Vista Microphone and Line-In Issues?

I've been using Microsoft Windows Vista for almost 6 months now, and recently transitioned my Media Center PC to Vista Ultimate.  Everything has been working phenomenally and I am really pleased with the operating system!  Security is vastly improved, sharing has taken it up to the next level, searching is much better, and it is much more visually appealing.  However I have been running into a few annoying issues as of late, and it seems other people are having the same issues, yet no resolution.  The main annoyance?  Why does my microphone not work?  I should re-state this, I mean the microphone itself works, and if I plug it into the microphone port and record, it works great.  However, I cannot hear the microphone audio through my speakers... and I also have no option of turning it on through the new audio control panel. 

As you can see below, the new design is great, and I love the ability to set audio levels for different applications!  What a concept!  However, I can’t set my microphone audio levels at all, nor can I un-mute its default state.

The new Volume Mixer in Vista

So I did some more poking around the control panel, and found out that my Microphone is definitely working, however, options have changed in Vista, and it seems I have no way of turning on my microphone to play through my speakers.

Sound Control Panel in Vista

Microphone Properties - Levels

Nothing to exciting in Levels either, all I can do is set it to 100, yet Vista still seems to want to not play anything through my speakers.

So why do I want to get things playing through my speakers from the microphone anyway?  Well, on top of Karaoke which is a blast with friends (singshot.com and ksolo.com), I'm trying to learn Guitar and have a few programs that I need to hook up with my Line-In.  However Line-In seems to have the same issue, no audio through speakers.

If anyone has a solution to this, please email me or post in our comments below!  I'll post the solution to this issue as soon as I find a way to do it!

Comments

[Peter]

Hi. I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 in March and the microphone worked great until this week. I know the mic is still working, but I can't hear myself and no one can hear me when I use it. I have tried all of the above solutions and nothing seems to work. When I went into Skype to try call someone, it said the mic was muted, but when I go into the Recording Devices option in the Sound menu, the microphone/line tab is set to 100. Is there a place to unmute a mic with Vista? What else could I do to make it work? Thank you.

[Peter]

Hi. I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 in March and the microphone worked great until this week. I know the mic is still working, but I can't hear myself and no one can hear me when I use it. I have tried all of the above solutions and nothing seems to work. When I went into Skype to try call someone, it said the mic was muted, but when I go into the Recording Devices option in the Sound menu, the microphone/line tab is set to 100. Is there a place to unmute a mic with Vista? What else could I do to make it work? Thank you.

[Shawn]

I have an HP dv6575us with Realtek High Definition Audio. I do not have an "EnableInputMonitor" key anywhere in the registry. Nor do I have any "SpeakerHp" key to which I could add it. I have installed the latest Realtek drivers and still no change. I think adding the "EnableInputMonitor" key is the right fix, but I just can't find where I should add it on my system. Any help?

[Jason Kelson]

Reconfiguration Popups? I can't seem to get to this to see if this is the problem can someone please show me how to access this?

[Howard]

I have the same problem as Jason Kelson... I work with a Sony Vaio notebook with built-in Sigmatel HD card. My problem is not the monitoring (in fact, this works fine - however, I'm not really interested in in hearing my own voice on the headset I'm talking to...yet, this is the only thing dat the Sigmatel DOES manage), but the fact that windows does not seem to record any data from the analog in. If I raise both the mic level (up to '100') and the input boost (up to '30 dB'), the system records an awful noise in which my voice is distinctly recognisable, but not by far the crisp sound I used to have. (And yes, the headset works fine with my other XP machine, and yes, Sigmatel did a nice job when my Sony still ran XP, and no I do not have the EnableInputMonitor key and no, I do not have the Reconfiguration PopUps checkbox...).

[michael]

lol thanks to the guy who gave the sigmatel tip.. kudos to you..

and to those of you who missed it...
if ur using sigmatel.. just go to control panel.. and then to to hardware & sound > sigmatel audio... and just select allow reconfiguration pop ups... its done.. omfg... all the trouble for that

[JustAnotherYUILover]

Hello everyone. I'm having a very frustrating problem with my microphone(s). My microphones are mic in microphones. I know that both of them work because I use them on my laptop(running in XP SP2). I mainly need to fix this problem because I am trying to record my singing on my new desktop(I also plan on getting a mic pre-amp but this doesn't look good at all). When I plug in my mic(any one of my 2 mics) the device is recognized and it says that I plugged in a new device. I am using Realtek HD audio for Vista 32/64 bits by the way. When I press the record button my mic doesn't pick up much noise. If I shout in the mic or start to hit it on the tip it captures a small noise. There is something I've been noticing. Whenever I press record on any program, my mic levels properties under recording devices, gets moved to 22 no matter where it's at(whether it is lower than 22 or higher than 22). So let's say I'm recording with my mic levels all pushed up to 100. When I check back the mic's recording level is back at 22. If I don't press record and leave it there and just click apply or ok, it remains at 100. I'm thinking that it's a problem with the Realtek audio manager itself because Vista is still buggy. I know that SigmaTel has been doing this to Vista users too from other forums I've checked. I'm wondering if there is an alternative 64 bit audio manager that works well with Vista without these problems. I really need my microphone to work. One of the main reasons I bought this new laptop is for singing and recording. If there is no alternative program, I will take solutions and fixes as well. Please help me! I feel so depressed without my mic's functions.

[Del]

Thank you very much Gopiein! The sigmatel driver really sucks!

[Quinto]

Have a line-in Volume problem with Vista 64. I run Vista 32 or 64 on the same hardware setup(drive, graphics cards etc). I use an external Video capture card with USB and line-in connectors. The same setup works well on Vista 32 but in Vista 64, I cannot record with sound. I have tried increasing line-in volume but no joy. Mine is Realtek. Have also completely failed to install AC97 under Vista 64 due to unsigned driver from Realtek. I have line-in High definition Audio and Digital HD Audio as the choices for recording devices.

Any Help?

[Prasanna Kumar]

Thanks Nate, ur suggestion of right clicking on empty area and show disabled devices, worked. I was stuck on this problem for a month, not able to use the mic.

[lallulal]

I have recently installed Vista Ultimate dual boot with XP Pro. I have an internal TV Tuner My sound card is Realtek High Definition. I am unable to get a sound in Vista while but in Vista there is no sound but when I boot my system with Windows XP it works fine. I have downloaded latest drivers won’t help.

Can some body help me to configure “Line-In” in Payable mode?

[lallulal]

I have got it this time.
1. Download Latest drivers form the Manufacturer’s web site
2. Uninstall Microsoft Default Sound card drives.
3. Then install the downloaded drivers
4. Restart your computer
5. After installing the latest driver
6. Right click on volume icon in system tray
7. Select "Sounds".
8. Select "Playback" tab.
9. Double Click on "Speakers".
10. Select "Levels".
11. Click the "Input Monitor" button to un-mute it.
12. Adjust volume on input device and on speakers.

[Duff]

Hi! I have a problem with my microphone on vista ultimate, I instaled vista and my microphone is not working, I have soundmax driver... with xp mce i had the same problem, but i found how to fix it, just had to activate mycrophone boost or something like that from soundmax control panel, like a button near the mtcrophone volume ( http://coding.webmaster.free.fr/micropb/soundmax6.JPG ), but on vista that button is not any more. I've tried everything i read in the other post, but nothing works for me... If you have any idea pls post it... I've been searching all the day to fix it...

[David]

Hi! Like so many others I have a new Dell Dimension E520 with SigmaTel sound card installed. On my old XP system I had XM Satellite run through the Line-In and speakers with no problems at all. I hooked up to the new computer and no sound at all. The Speakers are working fine and Recording Line In says system is working properly, the line in level meter even bounces when the XM device is on. The speakers work…I can listen to XM on-line just fine, but I’m determined to resolve this issue. I’ve tried all of the solutions above with no results. The one thing that I was not able to do was to “reconfigure popups” through Control Panel/SigmaTel. I’m not able to get to the SigmaTel software, and get the following error “SigmaTel Audio driver is inaccessible. Please make sure it is installed and enabled”. But again, when I’m at Control Panel/Sound/ Line In device, it says that SigmaTell High Definition Audio CODEC is working and the level meter is bouncing…but no sound via Line In HELP!

[Allan]

It seems that each case is specific, however every one of these was a good shot and every one raised my hope and dashed them quickly. Keep trying and this should get solved before the next o/s comes out. Btw, I didn't get my problem solved.

[jamie marshall]

hi,
i have the same prob
but...
wen i go onto recording it freezes!!!
please tell me

[Aby]

i bought a chateau micand i have vista too and wen i go on msn i can hear myself wen i talk in the mic but the other person can't! i think i will install xp pro. BUN vista bullshit! does any1 think my mic will work if i install pro!

[Ryan]

So, I have read all of the comments here and nothing seems to be working.
I installed vista 4 weeks ago, and didn't install my motherboard drivers only my creative drivers. Well, chatting was fine in ventrilo and teamspeak until tonight. My speakers are fine, vista says my mic is working, but no one can hear me.
All of the junk about enabling the input monitor, I did that but yet it fails to show up still. I have no idea what to do. According to vista everything is working fine, but obviously not. Any advice as to what to do?

[CHarvi]

Hey Arif thanks a lot I am very grateful to you vista and microphone are really great trouble .I was in desperate need of microphone and you helped me thanks a lot.
Charvi

[Valmom]

Hello, I wonder if anyone could help with this problem. I just bought a new Sony laptop with Vista Home Premium.

The problem is that my microphone is not working with MSN Messenger. I can hear my voice through the speakers with I talk into the mic, but when using Messenger, they can not hear me on another side. It also won't recognize it in the messenger configuration. It recognizes the speakers and camera, but when I click on the mic tab, it shows there there are "none" instead of showing the name of the mic.
If anyone had the same problem and fixed it, please let me know. I am really frustrated:(
Thank you in advance.

[nat]

THANK YOU to ARIF. Guys, if you had turned off a pop up because it came up every time you stuck the mic in, that IS the problem. I knew, tracing it back, that I had to reenable that pop up, but could NOT for the life of me figure it out. So, to reiterate if your mic ain't working suddenly when it was: CONTROL PANEL -- SIGMATEL -- ENABLE POP UP

ARIF thanks to you, man!

[Paul]

The Registry tweak mentioned by Mikey and Jaecen works and my Dell E521 now has line-in sound!

Paul

[perlovka67]

Thanks Manlaju for your post August 08, 2007 at 09:14 AM.
That worked for my Inspiron 1720 with Vista Home Premium and SigmaTel. One thing though is strange:
You cannot change the level of the monitoring. Seems like it goes through a different speaker. No level control affects that.

[Shahram]

Hi every body
I have a HP 6560ee laptop and a sme problem.I read all of your suggestion but i cannot hear my microphone from laprop speaker.
I cannot found Speakerhp or speakermonitor in my regedit.

please help me because i neet it.