Tech Support: Microphone stopped working

[2000AD]

The microphone on my headphones stopped working and I can't figure out why.
Checking control panel shows that apparently some duplicate of my headset has been made, where the speakers are working, but not the microphone:




The speakers on the head set are working just fine, but the microphone only gives static (Those two bars in the 2nd pic next to the mic never move).
Apparently it thinks I've disconnected the headset and added some new speakers, but I haven't changed a thing, my headset was never plugged into the front jacks, it's allways been the back for all the plugs except the USB plug.

Anyone know how to fix this?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Ah, Windows 7 and audio. If your preferred solution does not involve an axe, you could try unplugging the jacks in various combinations. It should then prompt you by asking you what you just plugged back in, one by one. I have had to do this several times to ensure my 5.1 speakers register correctly, Windows 7 frequently gets "confused".

[Archaic`]

I've been having a similar problem with my own headset. I plug it in, the speakers work fine, but the mic just stopped working totally. Was working fine, I unplugged it, plugged it back about 5 minutes later, and hasn't worked since. No duplicate items in the control panel though.

[2000AD]

Ah, Windows 7 and audio. If your preferred solution does not involve an axe, you could try unplugging the jacks in various combinations. It should then prompt you by asking you what you just plugged back in, one by one. I have had to do this several times to ensure my 5.1 speakers register correctly, Windows 7 frequently gets "confused".

Does that work for Vista?

[Vendetta]

Ah, Windows 7 and audio. If your preferred solution does not involve an axe, you could try unplugging the jacks in various combinations. It should then prompt you by asking you what you just plugged back in, one by one. I have had to do this several times to ensure my 5.1 speakers register correctly, Windows 7 frequently gets "confused".

Does that work for Vista?

Does if you've got a realtek (or possibly other) sound chip with jack sensing.

If you want to be double sure, unplug all sound inputs/outputs, open Device Manager and uninstall your soundcard driver, reboot, and then reconnect things.

[Dominus Atheos]

Apparently it thinks I've disconnected the headset and added some new speakers, but I haven't changed a thing, my headset was never plugged into the front jacks, it's allways been the back for all the plugs except the USB plug.

Er... what USB plug? Exactly what connectors does your headset have, what color are they, and what are the colors on the ports they are plugged into?

[Ryan Thunder]

Probably shitty drivers. See if you can reinstall them?

[Vendetta]

Actually, now I'm at home and can look at pictures, it looks like you're running default Microsoft drivers for your soundcard, try installing the manufacturer ones. If it's onboard that means Realtek 90% of the time.

[ArmorPierce]

Sorry don't know the solution to your problem but when I first got windows 7 64 bit upgrading from windows xp 32 bit my mic would not work at all. Then several months later I tried it again and it worked. Not sure why, I'm guessing something got automatically updated along the way that made it work. I recall looking for drivers at the time for windows 7 64 bit but there were none that I could find even for windows vista 64 bit.

[2000AD]

Well, tried unplugging and then re-plugging everything, but that didn't work.

Apparently it thinks I've disconnected the headset and added some new speakers, but I haven't changed a thing, my headset was never plugged into the front jacks, it's allways been the back for all the plugs except the USB plug.

Er... what USB plug? Exactly what connectors does your headset have, what color are they, and what are the colors on the ports they are plugged into?

Pink, Green, Black and Orange (all in corresponding rear sockets) with a USB plug too. Using a Razer Baracuda 5.1 surround sound head set.
I do have a pink and green socket on the front of my computer but the wires on the plugs aren't long enough to have 2 in at the back and 2 at the front.

Probably shitty drivers. See if you can reinstall them?

Actually, now I'm at home and can look at pictures, it looks like you're running default Microsoft drivers for your soundcard, try installing the manufacturer ones. If it's onboard that means Realtek 90% of the time.

Good point, I don't recall seeing them before. Not sure what sound card I have and now all it says is "High Defination Audio Device" in the device manager, is there any way to find out what I have?

EDIT: Also any reason why it would suddenly switch to those drivers?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Windows likes to guess what your sound provider is, and then automagically install drivers for something completely different.

I had to remove my X-Fi card because the drivers for Win7 64 produced audio which was more or less auditory shit. After re-enabling my onboard mobo sound, (some SoundMAX piece of shit, this time with no Win7 64 support at all), Windows pulled some random drivers out of its ass and decided that my sound was, in fact, digital, and only had a SPDIF jack. Needless to say this resulted in lots of not-working (the solution ultimately resulted in hacking Windows to cram unsigned XP 64 drivers down its throat, but I digress).

You may want to check if something similar is occurring. See what Windows thinks your mic and mic jack are. You also need to find out what your sound provider is so you can manually hunt down drivers. Is it a discrete sound card, or onboard audio? If the latter, you can generally look up your mobo's manufacturer and model to see what kind of sound it uses, and work from there. If it's a full card, then you should have documentation or other bits lying around to identify what model it is.

[Vendetta]

Good point, I don't recall seeing them before. Not sure what sound card I have and now all it says is "High Defination Audio Device" in the device manager, is there any way to find out what I have?

Depends, what's the PC? If it's a branded one then their website will tell you, if it's a home build then the mainboard manufacturer will tell you.

[Dargos]

Stupid question, but have you tested the microphone on a different machine? Perhaps the microphone cable is shorting out.

[Dominus Atheos]

Okay, take it from somebody who has actually worked in tech support and has taken something like 6240 support calls and resolved most of them.

There are very few things that could be causing this. It is either a hardware issue with the headset, a hardware issue with your computer, or a software issue such as bad drivers.

The quickest and easiest way to fix this issue would be if it were a software issue, in which case you should do what's called a "System Restore". System Restore restores system settings like your registry and drivers to an earlier date in time, but does not effect your documents or personal data. If your problem is caused by a driver or system issue, this will solve it. To start it, just go to your start menu, type in "system", click on system restore, then hit next, then select a restore point from when your microphone was working, then just keep hitting next until the restore starts. The computer will automatically reboot and when it comes back up, your microphone should work just fine.

To check if it is a hardware issue with the headset, you should do what Dargos recommended and try the headset out on another computer or try another microphone with this computer.

If neither of those work, then it may be that your sound card is bugging out and then you will have to either contact your computer's manufacturer to get that replaced if it's still within warranty or buy a new one yourself if it's not.

[2000AD]

Tried system restore but unfortunately I left the problem so long there wasn't an auto-save for before the problem started. Then tried connecting it up to a different PC and the mic still didn't work so taking that as mic broke and drivers kinda fecked, but hopefully not fecked enough to screw everything over given that sound output still works fine.
So I'm ordering up a new mic.

[Lief]

The quickest and easiest way to fix this issue would be if it were a software issue, in which case you should do what's called a "System Restore"
.

What should he do if this fixes it and it happens again? Restore back again? (I have read below he cannot restore anyway).

This is a typical tech support line to be honest, and it doesn't fix the route cause.

Now I still use XP for various reasons (one being if it aint broke dont fix it), and am quite happy with merely plugging my speakers / headphones / mic into the correct jack sockets. Is there any way to turn off this 'jack sensing' software in win7, if there is, I suggest doing so, as it sounds utterly useless, and by some accounts here, bugged.

It is highly unlikely to be a hardware issue with your soundcard, fairly unlikely to be a hardware issue with your mic (unless you yank on the wire alot if it's attached to your headset, dropped it etc), and about 70% certain it's either a driver issue or a win7 issue.

[Dominus Atheos]

The quickest and easiest way to fix this issue would be if it were a software issue, in which case you should do what's called a "System Restore"
.

What should he do if this fixes it and it happens again? Restore back again? (I have read below he cannot restore anyway).

This is a typical tech support line to be honest, and it doesn't fix the route cause.

What root cause? The only root cause a system restore wouldn't fix is a hardware issue. Most likely the drivers or some part of the operating system just randomly crapped itself, and restoring the drivers and OS back to before that happened would fix it. If it was a system setting, a system restore would fix it. If it was a bad driver update, a system restore would fix it. If you can think of a possible root cause that isn't a hardware issue and that system restore couldn't fix, I'd love to hear it.

Now I still use XP for various reasons (one being if it aint broke dont fix it), and am quite happy with merely plugging my speakers / headphones / mic into the correct jack sockets. Is there any way to turn off this 'jack sensing' software in win7, if there is, I suggest doing so, as it sounds utterly useless, and by some accounts here, bugged.

Jack sensing is something the realtek sound chip does, including in XP.

It is highly unlikely to be a hardware issue with your soundcard, fairly unlikely to be a hardware issue with your mic (unless you yank on the wire alot if it's attached to your headset, dropped it etc), and about 70% certain it's either a driver issue or a win7 issue.

If it doesn't work with two separate computers, that means it's a hardware issue with the microphone. Windows 7 can't have problems with microphones that will work on XP machines, it's a fucking hardware function.

[Lief]

Sure, it's not difficult, a system restore will return you to where your pc was last working, but maybe you need some software installed that wasn't there before the problem (and likely the problem), you'll restore, install the software you need, and get the same problem.

I personally don't use system restore at all, if I really fuck up my system that badly, I'd rather just nuke and restart (painless with partitions), as it is, I don't usually re-install more than once every couple of years, and that is mainly due to random shit I have put on slowing things down, or a new essential hardware upgrade.

Odd, I don't have that (jack sensing) on this system, but its a fairly old mobo so I am not surprised, if I did have it, I would turn it off if I was able, I just don't like things that are trying to solve a problem which doesnt exist.

Yes, I only read the part where he said about system restore, and didn't through to where he said he had tried it on a different system, but in most cases, hardware is the least likely thing to go unless you spill coke on it, yank the wires around etc.

Of course, hardware problems are usually easier (if more expensive) to fix though