Very low microphone volume

I have just recently purchased a Acer Aspire 5551 running Windows 7, and I'm having trouble with the mic volume. The only way I can get any sort of reasonable volume when talking into it is by having the mic volume slider all the way full to the right, and have the mic boost on +20db. If I remove the boost, it becomes almost inaudible.

This is with Skype (and I also have the volume slider at maximum within Skype as well). I have tried the recorder software within Windows, and it gives the same result.

The problem is when using the mic boost, it gives a hollow or tin can sound so I would prefer not to use this if at all possible.

I have the Realtek HD drivers installed.

 

i've got a similar problem with an AASO-751H, running on windows 7 starter, fingers crossed that some one will be able to give us an answer.

regards
bob

 

flyboy320... been tinkering with stuff and decided to use the driver roll back option which resulted in the realtek HD audio driver being dumped for a previous installation from microsoft.

now this has sorted the issues i was having with the built in mic as it now records and registers on skype.... but at the moment i am not fully aware if this a worthwhile move in terms of what i have lost feature wise now that i am using a different driver.

regards
bob

 

I tried that as well Bob, but it didn't change anything for me. When I did this, I saw the mic boost was still at +20 with the old Microsoft driver and when I changed the boost back to 0db, the mic was still barely audible again, so I think it has the same result as the realtek driver.

 

So does the aspire 5551 have a built in mic cos i cant find mine!! It shows that i have one but I get no sound whatsoever and now with fiddling about I have lost it totally. Is there a way to reinstall it and if so how (i am old so go slow lol ty )

 

I have the same problem. I tried recording sound, and though there is no indicator that the mic is working, I can hear really, really low noise while playing it in VLC with the volume on red. Not working in MSN either.
Funny thing is, it stopped working after a Win7 update... tried uninstalling audio devices to no avail, and played around with the different settings in sound mixer, still not working. oh, and the microphone jack isn't working either, tried plugging one in but got the same result. Ergo, driver problem. Help!

Edit: forgot to say that it's an Aspire 5738ZG. My problem is partially solved. The drivers found on Acer's support are not the newest ones, so I installed the ones I got after I registered on the site (?). Tried to record sound and it worked. BUT, the sound is still very poor, and you have to sit close to the mic to be heard in i e Skype or MSN