Microphone jack and intermittent recognition of a new microphone

[Guest]

I have a relatively new laptop that has audio jacks for a microphone and for
a headset. The head set works without any problems. I have gotten a new
mike, and there are times when it works fine (for speech recognition, etc.),
and other times when the computer does not recognize that it is there. I
haven't changed anything in the control panel, other than setting up a
profile during one of the times when the computer was recognizing that there
was a mike!
I am pretty sure the problem is in the software, not the hardware, as the
mike is brand new, and seems to work fine when the OS gods are with me.
Any suggestions for things to try?

 

[Phillips]

Open Control panel/Sound... and check (or uncheck "Use only default
devices" setting.
Also, check the options for the particular program you have troubles w/ the
mic.
Being a laptop, might be that the workload's soliciting the RAM/CPU/HDD
(paging) to the max.
If the mic. does not work at all, update drivers in Device Manager or
uninstall and reinstall.
Michael