XP SP3 & Realtek HD: Can't adjust settings

[David Teich]

I had the SP3/HD problem solved by the insane workaround. Sound began
working. Now, however, a few people have complained my microphone is not loud
enough. I went into control panel:sound and ran the mic test. It was low. I
clicked on Volume, which popped up the Recording Control window. The problem
is that the sliders don't work. The Mute check boxes all do but none of the
sliders work, so I can't increase mic gain.

How do I fix that?

 

[Alan Biddle]

David,

I have the same problem. As part of the process of elimination, I did
a full remove of the HD drivers, then reinstalled the most recent.
That did NOT fix the problem, and the sliders are frozen exactly as
before. In my case, the sliders are stuck nearly at max, so I have
the reverse problem.

 

[David Teich]

It sounds the same. Mine seem to be around 3/4 to max and I wanted to set the
mic input to max.

David

 

[Richard]

I had the SP3/HD problem solved by the insane workaround. Sound began
working. Now, however, a few people have complained my microphone is not
loud enough. I went into control panel:sound and ran the mic test.
It was low. I clicked on Volume, which popped up the Recording
Control window. The problem is that the sliders don't work.
The Mute check boxes all do but none of the sliders work,
so I can't increase mic gain.

How do I fix that?

Hi David,

"Mute" box? Playback has mute, Recording has a "Select" box.

Here is what worked for me:

Double-click speaker icon near clock for Volume Control.
In Volume Control, click Options, click Properties, click Playback,
UN-check Microphone, click OK

Click Options again, click Properties, click Recording,
checkmark Microphone, click OK
Under Microphone, checkmark/click SELECT, press shift-Tab, and there should
be a dotted rectangle around Volume slider. (It took 7 or 8 up-arrow key
taps on mine to move slider 1 pixel.)

Click Options, click Advanced Controls, click Advanced button,
checkmark Microphone Boost, or whatever is not grayed out.

Note: My slider works with or without a microphone plugged in.

HTH (Hope This Helps
--Richard

 

[David Teich]

Which OS are you using? Are you SP3? If so, something's different, since
that's not how my sound box works. I don't select Playback or Recording, but
select input/output from a ddlb, which then automatically changed the radio
button to recording or playback.

Meanwhile, there's no "mic" option in playback, and that wouldn't make sense
if there was. As for Recording, that's the image that's frozen and won't
move. You just told me how to see the problem I reported, not fix it.

Thanks for trying, though. Hopefully there are more suggestions on the way.

David

 

[Richard]

Which OS are you using? Are you SP3? If so, something's different, since
that's not how my sound box works. I don't select Playback or Recording,
but select input/output from a ddlb, which then automatically changed
the radio button to recording or playback.

Hi again David,

I'm using Windows XP SP3 Professional Edition.
What Edition is your XP? (Home, Pro, MMC, TabletPC, x64?)
Is the mic problem with a laptop, rather than a desktop computer?

Back in July, in your "XP3, HD Audio & KB888111XPSP2" message, you
mentioned you still had:

1) An Unknown SM Bus Controller in Other Devices
2) an Unknown Device in Sound, video and game controllers

Were those issues completely resolved? By the way, that KB888111 hotfix is
supposedly included in SP3, so if you have a good SP3 install you should not
have needed that. (I kept getting script errors on the hotfix request page,
so I didn't even get to the email with a link that doesn't work part.

List of fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480/

Back to your mic volume problem. Besides the gray Windows speaker volume
control icon in your system tray, do you also have a "Realtek HD Audio
Manager" icon? If not, check Control Panel to see if you have "Realtek HD
Sound Effect Manager" there. If I understand the situation correctly, it is
apparently "normal" for the input mic volume to be grayed out, because it is
preset in the hardware to the loudest that does NOT produce feedback on
computers with built in microphones. (So their support techs don't have to
hear so many feedback complaints, or something.

The mute option should still work in the Input section though. The
microphone control under Playback is independent of the microphone control
under Recording. If you can access the Realtek manager, click the Audio I/O
tab, and verify that it sees the microphone connection. Click the Mixer tab,
in the Input section, unmute Mic Volume. Now the strange part. In the OUTPUT
(or Playback?) section look for a right pointing V arrow (..< >) and click
several times to scroll the "Mic Volume" into view. That should not be
grayed out. Adjust that up. Also, click the (2 dots) to activate Microphone
Boost. (If you hear a lot of hiss and white noise when recording, you may
find it helpful to mute non-active inputs.)

If still no joy, see if you have a Microphone Calibration program:
C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\Drivers\WDM\MicCal.exe

You might find some useful information in DirectX diagnostic, by clicking
Start, click Run, type or paste next line and press Enter:
dxdiag

For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your sound card,
click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/65416/

Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60781/

Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/60782/

Here are some links to grayed out mic volume stuff w/screen shots:

How to boost the mic volume on your Realtek audio codec
http://torley.com/how-to-boost-the-mic-volume-on-your-realtek-audio-codec

realtek HD mic volume control hidden in output menu
http://www.scottlarsonconsulting.com/realtek-hd-mic-volume-control-hidden-output-menu

Well, that's all I was able to cobble together. Hope this helps.

(Be happy, be Very Happy!
--Richard


- - -

Which OS are you using? Are you SP3? If so, something's different, since
that's not how my sound box works. I don't select Playback or Recording,
but select input/output from a ddlb, which then automatically changed
the radio button to recording or playback.

Meanwhile, there's no "mic" option in playback, and that wouldn't make
sense if there was. As for Recording, that's the image that's frozen
and won't move. You just told me how to see the problem I reported, not
fix it.

Thanks for trying, though. Hopefully there are more suggestions on the
way.

David

- - -

 

[hunts99]

Hi David I dont know if you have resolved your problem with the greyed out
buttons on your recording control, but I had the same problem with my
Realtek. I had the same with greyed out buttons and mute check boxes, I
downloaded new drivers for Realtek and installed Audio Driver Version
5.10.0.5836 and that gave me control over the sliders and select buttons
instead of mute ones.