Mircrosoft Lifecam VX-3000 Webcam

Dear Support,

Seasonal Greetings :-)

I bought a Mircrosoft Lifecam VX-3000 webcam approx a year ago and it has
been working prefectly fine with my Sony FX-503 laptop running Windows XP SP2
Home Edition.

One day, I was having a video chat with my family and the sound went during
mid conversation.

The video is working fine, however, the voice recording is muffled and a
noisy buzzy sound is received, even when I turn the microphone volume right
up.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling (not upgrade) the VX3000
software/driver (1.4) - still same issue.

I have tried different settings in 'Control Panel' -->'Sound,Speech, and
Audio Devices'-->'Sounds and Audio Devices' / 'Speech'.

I don't think this is a settings problem because it stopped during a
video/voice conversation, i.e no changes were being made.

I have a headset/mic, which I plug directly in to my laptop and sound is fine.

If I use the webcam & headset/mic connected together, the sound is received
but with interference.

I thought it might have been the far-end I'm connecting to but connected to
another family member and still same issue - so the problem is local to me.

I have Googled this issue and it appears this is a common issue but can not
find a fix.

Please help.

Thank you.