Weird Mic Issue

goobernoodles

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2005
1,820
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Recently dusted off a spare drive and installed XP in order to play some older games.

After a bunch of dicking around trying various drivers due to my mic seemingly not working, I realized that the mic sort of worked. However it didn't pick anything up unless it was a very loud sound. It's as if I have the auto-transmit volume set too low, however I have push to talk enabled. There is nothing wrong hardware wise as the setup works just fine in Windows 7.

I'm using onboard sound (Realtek HD Audio) on my MSI P35 Platinum. SPDIF out and the mic plugged in the back. Tried drivers from MSI's site as well as microsoft update and now Realtek's latest drives.

Anyone have any ideas?
 

C1

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2008
2,396
114
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There can be easily three sound control applications which overlap/interact. These include: Sounds and Audio Devices in Control Panel, Windows Volume Control, an audio control associated with the application you are using, an audio control panel that comes with your rig (eg, Realtek HD Audio Manager, etc.) You need to find them all and inspect the level settings. They may also need to be set in the correct order. Also, check in the mixer - MIC Section - for a "boost" option. It is a check box that you want checked to provide high gain to the MIC input. Otherwise you will need to use a preamp for your MIC input or one of the Radio Shack battery powered microphones.
 

goobernoodles

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2005
1,820
2
81
There can be easily three sound control applications which overlap/interact. These include: Sounds and Audio Devices in Control Panel, Windows Volume Control, an audio control associated with the application you are using, an audio control panel that comes with your rig (eg, Realtek HD Audio Manager, etc.) You need to find them all and inspect the level settings. They may also need to be set in the correct order. Also, check in the mixer - MIC Section - for a "boost" option. It is a check box that you want checked to provide high gain to the MIC input. Otherwise you will need to use a preamp for your MIC input or one of the Radio Shack battery powered microphones.
Thanks, but I'm aware. The input settings are at max in Ventrilo, Windows, and on the Realtek settings.

The thing is, it's not that I'm getting low output, it's that I get NO output unless I provide excessive input. It's like being in a car that doesn't go into gear until you're at redline. Friggin' weird.
 

C1

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2008
2,396
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You may have to use msconfig and inspect some of the ini/configuration files to see the sound level settings. For example, as I recall, the old SBs would set a line item like [N1, N2, N3, N4] where each parameter specified some performance attribute for the audio, one of which was the output level.
 

goobernoodles

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2005
1,820
2
81
You may have to use msconfig and inspect some of the ini/configuration files to see the sound level settings. For example, as I recall, the old SBs would set a line item like [N1, N2, N3, N4] where each parameter specified some performance attribute for the audio, one of which was the output level.
Interesting, I'll take a look when I get home.
 

Anneka

Senior member
Jan 28, 2011
394
1
0
You may have to use msconfig and inspect some of the ini/configuration files to see the sound level settings. For example, as I recall, the old SBs would set a line item like [N1, N2, N3, N4] where each parameter specified some performance attribute for the audio, one of which was the output level.

msconfig usually does the trick !
 

C1

Platinum Member
Feb 21, 2008
2,396
114
106
Yes, look in the WINDOWS folder (C Drive) and USING NOTEPAD inspect text instructions and parametric settings in such files as:

wavemix.ini
system.ini (sndsys.drv)

as well as wave and sound related files in
"System" and "System32" folders
 
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