Headset mic problem

[DamienHell]

You guys are smart, I just bought a sennheiser PC 350 headset, so I plug it into my laptop, now the headphones work but the microphone doesn't work at all, I've gone to the "Set up a microphone" but the mic doesn't pick up the things I'm suppose to read, I've gone to sound and screwed around there.
Obvious solution:
YES I've turned it on, there is a switch on the cable, it is in the ON position.
YES the volume is turned up I've tried it at both extremes.
YES its plugged into the right ports, the mic pictures match up and everything.
YES I have microphone/line in set as default device and communication device.
NO it did not come with a disc any ANY documentation.
YES I've googled the problem and I see its a windows 7 problem but none of those threads have been helpful.


It works on my desktop which is vista, but not on my laptop which is Windows 7 despite doing EXACTLY what I did on my vista. Can someone suggest some suggestions.

 

[Godavari]

Use Vista?

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

The only thing I can think of is double-checking the drivers for the soundcard/motherboard, and running as many possible windows updates as possible. If none of those resolves the problem, I do recommend restarting the machines as operating systems do have occasional driver issues during the boot process that only manifest in weird ways.

For lack of anything else to say, and if that doesn't work, I do recommend contacting support personnel at Windows 7 and Sennheiser to see if there are any known errors on either of their ends.

Hopefully that's helped.

 

[Timotei]

Use Vista?

How about you just go ask him to beat his head against a brick wall until the bricks begin to crack instead?

 

[DamienHell]

ugh the deal with tech support path? Seriously? There's no techy stuff I didn't know about?

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Your laptop is haunted. Spray it with holy water and tape a bible to it. Serious face.

Sounds like it could be hardware<->driver issue in the lappy itself. Are you using integrated sound on your desktop or is it a separate sound card? I ask because I hate realtek and have had many, many issues with their crappy audio before and afaik almost all laptops use their hardware.

 

[DamienHell]

There shouldn't be a driver for that. That's ridiculous. If there's a hardware problem, it's the soundcard. First, check the stupidest thing that could have happened: Is the cable broken anywhere along its length?

Next, can you test it on another computer to make sure the problem isn't with the mic itself?

I already said it works with my vista.

If you don't, assuming it works, what else is listed in "Recording Devices"? Any of them disabled?

All that's listed is: Microphone/Line In, Microphone Array (which is my built in mic (absolute crap)), and Rec. Playback
Mic/Line is enabled and set to default, the array is disabled, and rec playback is "currently unavailable."

Go into each one's properties and set the levels (volume) to max and the dB boost to +20 and test each device. For each device, plug your mic cable successively into each port, even if you're sure they're wrong, you never know...

No results from this.

Sounds like it could be hardware<->driver issue in the lappy itself. Are you using integrated sound on your desktop or is it a separate sound card? I ask because I hate realtek and have had many, many issues with their crappy audio before and afaik almost all laptops use their hardware.

From my DxDiag my desktop has: Speakers(Realtek High Defnition Audio) and Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
My laptop has Speakers/Headphones (IDT High Definition Audio)

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

Your laptop is haunted. Spray it with holy water and tape a bible to it. Serious face.

Sounds like it could be hardware<->driver issue in the lappy itself. Are you using integrated sound on your desktop or is it a separate sound card? I ask because I hate realtek and have had many, many issues with their crappy audio before and afaik almost all laptops use their hardware.

Word.

I'd google realtek + chipset of yours + mic (or whatever is appropriate), as I have nearly pulled my face of only to learn that the chipset was a faulty design to start with.

 

[DamienHell]

Where do I check what chipset I have?

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Your laptop is haunted. Spray it with holy water and tape a bible to it. Serious face.

Sounds like it could be hardware<->driver issue in the lappy itself. Are you using integrated sound on your desktop or is it a separate sound card? I ask because I hate realtek and have had many, many issues with their crappy audio before and afaik almost all laptops use their hardware.

Word.

I'd google realtek + chipset of yours + mic (or whatever is appropriate), as I have nearly pulled my face of only to learn that the chipset was a faulty design to start with.

Nope, nope...IDT is another hardware manufacturer. I'm looking around and not seeing any good info, though. I have no idea where you even get drivers for these things, this off of their own website:

"If you experience issues with the audio configuration in Windows 7, please contact the original manufacturer (OEM) of your PC or notebook. IDT currently does not provide end-use support or drivers for PC Audio products."

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

Your laptop is haunted. Spray it with holy water and tape a bible to it. Serious face.

Sounds like it could be hardware<->driver issue in the lappy itself. Are you using integrated sound on your desktop or is it a separate sound card? I ask because I hate realtek and have had many, many issues with their crappy audio before and afaik almost all laptops use their hardware.

Word.

I'd google realtek + chipset of yours + mic (or whatever is appropriate), as I have nearly pulled my face of only to learn that the chipset was a faulty design to start with.

Nope, nope...IDT is another hardware manufacturer. I'm looking around and not seeing any good info, though. I have no idea where you even get drivers for these things, this off of their own website:

"If you experience issues with the audio configuration in Windows 7, please contact the original manufacturer (OEM) of your PC or notebook. IDT currently does not provide end-use support or drivers for PC Audio products."

Du'H! Should have read those lines slower.....never heard of IDT.

 

[ctrl-alt-postal]

Where do I check what chipset I have?

Check your manual, if you got one with the laptop. If not, get a nifty little program called CPUZ, it'll give you all kindsa funky info on your machine.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

[DamienHell]

Where do I check what chipset I have?

Check your manual, if you got one with the laptop. If not, get a nifty little program called CPUZ, it'll give you all kindsa funky info on your machine.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

I'll check that site out, but I'm going to bed now.

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

Where do I check what chipset I have?

Check your manual, if you got one with the laptop. If not, get a nifty little program called CPUZ, it'll give you all kindsa funky info on your machine.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

I'd never heard of these soundcard makers before I actively googled them. The fact that they don't offer driver support makes me more than a tad irked.

Damien, I'm not sure what to tell you...based on what you've done there's no reason why your mic shouldn't work. I lurked some forums listing issues with mics in win7 and not a one of the threads I looked at had a solution that was similar to your situation. Angry phone calls to the lappy provider may be in order, unfortunately.

 

[lissn]

Windows 7 mutes all sound inputs by default, I thought I'd bring that up since I didn't see it anywhere in this thread. Sorry if you meant this by "volume is turned up".

 

[SilentVirus]

Buy a new Mic/Headset?

 

[Distorted Stu]

May just be broke?