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| If your microphone doesn't work, the most likely cause is that the microphone is plugged into the wrong jack. On systems which use PC99 color-coding, the microphone jack is pink, and is usually marked with a microphone icon (see figure). Unplug the microphone and plug it into the correct jack. |
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| You need to enable the microphone as the audio recording source using the audio mixer before you can use it to record audio. Double-click the speaker icon in the system tray to open the Audio Mixer. Click Options, Properties, and click Recording. Make sure that microphone is displayed as a recording option (see figure). Click OK. |
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| To select the microphone as the recording source, check the Select checkbox under Microphone (see figure option A). Adjust the microphone volume to the halfway point. To prevent interference from other sources, slide the remaining volume controls to the minimum level (B). |
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| To test your microphone, click Start, All Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Sound Recorder. This launches the Windows Sound Recorder application (see figure). Click File, New to open a new recording file. Make sure the microphone is turned on, then click the red button (A) to start a new recording. Speak into the microphone for a few seconds, then click the stop button to stop recording (B). |
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| To play back audio, click the black play button (see figure arrow). The audio clip is played from the beginning. Listen to the volume and quality of audio. If you don't hear any audio, go to Step 7. |
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| If the audio is too loud, open the recording mixer (step 2) and reduce the volume of the microphone audio slightly (Step 3). Return to Sound Recorder and click File, New. When prompted to save the existing file, click No. Click the red button to restart recording, speak a few words, then click the Stop button to stop recording. |
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| If you don't hear any audio during playback and the green line does not change (see figure), your system received no sound from the microphone. Double-check its on/off switch and connection and try recording audio again. If the microphone fails to work again, it might be defective. Try another microphone. If a different microphone works, the original mic was defective. If other known-working microphones don't work, the sound card or integrated audio might be defective. |
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| To close Sound Recorder, click File, Exit. Click No to discard the last test recording. |
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| If you were unable to record any audio, even after changing microphones (step 7), reinstall your audio drivers. Use the most recent audio drivers available from the sound card vendor or motherboard maker (for integrated audio). Retry recording audio after reinstalling your drivers. If you are still unable to record, repair or replace your audio hardware. |
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