can't get Skype to work in Xubuntu
 

I checked the echo/sound test. Worked. The video test. Worked. A friend called. I could see and hear her perfectly. She could hear me perfectly but couldn't see me. I noticed the video icon with the red line thru it so I clicked that. My friend could now see and hear me perfectly, and I could hear her, but there was now a purple flashing screen over her face. Eventually the purple flashing went to a solid purple and then the entire computer froze solid and I had to power it off.

The only other clue is to get the sound to work on my end I had to go into the pulseaudio volume control and in the input devices next to quickcam Communicate MP/S5500AnalgoMono click on the green check mark (that when I hover the cursor over it it says "set as fallback").

I assume you have tested that your webcam works when you are not using Skype.

I don't have a solution (Skype works for me with Mint; I use it with the kids), but I have a testing idea. Try starting Skype from the command line; it might output some useful error messages to the terminal. If it does, post the error messages here and we'll try to help you interpret them.

Tested the camera and mic at http://www.onlinemictest.com/webcam-test. Camera worked fine but mic didn't. So I went thru their dropdown menu and found the thing that made the mic work (quickcam Communicate MP/S5500AnalgoMono). But when I went back to Skype and tested things, the camera worked but the mic did not. Only after I clicked on that check mark I mentioned in the first post did it work.

Opened Skype from the terminal and no error messages.

There's one potential variable. I am using a different computer than the one that did the purple flashing. (The computers are identical, however, and both run Xubuntu. Tomorrow I will try running Skype from the command line on the other computer and report back.)

Thanks!

Hey Frank. Ran through the exact same process with the other computer and got the exact same response. I'm attaching a couple of screenshots from the PulseAudio Volume control. In 168 the red arrow points to the button I have to click to get the mic to work. Thanks. And I'm using Skype 4.3 for Linux.

I'm sorry, I don't have enough experience with Skype to help, but I hope someone who does comes across this thread. I think the supplementary information you posted will be helpful.

Thanks Frank. Appreciate the help.