Mics in Vista are borked

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 on a Lenovo T500 Thinkpad. I'm experiencing an issue with my microphone input, which is barely detected by Windows or other programs when testing. If I try to apply boost to it, it goes completely nuts with static. Testing in Steam, I practically get static no matter what settings I apply. To sum up: The volume is horribly low, and there's nothing that seems to improve it.

I've tried playing with the Sound Recorder settings to no avail, as well as plugging in three different microphones with the same result: Low, but occasionally decipherable, volume. This suggests that the problem is OS- or hardware-related, and from what I've read on the internets, Vista seems to be the culprit.

I have no other computer to test the problem on, and people in threads all over the internet can't seem to find a solution to the problem, which, naturally makes for an inconvenient future using Vista. And playing Left 4 Dead.

 

Are you using sigmatel drivers? Try opening it up via control panel under sound. If it's a Dell, you might be using the onboard microphone (which sucks to be honest) vs. the line-in one.

Here's some pictures for you. Make sure you find Sigmatel under Hardware and Sound and then make sure to select mic on the line-in thing

 

I'm not using those drivers, no. The drivers are Conexant, whatever that is.

Additionally, there are only two ports: Headphone and microphone. No line-in.

 

Er sorry, microphone and line-in are the same, what laptop are you using?

Show me your sound profile (right click the icon) and click recording devices

 

A Lenovo T500 Thinkpad.

Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221 - Working. Microphone volume@100; Boost @0.0, as it only causes static.

 

An update on the problem Vista has detecting the microphones: By uninstalling the Conexant audio driver, the microphones connected are suddenly detected.

The output of the microphones are, however, still very low the point of being inaudible - for instance to Windows itself, stating that some of the voice excerpts are too low to be detected. But at least one of the two issues seems somewhat resolved - or at least elucidated. Still need your help, though.

 

Depends on the laptop, on my old Medion they are separated.

Now about the mic.

On my Vaio SZ it runs fine.
I think its either your hardware (unlikely with external ones) or your drivers.

Try different drivers - also - there is a volume slider for the microphone, isn't there? - not some sort of boost - try that...

(My OS is German - that doesn't help with names....)

 

Why dont u get an external USB soundcard?

it ll eliminate all such problems.

even i had such problems with Conexant with certain drivers

 

I'm using an external USB sound card as a matter of fact. Not that it has a mic port, though.

Turning the volume and boost levels up doesn't help.

 

If you have an external Soundcard - it may use its own software to control the mic...

But an external soundcard without a mic/line-in??

Try on the laptops mic port - using the level and maybe boost too (very slightly though)

Else - I have used the mic "plug" on an X-Fi go on Vista Business (SZ71VN7X) - it works perfectly...

I doubt you want to buy equipment though, and it may even not work as good for you as it does for me...

 

are you 32 or 64 bit?

I had problems with my mic not working last night. When boost was at 0.0db, it picked up nothing. When boost went to 12db or higher (you can't pick between 0 and 12), it would cause a feedback loop.

I solved it by uninstalling the conexant drivers from "control panel > programs and features > uninstall > conexant drivers". Then I restarted. Then I used these conexant drivers.

The drivers are not specific to Gateway, so don't worry about that. However, these are the 64-bit drivers. Just extract the file, go into the folder, and run "Setup64". It should come up with a window signifying that you will upgrade you drivers, then after a bit it should say success. Reboot again and you're golden. My mic works perfectly now.

Here is the 32 bit version of the drivers.

 

The (x64) driver doesn't seem to work; Device Manager won't use it to install, and Setup prompts "Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the MEDIA driver for this driver".

Sorry about the late response. The subscription notification doesn't seem to be working.

 

Ah, well that means that we have different devices. Sorry I can't be more help.

 

I stumbled upon this troubleshooting article on Lenovo's site. Can anyone translate it to idiot, so I can understand it - by the wording of it, it sounds like Lenovo demanding that I stick solely to using external microphones with their own power supply, but that seems too ridiculous to be true.

 

I think its saying that some mic plugs have a little metal ring to supply 5V.
Otherwise condesor mirophones (whatever type of mic they are) need their own power supply.

Not sure if that's your problem though, but it may.