I have a standard dimension 8400 with integrated sound and had purchased a Logitech USB mike

at Best Buy a few months ago, it works great on both instant messaging and the sound recorder

on the PC.

Steve

Dim 8400

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@LoZo006 wrote:
I've been trying for two days to get my microphone to record at a level I can hear. AND YES DEAR DELL REPS, I have purchased a new mic. and tested it on a non-Dell PC . . . it works perfectly.

After almost an hour online with a less-than-helpfull person struggling with English, I was told to buy yet another mic, but this time from Dell!!! Then I discover that there are many long threads here that have been closed off by Dell but that discuss an ongoing problem here.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_audio&message.id=55447
http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_audio&message.id=21877

. . . and dozens of other Google hits.

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What is your system's model name and what soundcard do you have?

(Could you give the links to the threads that have been closed off?)



.

My system is a Dimension 4700 with the onboard SoundMAX Digital Audio instead of an actual sound card. I'm thinking about buying a SoundBlaster card to see if that would fix it.

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@LoZo006 wrote:
My system is a Dimension 4700 with the onboard SoundMAX Digital Audio instead of an actual sound card. I'm thinking about buying a SoundBlaster card to see if that would fix it.

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Try enabling "Microphone 20db boost" or "Microphone Boost":

Control Panel, Sound & Audio Devices, Volume tab. Click Advanced button. In Volume Control, click Options, Properties and check Recording. Put check marks to all the items listed -- one of them should be Microphone. When you click OK, Recording Control should open. See if you see Advanced button below Microphone. If you don't, click Options and then put a check to Advanced Control. Click Advanced Control and you should now see "Microphone 20db boost" or "Microphone Boost". Put a check mark and close.

If your mic vol is still too low, then your system is contaminated with the infamous "low mic vol" bug. And there is no guarantee the issue will disappear even if you get a new soundcard.


.

Has anyone tried a USB microphone? 

All comments thus far refer to the DELL supplied sound hardware.

Yes, one of the new microphones I bought and tried is a USB mic. . . . The problem is the same, although by doing everything advised above (microphone boost, volumen all up, etc.) AND nearly shouting, the voice is loud enough to hear, but the quality is horrible.

What is really frustrating is that it worked fine for almost one year, and then it just quit working. So it must be some registry problem, but Dell refuses to help. . . . Maybe a SoundBlaster card AND a Gateway computer might solve the problem.

Same problem here, and I am so tired of shouting. What's more though, when I use Yahoo mess and I plug the from mic, it mutes everything. So I cannot use my headphones that come with a mic.

Did everything, reinstalled drivers, enable the boost, changed the microphone, talked to Dell support, and so on, but I still have to yell each time I use it. I've lost the will to call tech support again, and I have multple problems (monitor, hard drive, sound) with this system (dimension 5150), so I guess it is going on ebay.

I just bought a Skype mike. It's got two connections. I plugged the green one into the microphone jack, but what do I do with the red one? I tried recording....nothing.