Why won't my microphone work?

[swee'pea99]

I've tried all the obvious stuff: 

Sounds & Audio Devices > Voice > Microphone (selected ticked)

...and all variants thereof - ie, it's not muted, it is selected, the volume is up. 

I've made sure 'Intel Integrated Audio' is selected wherever it can be, having confirmed by taking the back off that the pink audio socket connects direct to the motherboard.

I've tried it with 'line in' rather than microphone selected (well, you never know).

Nothing makes any difference. Every time I run the 'test hardware wizard', I get the same answer: 'Couldn't complete the test because your voice was not detected.' 

Oh, and I've tested the mike by plugging it into a portable recorder - it's fine.

Anyone have any ideas? 

 

[beanzontoast]

Is it possible your sound card has two lots of settings - one in Windows, the other controlled by the soundcard's own drivers?

I have had this issue on my pc. I can try to record from the microphone, ticking everything in the Windows sound settings (show Advanced controls, unmute microphone, boost input level etc), but nothing happens until I use the soundcard's own proprietary programme to turn the recording level from the microphone up.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks for getting back to me beanz. I don't actually have a sound card. Like I say, the jack plugs go direct into a wee box on the motherboard. And it's obviously set up right to at least some degree because I get sound *out* - the audio's fine. It just can't seem to get any audio *in*. Baffled, me...

 

[ian turner]

You do have a soundcard. It just happens to be a chip on the motherboard rather than on a separate card.
What OS is it ?
Make sure you have the right settings for the speakers. If it's currently set for 5.1 then the microphone input will be used as an output instead

 

[beanzontoast]

You do have a soundcard. It just happens to be a chip on the motherboard rather than on a separate card.
What OS is it ?
Make sure you have the right settings for the speakers. If it's currently set for 5.1 then the microphone input will be used as an output instead

Sorrry, I should have elaborated in my first post; my mb is the same setup - 'onboard sound' rather than a soundcard as such - so it is worth looking into.

 

[swee'pea99]

You do have a soundcard. It just happens to be a chip on the motherboard rather than on a separate card.
What OS is it ?
Make sure you have the right settings for the speakers. If it's currently set for 5.1 then the microphone input will be used as an output instead

Hi guys

It's over my head, so it all sounds promising! Easy bit first - it's XP. Now, as to these settings for the speakers....where might I find these? 


Thanks. 

 

[swee'pea99]

Found 'em. *sigh* Nope, it's not set for 5.1, it's set for desktop pc speakers. Damn! Square one, fancy seeing you again...

 

[beanzontoast]

In my case - also XP - there's an extra icon besides the normal Xp volume one in the taskbar bottom right and clicking on it brings up the onboard sound options which include a setting for the volume of recording in general. Anything like that on yours?

 

[swee'pea99]

In my case - also XP - there's an extra icon besides the normal Xp volume one in the taskbar bottom right and clicking on it brings up the onboard sound options which include a setting for the volume of recording in general. Anything like that on yours?

D'you mean this one?

If so, the answer seems to be no (unless I'm missing something).

 

[beanzontoast]

http://i54.tinypic.com/e9xgnp.jpg[/img]


If so, the answer seems to be no (unless I'm missing something).

Yes - that's where mine's located. Just a thought - did your motherboard come with a driver disk? Could be that Xp has installed and is using its drivers alone. In my case, I used the driver diskafter installing Xp mainly in order to beef up my available graphics resolution options - but it also installed the bespoke drivers for my onboard sound which I use. Be careful though if you start messing with your drivers!

 

[swee'pea99]

Ah - interesting. Because I had to replace the HD after it died on me, and did a clean install from the Dell XP CD. I do have some drivers CDs as well...I think I might do a little 'update driver' checking - it'll probably tell me the driver I have is the best already, but it's certainly worth checking out. Many thanks.

 

[beanzontoast]

Quite similar to my experience - my base unit came with a manufacturer's restore disk but also the motherboard driver disk that contained video, audio, network etc drivers which in my case anyway were more specific than the Xp-based drivers on the first disk.

Back up before you try anything and make sure you know how to 'roll back' to the previous driver if you do give it a go.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks again beanz. Well, tried that. Installed the drivers, which means I now have something called SoundMax Digital audio as my audio default. But it's made no difference. Still can't detect the mike. I googled my way to a support/troubleshooting bit of Dell's site, which recommended a series of steps, ending with uninstalling all the audio stuff then rebooting, reinstalling drivers when prompted. Sounded worth a shot, so I followed the instructions, but have run into a problem:

It says click to remove, but I can't find any remove option on any available menu. Right-clicking brings up the options illustrated, none being 'remove'. So once agai I'm a bit stymied. Any ideas?

 

[beanzontoast]

Honestly don't know beyond this - maybe specifically a SoundMax / Dell thing? Is there a forum on the Dell site where this has been flagged up or where you could see if anyone else has encountered this?

It does look as though the software - Xp or the bespoke - isn't detecting the mic at all, let alone not setting a recording level for it. As you've ruled out the mic itself, it points strongly to the sound drivers and the Mic socket itself not being enabled. Is there an option in SoundMax Digital to specify/enable the current recording source (i.e. to tell it where to record from)? Is it currently set to something else?

 

[ian turner]

click properties then select remove or uninstall drivers