Unable to hear audio from Cisco IP Communicator

R

Ramone

Bit poster
Long time user, first post. I've searched the best I could but came up empty.

Using Parallels build 3188 on my macbook pro running Win2k. On the guest OS, I have Cisco IP Communicator 2.0.2.0.

The headset I use is a plantronics (non-usb) audio340. It's one of those that uses the headphone/mic jacks. The cisco ip communicator audio tuning wizard worked fine and I thought I was all set to go!

When I place a call, I can hear all of the application sounds - like number presses, dial tones, and various beeps. The user on the other end can hear me fine. However, I can't hear them at all. It's as if the headphones are dead.

Doing some troubleshooting, things like the windows sound recorder work 100% with the headset. If I don't use the headset at all and just use the mac's internal mic and speakers, I get the same problem of not being able to hear the other party. So, I can rule out the headset.

Reading the forums, I've tried several itterations of plugging in the headphones before/after parallels launch, altered sound settings on mac, altered settings on the guest OS, tried coherence/no coherence. Nothing.

The sounds and the headset work fine outside of ip communicator. And remember, my problem happens when using the builtin speakers/mic on the mac. To me, this seems like a networking issue where I'm not able to receive the audio upstream, but I'm at my witt's end on what to look for or what else to try.

The network settings of ip communicator on a dedicated PC of mine (which works) are the same as ip communicator on my guest OS. However, they are 2 different versions. And the working machine is running XP.

Does anyone out there use Cisco IP communicator on Parallels? And maybe could share their audio settings. Maybe a sound driver issue?

thanks for any info...
 
Maybe... Or perhaps you don't have enough RAM dedicated. Try upping your dedication to a GB (assuming you have at least two on your machine), this has fixed similar issues before.

What does your processor look like when you are trying to run it. Check this out via Apple's Activity Monitor and Windows' Task Manger.
 
funny you should mention memory...

I just so happen to have an extra GIG being delivered to me tomorrow. Right now I'm running 1 gig with 256meg allocated to Win2k (Get your laughs out... I know, I know - but truthfully 256mb was/is great for win2k and what I normally do)..

Anyway, the memory is a great suggestion and I look forward to my UPS shipment tomorrow.
 
I've added the memory and the problem persists. I was, however able to narrow down the issue a bit more.

Searching around on "the google", what I did learn was that I would get one-way audio: "If Cisco IP Communicator is behind a firewall, make sure that the firewall is configured to pass TFTP and RTP traffic using the appropriate port range." Which is 16384-32767.

My linksys wrt54g router is setup fine. My PC using the same IP communicator softphone operates correctly.
I stopped the mac os x firewall. The problem of one-way audio continued.
I'm using the same VPN software on both machines (not technically the same since they are on different platforms, but they are both Cisco's VPN client)

The only thing this leave me with (I think) is Parallels and the shared network option not passing or using the required protocols. But that kind-of sounds stupid. My guest OS is Win2k, and my PC uses XP - but I wouldn't think that would be the issue either.

Anyway, I'm not pressed for any answers - I can obviously just use my PC for my work's voip. But if anyone out there is using a softphone and had similar one-way audio issues and fixed it, what did you do???

Thanks for the input
 
I'm willing to bet I know what your problem is. Several of the recent versions of the Cisco VPN software have sported a bug that won't allow two-way audio. This has been fixed as of the most recient version (5.0.00.0340). Get the newest client and give it a shot.
 
I think you're right

I'll bet you're right.

It seems if I don't start the mac vpn, start parallels/win2k, and run the windows VPN, 2-way audio works great.

Using the mac VPN, starting parallels, and starting windows in shared networking mode - 2-way audio fails.

I happened to notice that there's a new(er) version of the VPN for the mac - I'm still using 4.9.00 (0050).

So, I suppose I'll try that version this weekend.

Thanks!

PS - I'm sure this is covered in the forums, but is there a way to use the mac vpn, start windows, and use the windows vpn at the same time.

Thanks again for the idea about the vpn version info.
 
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