Makes Me Miss My Hackintosh

I'm supposed to have a voice chat with a new Japanese friend - my aunt tutors her in English but she studies French as her major in a university in Japan (I don't know which uni just as yet). So I got me a generic A4Tech headset, an HS-7P so says the packaging, for around $8. Not bad. I thought I could use the opportunity to brush up on my spoken French as well - it's weird that my confidence in speaking the language comes out only on DALF exams and I don't have the luxury of waiting for the exam periods nor the money to shell out for registration. 

I am saving for a real Mac. And who knows maybe this stint (of teaching a japonaise some French) could earn me some moolah to add to my funds?

And so I was pretty excited this morning but all that vanished in the instant Skype call test didn't return my cat-crooning vocal exercise because it turned out that my mic wasn't working.

Off I went to check Device Manager (Uh-huh, I'm doing this on my work PC, model employee, aren't I?) only to find this shoved at my face:

If it were, I shouldn't be gritting my teeth with infuriating frustration right now!

I've searched high and low for a driver that would make this ThinkCentre M55 8811-DAE's audio hardware work in Windows 7. It was working fine under Windows XP and now I've just learned from Lenovo's site that the latest driver they had was for Windows Vista.

Yes, I've already installed the Vista driver in compatibility mode for Win 7 but tough luck. Wouldn't budge - that's why I have "SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio" instead of the generic "High Definition Audio Device" from which I started this futile endeavor.

At least my HP Mini 311 running Snow Leopard doesn't complain and lets me use its internal mic for Skype calls. It work flawlessly with my Apple earbuds - the one with the integrated mic and volume control - all thanks to VoodooHDA.

So there you have OS  X which isn't designed to run on the HP Mini 311 but runs well despite of and on the other end, Windows 7 which was supposed to be the "go-to" for all PC's and doesn't give me a decent Skype call experience.

If I were to spend my time tinkering to get something to work, I'd rather do that and get a gorgeous GUI as a reward. It's exactly the case with my hackintoshed HP Mini 311.

Bummer.