Bootcamp 3.1 Windows 7 sound driver trouble

[zzolppari]

Hey,
i installed Windows 7 recently on my 2009 15" Macbook pro and everything seems to work, expect i noticed an audio problem - crackling is present no matter what is the source of audio (a game, youtube, mp3) and rarely weird popping sounds as well. Googling this issue, i found that installing latest realtek drivers should fix this issue, but it didn't. I also read that Broadcom wireless driver somehow could also be culprit, but i don't know how to check if this is true. I'm kind of afraid to try anything else, because i don't want to break things (i have very little experience with mac computers).

Now i'm wondering what's next?
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/downloads/
should i update my bootcamp with 5.0.5033? Is it compatible with BootCamp 3.1 and OSX 10.5.8 (if you're wondering, i borrowed my friends Snow Leopard installation disk, and it let me install the drivers on windows).

 

[chrfr]

If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows 7, yes, those are the correct drivers and they'll work fine. If you're using 32-bit you need this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1630 which is version 4.0.4033.

Also, you really should update your Mac OS from 10.5.8. It is seriously out of date and hasn't received security updates in years. Your computer will even be compatible with 10.9 Mavericks when it ships, but you'll need 10.6.8 in order to install it so you should at least go that far. It's available from Apple for $19.99.

 

[zzolppari]

Hi, thank you for quick reply. I have been thinking about updating. Just one question: will i be able to update the OSX in Macintosh partition with Bootcamp partition staying intact?

 

[chrfr]

Hi, thank you for quick reply. I have been thinking about updating. Just one question: will i be able to update the OSX in Macintosh partition with Bootcamp partition staying intact?

Yes, Bootcamp won't be affected as long as you don't format the disk. Formatting the disk isn't required to upgrade.

 

[zzolppari]

Alright. So my first problem was that when i tried to open bootcamp 5.0.5033 setup.exe, it tells me that "BootCamp x64 is unsupported on this computer model", even though both Windows 7 and OSX should be 64-bit. I was able to still access the folders, and manually install every driver individually. I updated Broadcom drivers, Cirrus audio driver, and Ati audio driver, but the problem persists.

DPC Latency Checker tells me this: "This machine should be able to handle real-time streaming of audio and/or video data without drop-outs.

Some device drivers on this machine behave bad and will probably cause drop-outs in real-time audio and/or video streams. To isolate the misbehaving driver use Device Manager and disable/re-enable various devices, one at a time. Try network and W-LAN adapters, modems, internal sound devices, USB host controllers, etc."
http://i.imgur.com/rF3BQ0b.jpg
Those red bars indicate when cracking happens, sometimes it even cuts the audio for short time (less than second, but very annoying and makes listening to music or any audio very much unusable.) I can also hear crackling on my headphones when clicking around with my mouse, even though no audio is playing at all. Same with speakers as well.

The youtube video seems to be fine, so its only audio getting teared. After furious disabling session i might have found something: after disabling Display Device and nvidia control panel, the latency got better:
http://i.imgur.com/nfmIjaT.jpg
It still gives me couple clear cracks whenever i load new page, but scrolling up and down pages is fine. That red bar is the highest latency i managed to get by opening lots of tabs when display device was disabled. This is something i could deal with, as the sound problem is not as constant.
After enabling Display Device and nvidia stuff, the latency went up.
http://i.imgur.com/thxL2jl.jpg
I downloaded nvidia 314.22 drivers from their site, installed, and now the latency problem is slightly more bearable, but still precent:
http://i.imgur.com/jvgzSR4.jpg

TL;DR: Bootcamp Nvidia Display Drivers for GeForce 9600 GT might be the source for latency and interference noise (popping, crackling, cutting) on Windows 7, or something that is conflicting with these drivers (is this possible?). Disabling the device will not rid of the problem, but will make it less serious. After updating the drivers the problem is not as constant, but audio cuts and crackles everytime i open, or close any program (Opera, IE, paint, VLC). I disabled every Network, Bluetooth, USB and Audio driver from device manager, but the latency was still present. Any advice would be welcome.