Mic doesn't work

[nevpugh308]

But of a puzzler this.

I know the microphone has worked on this PC before (WinXP with Soundblaster Audigy card) but when I try and get it working now, it refuses to work. I've tried 3 different mics, one of them brand new, but in sound recorder it doesn't record diddly squat (also doesn't work in TeamSpeak.

I've played with all the settings in control panel etc, run hardware checks, checked volume levels, everything seems okay.

I was starting to blame the sound card, but then I tried it on my 2nd machine (Win2k, onboard soundcard) and the mic's dont work on that either ?!?! Again, running through all the settings and wot not on the machine, all appears fine ....

Any thoughts, coz it's stumped me ?!?!

[jay-aim]

Have you looked in the master sound properties that it's not on mute
Do you know for sure the mic is working?
Are you plugging it in the right socket?

[agent006]

Have you tried swithhing the volume control from playback to record and unmuting?

[jay-aim]

1 more

Do you have an additional sound adjustment button on the machine itself (especially true for laptop as those override any settings you see on screen)

[nevpugh308]

jay-aim said:

Have you looked in the master sound properties that it's not on mute Do you know for sure the mic is working? Are you plugging it in the right socket?

It's not on mute, and the master input volume for the mic is on max.

Can't prove that the mic is working, but like I said, I've tried three, the last of which was bought from PCWorld specifically to try. So it's brand new.

Yes It's in the right socket (on the 2nd machine, there's only two sockets, one for speakers and one for the mic). With the new headset I bought, the sound comes through the earphones fine (just the mic wont work)

agent006 said:

Have you tried swithhing the volume control from playback to record and unmuting?

Yes, have tried that, and it's not muted, and the Mic volume is on maximum. Also the "select" box is ticked against Mic and not against the other two (MIDI and Wave/MP3)

jay-aim said:

Do you have an additional sound adjustment button on the machine itself

Not that I can see. The new headset does have a small controller 1/2 way up the cable, which has a mute button on it (obviously, set to unmuted) and a volume control (but that's for the speakers anyway, and it's on max)

Thanks for the thoughts so far ....

[nevpugh308]

The other thing that is a bit odd is that the MS Windows help says this :

"To test the connection:
1. Open Speech in Control Panel.
2. Select the Speech Recognition tab."

Well, when I open Speech in the CP, there IS no Speech Recognition tab ! Only "Text to Speech" tab ?!? (so I can't do any of the things that the MS help asks me to try, because all the help articles start with the above ....)

[jay-aim]

I have a speech recognition tab (XP Pro)

[jay-aim]

Try Sounds and Audio devices properties

should have a voice tab

you should then see your microphone settings and test your hardware

[nevpugh308]

I'm on XP Home (and there's no recog tab)

Been into Sounds / Voice / Test hardware (though that's not where the help sends me). I run the test, and I get to the bit where it says "Microphone test" and when I speak / yell at the mic, the meter does not move at all. When I then click on NEXT it comes up saying "The wizard could not complete the test because your voice was not detected. Make sure your microphone is properly connected to your computer (appears to be) and that it is turned on (yes)"

:shrug:

[jay-aim]

Humm

The bit that I don't get is it happens to both machines pointing to the mic first but if it's a brand new one!....

I have one from PC world: Plantronics something with the controls the same as you describe. Sounds (forgive the pun) silly but try it with it on mute in case it's been wired wrong or the label stuck on wrong and play with the sound wheel

[nevpugh308]

Beats me too !

I've got three mics :

1. Brand new headphone/mic set, stereo, with controls on cable
2. Old headphone/mic set, mono, no controls
3. Single simple mic, no controls

[Nevin]

nevpugh308 said:

Beats me too ! I've got three mics : 1. Brand new headphone/mic set, stereo, with controls on cable 2. Old headphone/mic set, mono, no controls 3. Single simple mic, no controls

Easy way to test. Plug the headphone plug into the mic socket and speak into the headphones for doing the test. If it picks this up then something is wrong with the mic part.

[nevpugh308]

Tried that, and it picked up nothing either ..... so it's not the mic itself then (it's the PC / settings / sound card / ....)

[FunkyNige]

Clutching at straws here...

Try Control Panel --> Regional and Language Options --> Languages Tab --> Details --> Language Bar --> Turn off advanced text services

or

Press Ctr+Alt+Del and stop the process called sapisvr.exe (it's speech recognition stuff, could be muting it for some reason)

or

Do you have a audio stuff on the motherboard plus a soundcard? If you do then there could be a conflict. As I don't want to explain it all to find you don't have sound on the mboard I'll let you reply before I say how to fix it!

As I said, I'm clutching at straws here.

[malman]

While you were checking everything under the sun 3 times, did you by chance check to see that the default recording device was set to your sound card and not something else like a modem wave device?

Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio devices then audio tab.

Its really frustrating when you know it should work but just won't

Have you got a tape deck or something else with mic in. Video camera? Mic audio dub on video recorder?

[nevpugh308]

Okay, so I hate computers alright ?!?!

I've checked all of the above yesterday, just wouldn't work.

Have just thought I'd have another go at it now, and guess what .... it works !!

But I've changed nothing .... nothing that is, with the exception of installing VB.NET last night ?!?!?

Bizarre .... stupid stupid stupid machine.

Thanks all for your help

[jay-aim]

May be running an application could cause the problem

Next time reboot but shutdown then start rather than restart