Mic doesn't work on sound card

[rof3]

I had been using my onboard AC'97 sound but when I heard Battlefield 2 would have VoIP I bought a cheap 5.1 soundcard (Chaintech AV-512), so that I could have surround sound and still have room for a mic input. As I'm installing the demo that just came out (finally) I have discovered that the line in and mic jacks both don't seem to work. Does anyone have any ideas? If not I'm probably going to junk the thing and invest in a SB Live, but I would rather get this working if possible. Thanks.

Oh it's a CMI-8738 chipset.

PS I have made sure my mic isn't muted in sound settings and that sort of thing.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

First of all DO NOT buy an SBLive. They're junk.

The card you have should work fine. Are you aware that you have to enable the input channel and set it's volume? It's not in the normal section of the audio mixer.

Open the Windows audio mixer, Options menu -> Properties -> select Recording radio button-> Click OK. New mixer comes up called "Recording Mixer". Click the "Select" checkbox on the input channel you want to use (only one can be selected at a time). Set the volume for that input to at least 75% to start with. Now go test your recording app.

You can also monitor an input. In the regular playback mixer, un-mute the microphone (for instance) and raise the volume. You should hear yourself. NORMALLY, though, you want to leave the inputs muted in the playback mixer.

If it doesn't work then either you mic is bad, or the sound card's defective. There's really nothing else to it.

 

[rof3]

Thanks Penguin. I'd tried that already, and my conclusion is that my sound card is a piece of crap. You get what you pay for I guess, it cost about $11. Right now I've gone back to my onboard sound, which means I don't get the full effect of my 5.1 cans, but can use my mic...so it's an acceptable but hopefully temporary solution.

Can you or anyone recommend a 5.1 (or 7.1) sound card in the $30-40 range that I can rely on not to suck? Nothing with a C-Media chip, I have lost all faith in those guys. If it has a G9 mini-DIN output that is a big bonus because I can plug my headphones into it and bypass the amp that game with them. Thanks for any advice.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

I use nothing but C-Media based sound cards in all my rigs and they work fine for me. Sound just as good as an SBLive if not better. You just got a lemon.

No need to spend more than $20 on a good 5.1 c-media card.

Most modern cards (except Sound Blaster) are going to have either C-Media or AC97 audio chips. I like C-Media slightly better.

Here's an inexpensive Turtle Beach card - no idea what chipset: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118103#DetailSpecs