Where did/does the post from furgeson from,not by reading youre orig post,
microphone isnt even mentioned....Either way,open device mgr,expand the
sound tree,R.click the sound hardware,select uninstall,(do not restart pc),do
for all sound hardware,close out when thru,shutdown pc.If you have a sound
card
installed,move to other PCI slot,power up,start pc,xp will reinstall on
restart.If no
add-on card do the same,however in xp,you might try installing
drivers/software
from the mfg web site...If problems still exist,go to run,type

XDIAG Run
the
direct X tests for sound...