External microphone does not work on T61

I just got my T61 back from repair today, and it seems that while they've fixed some of the classis problems, the microphone jack still doesn't seem to work with my external mic.

I have a stereo external mic that uses a 3.5mm microphone jack with 2 rings on the plug. It works fine on my friend's HP and is automatically detected when plugged into the HP Pavillion, but doesn't work at all on my THinkpad. I went into sound and looked at the properties to make sure it wasn't muted, and it still doesn't work. Any ideas?

 

Language People, Language!

Back on Topic: Have you tried a different mic with your T61? It could be that the mic and Laptop just don't like each other.... (Just a Thought)

 

Patrick hate me!

 

Surely you meant the red-colored microphone jack?

 

yeah my bad, i meant the red mic jack. OP edited

 

try checking the bios to see if its been disabled.

 

My guess is that you've got one of the small condenser mic that takes "plug-in power", like the ones that Sony used on their MD recorders. I don't know, but it's quite possible that the Thinkpads don't supply "plug-in power" on their mic jacks (if someone knows for sure, let us know). It's also something that could be different between Thinkpads and the HPs (and not an "error" in either case)

I'll do a test later tonight on my X200T (if someone doesn't answer definitively sooner), since I've got the pieces to isolate all the possibilities.

Warren.

 

Okay, I tried a Sony ECM-DS70P directly in the mic input of my X200T and didn't get essentially any usable input. I plugged it in through a small battery preamp that also supplies "plug-in power" and it recorded fine. Perhaps that's related to your issue.

Warren.