Instructions for Windows 8

 

1. Click on the Windows icon in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.

Screencap showing where to find the Windows button

 

 

2. When it brings you to the main menu, click on the search icon in the upper right-hand corner (outlined in red).

Screencap showing upper right hand corner of the Windows 8 menue

 

 

3. In the search field, enter Windows update and click on Windows Update settings

Screencap showing search

 

 

4. Click on Check Now, and then View Details.

Screencap showing where the View Details link is

 

 

5. You will see a list of updates awaiting approval. Pay attention to any updates referring to your wireless card, your camera ("Realtek" often refers to built-in cameras and speakers on Windows computers), or video card. (NOTE: the below screencap shows examples only--the updates list on your computer will be different!)

 

Screencap showing possible updates

 

6. Once you have selected the most likely suspects, click on the Install button in the upper left-hand corner.

Screencap showing install button 

 

7. Restart your computer, and test again.

 

 

This article was last reviewed by our Support team on November 3, 2014.