Fixing Sound Stuttering or Crackling in VirtualBox 7 on Windows 11

If you're running VirtualBox v7 on Windows, you might have noticed a sound issue where the audio stutters or crackles. This can be frustrating, especially if you're trying to play music or watch a video. Fortunately, there's a simple solution to this problem.

The issue seems to be related to the audio settings in VirtualBox. By default, VirtualBox uses the "Intel HD Audio" controller, which can cause the sound to stutter or crackle. To fix this, you can switch to a different audio controller.

Here's how to do it:

•     Shut down your virtual machine if it's running.
•     In the VirtualBox Manager, select the virtual machine you want to change the audio settings for, and click "Settings".
•     In the settings window, select the "Audio" tab.
•     Under "Audio Controller", select "Windows DirectSound".
•     Click "OK" to save the changes.
•     Start your virtual machine and check if the sound issue is resolved.

That's it! With this simple fix, you should be able to enjoy your virtual machine's audio without any stuttering or crackling.

Internet Browser showing half the text on page

After an upgrade of the browser (Chrome, Vivaldi browser, etc ...) you might have this issue happening 

Pages are loaded and only part of the text will appear, and randomly, the same page would not load the same way each time, you might be thinking the issue is related to a corrupted font, but the real cause is actually the 'hardware accelerator' option that is activated by default. 

see https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/626981/web-browsers-missing-characters

and https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/2308245/text-half-missing?hl=en

This is the way to resolve the issue:

HDMI / VGA converter toasting HDMI port

I purchased a MALE HDMI / FEMALE VGA converter from APM ref. 590104

Plugged it to my Dell Laptop - and to a DELL 1907FP VGA/DVI display - it worked!

I opened the Window display control panel - setup the monitor as extended 2 - resolution was set as well. I could work for a little bit.

But then after 10-15mn of usage, I saw the monitor starting to flicker a bit, then it was just black
I unplugged everything, tried again ... nothing

Now from the Windows sound panel - I could see that it was detected (as DELL 1907FP)
from the display control panel - the monitor was there, but could never be detected (error message in red - monitor not detected)

Now since I have another HDMI monitor (native) I unplugged my converter.
Plugged the other Monitor (Thomson Union TV) and same thing - the monitor did not detect the laptop - and kept asking for a source ...
Windows sound panel - detected the Union TV as output

And that is where I started to think, that the HDMI port of my Dell Laptop might have died

UNetbootin

Tired of burning cd or dvd for a Linux live CD ?!
Have a look at UnetBootin - this little tool will install your Linux iso file on any USB key (assuming you have enough free space and you're ready to format it) - you will save a cd and it will be faster and less noisy ... what you've got to lose ?!

Work for Windows and Linux  : UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads

Installing mint-x "Julia" on an USB stick

I'm currently using Linux Mint Helena 8 on my laptop ; and since Linux Mint Julia 10 RC is now available , the idea grew to install Julia on a spare 4GB usb stick I had in my drawer.... Here's how it went :

• Downloaded the Linux Mint 10 32bit iso torrent file at 10h30
• Burned the cd 
• booted on the CD - this distros is absolutely gorgeous - so I tried various applications and finally decided it worth a shot.
• selected install from the Live CD
• selected destination as the /dev/sdb 3.8GB filesystem showed by the installer 
• around 70% I noticed an update grub event happened
• the installation was completed at 11h09

I rebooted - then press F10 and selected in the laptop bios a restart from USB Hard drive and ... 

I was very disappointed to have a black screen while the fan were blowing like crazy, I waited 5Mn ... it was no help.

Then I ejected the usb stick, planning to reboot on my old  Linux Mint Helena 8, but then something worse happened, there was a grub rescue error - also in text mode, requesting a missing filesystem.

I re-insterted the usb stick and reboot - and there it was a grub loader offering to boot either from 2.6.35 Julia on the /dev/sdb or to boot from Helena 2.6.31 on /dev/sda ... and it worked just fine.

The USB stick isn't flagged as bootable, and the grub loader was modified on the existing Linux Mint Helena - and I can't help but to wonder why ?! 

But nevertheless Linux Mint 10 "Julia" is absolutely gorgeous, the "brushed steel" is perfect, all the icons are like little gems (especially the firefox icon) - the overall experience is absolutely outstanding, I'm currently running it from my 4GB USB key - and still have about 1.1GB of free space available ...

Basic Apple Troubleshooting

Maybe I never mentioned it but I've been working for Apple Care some years ago and I'm still trying to help people who own a Mac from times to times.

The kind of issue like :

• my iMac won't boot
• I can't login into my session
• I forgot my login password - how can I reset my password
• How can I reinstall Mac OS X without losing my data ?

Sometime troubleshooting a Mac gets tricky and just won't work after a series of quick fixes, but to my experience fixing the mac starts by asking a few important questions - because there's nothing worse than a wrong diagnostic when it comes to repair - so ask yourself these little questions :
- Just before the problem happened was anything changed on the hardware level (new devices, new Ram installed ?)
- Just before the problem happened was anything changed on the software level (system updates, new application installed ?)

Now here's a compilation of useful links from the Apple kbase concerning iMac :

Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
iMac G5: My computer stops responding during startup
iMac G5: Troubleshooting when your computer won't turn on
iMac G5: Troubleshooting when there's no picture on the display


And don't forget before calling Apple Care they will ask you the mac serial number so get it ready - you will save precious time during that call, also prepare the original install cd/dvd and the AHT (Apple Hardware Test) cd.

Good luck