My Microphone doesnt work anymore

[Guest]

Hello,

I am using Vista home premium. I have a problem with my microphone. The
microphone i am using is also the one i used to use on my old computer that
has Windows XP and it worked just fine. Now, i just bought a laptop (dell)
with Windows Vista home premium, and so i wanted to use my microphone to talk
to people. the first day i used it, it was working just fine. on set up
microphone in te control panel it was showing that my microphone was indeed
working. the next day i try to use it, it doesnt work. I went back into the
set up microphone page in my control panel, and when i spoke into it, it
showed that nothing i was saying was going into the computer. i then tried
troubleshooting it by going into change system sounds, and then i clicked on
the recording tab, then clicked on the microphone then properties. i made
sure that the device was set to enable, then i went to levels and it was
exactly the same levels i had it when it was working. so i decided to try my
microphone on my old computer to see if maybe it was the microphone. when i
tested it out on my old computer it worked perfectly fine. so i tried it
again on my new laptop and it still wont work. so it went form working on my
old computer> working one day on vista> then not working at all> then working
on old computer but still not on vista. i dont know if i should buy a new
microphone or try to see if this will work again. please help if anyone knows.

Thank you,
Trevor Storms

 

[Mac]

Are you sure you plugged it into the mic socket?

 

[Guest]

yes. i pluged it in to the mic socket.

Are you sure you plugged it into the mic socket?

 

[Guest]

Trevor,

I've seen instances where the contacts on the mic plug don't line up exactly
with the contacts in the sound card port. Try not seating the plug fully to
see whether you can find the "sweet" spot for the contacts. If you don't
find the right position for the plug on the first try, you also may need to
"fish around" by trying different positions to locate that "sweet" spot. I
had this problem once when using a headset for a cordless phone. Inserting
the headset plug just the right distance into the phone port enabled the
headset to function. Fully seated, it didn't work. Things happen. Just a
thought.

 

[Xenomorph]

tl;dr

 

[Mac]

Did you make any other changes to your system after the mic was working in
Vista? You could do a system restore back to when it was working?

 

[CJM]

I have a similar problem...I think.

I have Vista x64 Ultimate. My mobo has on board sound but it is disabled and
I'm using a X-Fi gamer card instead. Prior to that, I had the same issue
with my Audigy 4 card. When I first installed the card, the mic worked fine.
Then it stopped working; so after lots of fiddling, I tried re-installing
the drivers - suddenly it works again.

For a while. Then the cycle repeats - it stops working, I investigate, can't
find anything wrong, so I re-install the driver and it works again. Doesn't
make sense, but seems to be regular enough (every couple of months).

CJM