Hi

I just got a GIGABYTE GA-8I955X motherboard which has the Realtek HD Audio on board. The system its running on is:

P4D 3.0Ghz
2GB DDR2
256MB ASUS X800
2 x 250GB Seagate SATA
Win XP Pro SP2

The problem is, the mic input for some reason records softly. Ive plugged it in the rear and front jacks and it picks up a scream and records it as a whisper. In the Volume Control the Mic input sliders are greyed out so I cant adjust it in there. The mic works fine on any other PC.

Ive installed all the latest M/B drivers, BIOS, Realtek Drivers, etc from the respective websites to no avail. Another thing that happens is loading premiere pro causes the system to reboot you guessed it.. when it gets to loading the WAVE input DLL.

When I disable the audio, it loads fine.

The HD Audio input is selected in the media settings and the Hardware Test comes up ok. (Go Figure)

If Anyone has any ideas or has come across this before please let me know. I think the guys at Realtek are at a loss and haven't responded to my last email.

- N

i have the same problem, did you solve it? If so please post it.
thanks

I would recommend submitting this problem directly to realtek AND Gigabyte repeatedly. It is more likely they are ignoring you than anything else. Resubmit every couple days until you get a response.

Its also possible since you are not the only one that this is just a flaw they have not fixed and may never fix. Onboard sound doesnt get the most attention in MoBo design.

Same problem here. Let us know if you hear anything.

Hope you all still check this. I had the same problem guys. I searched for a long long time, went to MANY forums, and tried so many approaches. I decided to update my sound driver. I tried add new hardware, but it couldn't find the mic. I'm sure you all tried this too. With RealTek open, the driver updated and all, I took out the mic and plugged it into the back of my computer (the other mic spot) and then a popup came up from RealTek (New jack plugged in) so I clicked it, and it asked for what it was, so I clicked for mic. Then I tested it, and ya it worked you guys =D I was almost jumping up and down with excitement cause I couldn't get it to work since new years =O Anyways, if this works for you guys too PLEASEEEEEEE send this around on any forums you asked for help and found no solution on too. If theres any other problems, feel free to email me or add me --> LourveStruck@hotmail.com I'll be happy to tell you guys in detail everything i've tried before doing this, and ya. Hope it works you guys =))

This doesn't solve my problem. Due to the design of my computer case, I have no front ports for my mic and headphones. The port in back recognizes that its a microphone, and I can relay sounds through the mic, but I can't get the recording properties to activate.

I really need help solving this.

Hey, so I have helped a bunch of people so far since then. Another thing you could try is putting the mic in another jack (that isn't supposed to be for the mic), when the message pops up select microphone and it should work. If not, double check that you have the latest version of Realtek. Also try plugging it into different Jacks, otherwise, =( I don't know what to suggest.

My system had the mic grayed out as if my system was incapable of accepting mic input. I couldn't get my mic to respond for recording or any speech application. Here's what I did:

1. Go to control panel, then sounds etc. button, then sounds and audio devices
2. on sounds and audio devices properties, select volume tab, and click on 'device volume' 'advanced' button.
3. on master volume, click options, then properties.
4. under the 'playback' option, where it says 'show the following volume controls', make sure the box is checked that corresponds to the place you are plugging in your mic.

Hope this saves somebody from the frustration I was experiencing.

Todd

I finally got a response from MSI hope this will help someone. Here is the Webb site I finaly got a reponse from. Hope the rest of you who have this problem will contact them at: http://support.msi.com.tw/program/mbx/mbxQstAskDetail.php?serials=56876
Dear Sir,
The problem I am having with your "Realtek HD Audio input" I can not get the microphone working, it shows it but it is grayed out. I have tried every thing I know to do. According to every thing I have read on the Internet a lot of people are having the same trouble. Can you help???????
They refuse to answer me. Can you please help me?

I have Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
AMD Athlon(tm) 64x2 Dual
Core Processor 3800+
2.00 Ghz, 2.00 GB of Ram
Physical Address Extension

MSI Mainboard K9VGM-V
VIA K8M890+VT8237A Chipset Based
MSI NX6200TC TD64E

Thanking you in advance for your help,
Bill


Our solution
Our Answer Hi,

We have not recieve user feedback before. Would you please refer to the following steps to verify:
1. Clear CMOS as described in the manual. Then boot system up and load optimized default.
2. Uninstall the old audio driver clear. Please reinstall it. Download it from the following link:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/driver/dvr/spt_dvr_detail.php?UID=738&kind=1
3. Make sure you have update BIOS to 1.1 version:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=738&kind=1

Best regards,
MSI Technical Support

Let me know if this helps anyone,
Bill

Hi all,

I have the same problem, everything been working fine for 2 weeks then lost mic. all greyed out as described above. mine is a ga965p-ds4. none of the problems i have searched for work either the only thing i came across which i didnt try was muting all the devices in the record conttrol panel (sound properties goto options -> properties -> select realtek HDA primary imput maksure sure all check boxes are ticked click ok to get to next screen) then to the right where you see the greyed out volume controls makesure all are muted except MIC. that didnt work for me but for others it has im still waiting fro realtek to get back to me too. so if anyone does see another solution please post, looks liek we coudl eb waiting abit for a patch.

Cheers

spakis

Hey I have realtek on my computer and i've been having some microphone problems just like everyone else on this thread. But my computer recognizes the microphone without any trouble. The problem is, when I record (or even when i just plug in the mic into the jack), I only hear playback through my left ear!! I've been trying to figure out what's wrong for 5 months now but when I call HP for tech support, they always make me pay and they never fix my problem. Please, if someone knows what's happening, please tell me.

I also have another computer (a Dell), and I have a similar problem on that one except the playback comes on both ears, but one ear is louder than the other. Im guessing the mixer's settings are screwed up but I dont know how to change that and nothing seems to work.

If anyone can help me, please do!

im havin mic problem where i can record but mic picks up loud annoying scratchy sounds. this happens with voice applications. in Ventrilo when i talk the mic picks up extremely loud noises. the only thing that works good with mic is windows sound recorder thats about it. if any1 has similar problem plz help =]

im havin mic problem where i can record but mic picks up loud annoying scratchy sounds. this happens with voice applications. in Ventrilo when i talk the mic picks up extremely loud noises. the only thing that works good with mic is windows sound recorder thats about it. if any1 has similar problem plz help =]
I had similar problems but turned out to be something totally strange/last place I would have normally looked. Try this on for size to see if it also fixes you:

1) Download the latest REFERENCE HD Codec's directly from RealTek's website. Install the whole program with the systray audio manager application.
2) Upon reboot, go into the RealTek Audio Manager.
3) In the mixer tab of the RealTek HD Sound Manager, scroll with the little arrows on the right all the way until you see a device for "PC BEEP"
4) Mute this device.

Your PC beep will no longer be audible through your speaker setup (no biggie if you have a case speaker anyways), but all the bleed-through pop, crackle and hiss I was getting from recording in audio applications aside from Sound Recorder is totally gone.

Hope this helps!

My problems are simalar to those of nikm at the top post here.

I have a new PC with these specs:


MB Nvida Nforce 680SLI board.

CPU ntel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz

RAM G.Skill 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2 Dual Channel

Video Nvidia 7600GT 256MB PCI-E

With of course the on board Realtek HD Audio.

I also had the greyed out sliders on the mike controls. The mike would work in record if I yelled, and it worked in Teamspeak at a low volume but was useless in the games because if a heavy feed back of game sounds.

I updated all the drivers, including the latest versions published a few days ago on 12/29//06 with no inmprovement.

At the suggestion of a friend, I installed a second sound card for use as audio input only. Fortunately I had an old creative card in a drawer that had not seen use since Windows 95 or Win 98 about 7 years ago.

Whn I rebooted it loaded right away. I immedieately disabled the game port, as that is useless now. I then went to the windows sound settings, and setup ythis card as my default input device and left the output on the Realtek.

Everything is working fine now for me. My Mike is plugged into the creative and My Headphones are plugged into the Realtek. Of course I do not have use of the front mike input, but that is do-able.

It may not be the fix you want, but it will serve as a workaround until Realtek gets their act together. Even if you don't have an old card laying around, You can pick up a new generic card at Newegg for less than $20. It will serve the Mike problem, and you still have the onbord card to feed your speker system.

Hi gang,

I think I've finally found a way to correct OUR low microphone volume issue (the Front Pink thing of my ALC880) .... it works for me :bounce:

Install the latest Realtek drivers (v1.54 in my case) and reboot
Go to C:\Program Files\Realtek\InstallShield
Locate the program MicCal.exe and execute it

1st window : Click Next
2nd window: Select the recording device (if like mine there's only "Realtek HD Front Pink Jack" available anyway)
3rd window : HERE'S WHERE I THINK EVERYTHING HAPPENDS :rolleyes: ... Try speaking and almost no sound will get thru the VU-Meter. Now MOVE the slider left to 0% THEN BACK TO 100%. Click next.
4th window : It will ask you to read alound a sentence after clicking the "Record" button. Do it.... You might receive an error message. Don't mind it and click the "Cancel" button.

That procedure seems to have reset my microphone setting back to a decent recording volume on my machine... :haha:
Doing a simple test with the Windows Sound Recorder with confirm that you've succeeded or not.

Have fun people!

Johnny

I got a new laptop (no second soundcard workaround for me) recently and have pretty much the exact same problems.

Well unfortunately, for me, the MicCal doesn't fix anything.
I think the problem is somewhere in the multi input source since my input sound seems to be some kind of mix of the mono or stereo mix and microphone, however the microphone is VERY silent, even after using the MicCal, pretty much anything I can hear is when I tap right on the microphone or blow at it.

And even worse thing happens if I connect an external microphone to the jack then the input is completely silent. I just think the drivers are so unnecessarily complicated, I mean, the jacks worked even when there was no software detection for them, and they worked in an instant, now I gotta wait for a sec before it switches between integrated and external audio devices :P

Making a support for multiple input sources with no source selection, how fun. I just hope there will be a fix soon, I wanna use some other mike than the one on my VoIP phone that was bundled with the lap :P

So if I get this right, this problem lasts for over a year, basing that on the first post and yet they still manufacture computers with this kind of sound card and driver onboard, oh darn. Guess there's really not much possibility someone will fix this eh? Dang it.

Good to know I was not the only one with this problem. I had hoped that someone had sorted it but it seems not. Anyway, I trolled through the boards and no luck but I picked up on something some one said regarding the Realtek HD Audio Manager. They had a laptop and mentioned the arrows to the right of the playback mixer and said they had selected the SPDIF slider to get things working. I clicked on the right arrow but my SPDIF (whatever that stands for?) output didn’t have a slider! But on clicking further along, I found I had several other sliders and in particular a Front Pink In and a Rear Pink In, both of which were muted! I un-muted them and also clicked on the little button beside them. This revealed an advanced setting with a tick box labelled Microphone Boost. I happened to have my manual volume control turned up at the time and when I clicked OK after ticking the box in the Rear Pink In (the input my PC camera’s connected to), WHAM! Instant feedback of major proportions! The mic was obviously working.. A quick video test with the camera confirmed that my input volume was okay. This still doesn’t solve the problem of greyed out sliders or no sliders at all in the Realtek record side of the mixer but hey, I can at least record decent sound levels now. Let me know if any of this works for you.

Well I always knew about those arrows thus this is no help. My main problem is that when I connect a mic to mic in it's completely silent so I can either use the ****ty integrated mic or buy a USB one which is kinda inconvenient since I have a lap. And it as you mentioned already doesn't do anything with the locked sliders. I've already contacted realtek telling them I've got the newest drivers and all and they told me to update the drivers. Then contacted Acer and they told me to try formatting and if it won't work contact them... I seriously don't feel like formatting now as I know it won't help anything :P

I've tried every suggestion and tried to get an answer out of realtek, so so far no luck. Hardware tests fine, but not matter what I do I the mic in and line in stays greyed out and they don't work at all.

I saw a post on another forum that the front panel connections mut be disabled on the mobo in order for the back connections to work. Not sure about that. I have a Fatal1ty board. Anyone know how to confirm teh front panel connections are disabled? The board supports it but I don't have any front panel audio jacks, only a USB/firewire.

Ive bot laptop with realtek hd audio codec alc883. so every one problem is that we have to buy stereo microphone, because the sound card supports stereo microphone, i have built in two microphones so i think that we all have to find is how to make the input mic mono not stereo. i will search google and i think that ill find a solution. But 100% is the stereo input thats way you all guys here only on one speaker when u speak in the mic. I here in both of them but when i speak in both mics :hotbounce if some one finds solution before me pls send me mail on krisbliz2000@yahoo.com#

I hope that i helped :rolleyes:
I know that i helped:giddy:

Hi gang,

I think I've finally found a way to correct OUR low microphone volume issue (the Front Pink thing of my ALC880) .... it works for me :bounce:

Install the latest Realtek drivers (v1.54 in my case) and reboot
Go to C:\Program Files\Realtek\InstallShield
Locate the program MicCal.exe and execute it

1st window : Click Next
2nd window: Select the recording device (if like mine there's only "Realtek HD Front Pink Jack" available anyway)
3rd window : HERE'S WHERE I THINK EVERYTHING HAPPENDS :rolleyes: ... Try speaking and almost no sound will get thru the VU-Meter. Now MOVE the slider left to 0% THEN BACK TO 100%. Click next.
4th window : It will ask you to read alound a sentence after clicking the "Record" button. Do it.... You might receive an error message. Don't mind it and click the "Cancel" button.

That procedure seems to have reset my microphone setting back to a decent recording volume on my machine... :haha:
Doing a simple test with the Windows Sound Recorder with confirm that you've succeeded or not.

Have fun people!

Johnny

THANK YOU!!! this worked for me!! :D

Guys I've had the same problems as you guys.

I unplugged and plugged my mic back in and the Realtek Audio Manager pops up, asking me to choose either Line-In, Mic, or something else. Mic was checked, but I manually checked Line-In instead. This could probably fix some of the problems you guys are experiencing.

With RealTek open, the driver updated and all, I took out the mic and plugged it into the back of my computer (the other mic spot) and then a popup came up from RealTek (New jack plugged in) so I clicked it, and it asked for what it was, so I clicked for mic. Then I tested it, and ya it worked you guys ... Hope it works you guys =))

The problem is not that the microphone is not recognised, but that there is no such thing as "Advanced" mode in the Realtek panel, where one could activate the "Boost Microphone" option still available in the "AC'97". Is there any OTHER way one could work this around, such as installing software capable of boosting an analogue microphone? Or a like solution?

Actually, what Derek wrote here [http://www.techspot.com/vb/post385910-17.html] solved my "boosting the mic" problem. What remains is that compared to AC'97, the quality of the recording is utterly unbearable: as low as the first records in the 20th century. Can this be solved, too?

I have this problem too. Not so much the mic isn't picking up sound, just that the slider's are all grayed out, why the heck would this happen?
Fair enough the mic works, but there is no user control at all!

The way I made it pick up more sound was to select rear pink in under playback or front pink, dont matter, and in there is mic boost, this actually boosts the mic's input despite it being under playback.

But still, when you buy the latest in computing, you'd expect at least some microphone volume controls!

BLOODY REALTEK.

I think that the problem is not in REALTEK - they have done a wonderful thing - but in the microphone I use - one of the past century :) Probably applying a microphone dating back to the same computer era as the Realtek sound card should be the proper solution...

I think that the problem is not in REALTEK - they have done a wonderful thing - but in the microphone I use - one of the past century :) Probably applying a microphone dating back to the same computer era as the Realtek sound card should be the proper solution...


If this was true, why is half of the recording section grayed out? Opposed to just the micrphone volume. Fact of the matter is, the latest in hardware should support every mic under the sun despite when it was made.

-lilschnowyguy

Well I still have the greyed out problem, front mic doesn't work, etc.

But I can tell you one thing, the hardware isn't the cause for sure, it's actually quite nice tbh. I've tried using it under linux, and guess what, everything worked perfectly - the sound setting is so nice there you can even have the sound running from both outputs and stuff like that, just wonderful... maybe if there was some way to port the linux drivers or something because I'm prolly not going to switch.

I was having the same problem as everyone else with my Realtec HD microphone. I think I figured out the solution, so I figured I'd share.

Apparently, Realtek's audio software is in no way based on logic. You'd think, "Hey, I want to record audio, I should be working with the audio INPUT settings, right?"

Wrong.

As many of you have discovered, going into the audio input settings either through Windows or Realtek's app will result in grayed out mic controls. That's because Realtek's mic real mic controls are located in the audio OUTPUT settings.

First, open your volume control. The easiest way is to doubleclick the sound icon in the system tray. You can also go to Start > Control Panel > Sound And Audio Devices then click Advanced under Device Volume.

In the Master Volume window, click Options > Properties. In the properties dialog, you'll see a dropdown for Mixer Device. If you're like me, you changed this to Realtek HD Audio Input, then selected Mic Volume.

THIS IS WRONG.

Instead, select Realtek HD Audio Output. In the box below labeled "Show the following volume controls", scroll down to either Rear Pink In or Front Pink In. These sound pornographic, but they actually refer to the mic input jacks for your Realtek card. Mine are plugged into the rear jack, so I checked Rear Pink In. Then click OK.

This adds a new volume control to your Master Volume. And, sure enough, you will probably see that it is muted and the volume is at 0%. Unmute and jack up the volume. There is also an Advanced button. Click that and you'll get an option to check off Microphone Boost. Check that and click Close.

If it works for you like it did for me, you now have working a working microphone input.

Hope this helps somebody.

This still doesn't solve the issue.
The issue for me wasn't the microphone, it's the fact there is no STEREO MIX option and I'm pretty sure what you said is what i said about 4 posts up.
The lack of control within all of the other recording options is the issue.

i was working on this problem 1 month till now. i was trying all Windows ver. In all of them was the same problem when i was speaking on skype the second person was hearing me partialy. the first 15 sec ok than the sound was received chopy. The same was when i was using Gtalk. But now the problem is solved :). So if some one donate some bucks at least 1€ to my account to cover the cigarete costs :) i will be glad to share the solution.
This covers Windows Vista/Vista x64/Home /Pro /Media Centar Edition.
This problem was with input on my Realtek HD sound card.

pm me
email: krisbliz2000@yahoo.com

Information should be free *******. You know where you can shove ya solution?

Hey lilshowyguy at first the microphone and the line in and the stereo mix are grayed out because u can select one of them and then with the master control in the recording volume selection you can set them at any level u want. Example if u select mic with the master slider u can set any lvl for your mic.
2. turn of immediatly stereomix (in vista go control panel/sound/recording right click and select show disabled devices if u dont see)

But for windows xp the realtec hd audio codec driver is making always the sliders greyed out, this is not a bug.
i hope i helped.
But for the mic input solution is another thing. ;)

Yep I am having the same problem..

no sound at all, and the mic sliders are grayed out.. tried turning up the mic thats in the Output settings for some reason.. but still doesn't work..

downloading the latest drivers now.. dought it will do much

QUESTION:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 (Rev. 1.0, BIOS Vers. F5) MBO and
Realtek ALC888 DD Microphone Volume problem
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

It is a simple than this - "Volume Properties" for "Microphone" and some other "Volumes" are simply as disconnected in a "Realtek Tray / system Notification Area Icon", and / or in "Volume Properties" also located in the Tray / System Notification Area...
I cannot engage the "Advanced settings" for "Volume Properties" at all and permanently!!!

Main problem: Any Microphone recordings of mine are recorded with much decreased volume – the scream into Microphone is recorded as a low voice,
even like / most like just a whisper???!!!
Because of that, Microphone is practically unusable at all!!!

Eventual, "20db Boost" for Microphone I cannot engage because, again, I cannot engage the "Advanced settings" for "Volume Properties"
at all and permanently, as like they are not existing at all – there are unavailable - they are gray-ed out...

In the meantime, I try to use some (for second time actually), older and small HDD for this testing purposes only.

Here, on this small test HDD, I install first MSWinXPSP2 (full clean install from the scratch), than install Intel INF Update 8.1.1.1010 (+ PC restart),
and than Realtek newest HD Audio Driver R1.66 (+ PC restart).

After that, my Microphone problem reviled instantly!!!

I installed after that my Marwell LAN Driver 8.612.3.3 (+ PC restart), than newest NVidia Driver for my VGA Card and that’s it.

After that I install every available Microsoft Windows Update from the "Windows Update" Service, than MSOF2K7 + all available Updates for it,
and I install RARlab WinRAR 3.62.

The Microsoft Update KB925902, KB928843, KB935448 are also instaled...

The KB935448 is the last Win Update that corrects any errors reviled in the previous and simillar Win Updates: KB925902 & KB928843!!!

But all this 3 just mentioned Win Updates does not have any thing with my Microphone low recording voice problem...

Never the less, Microphone problem reviled as soon I install MSWinXPSP2 and Intel INF Update, and than Realtek HD Audio Driver.

That means that no other Software or it's Update didn't produce this problem with my Microphone not available "Volume Properties" settings (increase or decrease Mic volume possibility) or it "Advanced settings" (20db Boost or similar), because all that I mentioned that I install, I install after the problem reviled in the first place!!!

P.S.: Any DTS, Dolby or similar are disconnected as my knowledge.
Regarding that, again, problem reviled instantly after Realtek Driver R1.53 or newest R1.66 is installed (I tested both mentioned Driver versions on two different and my old HDDs…), and in that time I did not change any settings in it, than default one RealTek put it there him self, and in the first place…




POSSIBLE MASS SOLUTION - DIRECT "HELP AND SUPPORT FROM REALTEK":
Our 20DB "Boost Option" is integrated on our input port, so you need to enable your "Boost'' function on Playback panel of Sound Control
(Please refer to screen-shot / picture bellow).

By the way, Gigabyte's board supports MIC function on "Rear Pink in" and "Front Pink in" port, so you need to enable "Boost" separately if you also need to use "Font pink port" as Microphone function.

In your case, you set "Rear Panel Pink port" as "Microphone", so' you need to follow below screen-shot and set "Boost".
If any problem, please let us know; REALTEK.


http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/705/gigabytega965pdq6mboandqx4.th.jpg (http://img488.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gigabytega965pdq6mboandqx4.jpg)



http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/705/gigabytega965pdq6mboandqx4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



Here is just some Forum referrings to this particular problem (I'll hope that will helps also…):

a) http://techspot.com/vb/topic38366.html

b) http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/5...input-mic.html

c) http://www.bihforum.com/showthread.php?p=247063#post247063


HOPE THIS ALL WILL HELP MANY WITH THIS PROBLEM!!!

Bruno.H. via Italy

This thread has a lot of great suggestions that I will try today.
If none of them work for me, I may have to use the second sound card for input method.

I have a gigabyte 965p DS3, and I have the same problem with grayed out mic controls.

In teamspeak everyone complains they can barely hear me, and they get tons of feedback/echos from me. I tried testing in the teamspeak loopback mode and I can hear all the feedback, it is unbearable. Sometimes the mic doesn't even work.

All of the audio out sounds seem to be working fine.
Damn those realtek drivers!

I used built-in realtek sound card but I could never get input settings right, not even for skype, forget recording. And when I finally figured out I had weird echo.
I bought sound card (X-Fi) over a year ago and had no problems since. I am planning to get a USB or PCI express sound card for my laptop now.

Yeah, I think it might be doable.
I'm gonna test teamspeak again tonight with some friends. I fixed the real quiet mic problem. Mic volume seems to be normal now.
When I put TS into loop back test mode, I get crazy feedback!

The odd thing is anytime I talk into the mic it comes over my headset/speakers. Seems the mic is always on. I mean always, even when teamspeak is not running. Makes it easy to talk to myself though. :)

So if tonight's tests fail, I will probably find myself buying a $20 soundcard (or USB headset depending which is cheaper) to by pass the issue.

and if u dont want to buy new sound card or new head phones just donate me only 1€ i will send u my patched realtek HD drivers on your email. I know that this is patetic :) but i need 7€ more on my paypal account to continue my web page agreement.

They work on Windows Xp/PRO/HOME/MCE Windows Vista all ver.
Skype will be cristal clear, TeamSpeak also. Fix for everyting

krisbliz2000@yahoo.com

MIC Problem with Realtek HD Audio Input

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good to know I was not the only one with this problem. I had hoped that someone had sorted it but it seems not. Anyway, I trolled through the boards and no luck but I picked up on something some one said regarding the Realtek HD Audio Manager. They had a laptop and mentioned the arrows to the right of the playback mixer and said they had selected the SPDIF slider to get things working. I clicked on the right arrow but my SPDIF (whatever that stands for?) output didn’t have a slider! But on clicking further along, I found I had several other sliders and in particular a Front Pink In and a Rear Pink In, both of which were muted! I un-muted them and also clicked on the little button beside them. This revealed an advanced setting with a tick box labelled Microphone Boost. I happened to have my manual volume control turned up at the time and when I clicked OK after ticking the box in the Rear Pink In (the input my PC camera’s connected to), WHAM! Instant feedback of major proportions! The mic was obviously working.. A quick video test with the camera confirmed that my input volume was okay. This still doesn’t solve the problem of greyed out sliders or no sliders at all in the Realtek record side of the mixer but hey, I can at least record decent sound levels now. Let me know if any of this works for you.

THANK YOU SIR! I joined the forums just to say thank you very much after having my new mobo and PC since last year ive never gotten the mic working properly and now it does! :) Thanx everyone in the thread.

Craig.

I think I should remind you guys that the Microphone sliders in the output section are really for output, except for the boost, if you unmute them and put the volume up you should hear your mic input in your audio output device so stop that bs, we need a new driver.

read thru the threads on RealTek problems- tnx to all. it seems to me that my Athlon-based PC was fine a few months ago - I could record from the stereo-mix channel of my wave-recording software (Magic Audio), and I mixed a few mic based waves for my jazz webcast at live365.com. I'd always used Sound-Blaster cards in the past, and was pleased that Realtek offered the same versatility.

suddenly, the 'mix' channel picks up nothing, and the mic volume is so low that, although I ran MicCal, and Volume Boost, etc etc, when I record a wave via the 'mic' channel, even if I amplify it 1000% in Magic Audio, there is no sound.

I can live without mic recording - what I can't get is that the 'wave' channel of Realtek HD audio output does NOT have a corresponding channel on the 'recording' side (Realtek HD audio input). there is a 'stereo mix', but it ain't picking up the 'wave' channel. I removed/re-installed to the latest Realtek software (May/07). I can only assume that with the daily rigours of living in a Win-XP system, Realtek drivers begin to deteriorate.

unless someone has a quick answer, I may just scrap Realtek and go back to SoundBlaster. (in these newer PC's, the sound is hard-wired to the motherboard. upgrades can be messy.) did anyone experience/overcome this problem?

My problem was never the mic, the mic was the easiest part to fix. Even without the 20 people explaining it over n over in this thread.
The main problem is stereo mix, it seems it doesnt like stereo mix in XP anymore, I installed my other board with soundmax chipset audio and I had no stereo mix on that either, I also tried an old creative soundblaster live and also no stereo mix. It seems to be the same thing amongst all the big names.

-lilschnowyguy

ilschnowyguy - tnx..! I think yer bang-on. Btw: with XP, have you experienced 'stereo mix' for awhile - then, suddenly, it just drops? my old XP PC did that (a SB card then) - finally, I had to do a clean re-install of WIN-XP anyway.. and the stereo mix ('what you hear') channel came to life, my wave recorder was back in business, and I was very careful about what programs I installed after that. 'Stereo mix' still works on that (not very busy) PC. So, this is the 2nd time with XP I've lost the feature. if anyone with Realtek and this symptom also re-installs XP, and also resolves the problem, please post it so that we know there is no other workaround, huh? save some grief all-around. A couple of techs I talked to opined that it's really a complex XP 'registry' problem -- and that a re-install/clean registry is the only way.

13-Jun-07 - happy to report that my wave recorder via stereo mix has come back to life.. I changed nothin' - same board, drivers.. (well, I actually have an Audigy card from eBay sitting in a box beside PC ready to be installed... maybe the RealTek software caught sight and decided to behave?)... there have been some auto Win updates from MSN (Win-XP Home) installed, but I have no idea what impact that might have had... hmm .. wonder if the mic works now, too?

Hi,

I'm having the same problem as most of you. My mic whilst talking on teamspeak is really quiet, and people get a huge amount of very loud feedback from me. I've tried most of the stuff people have said on this forum and I can't say any of it has worked for me.

Sometimes I get unusual noises coming from my mic aswell, such as when I'm testing it on Teamspeak or Sound Recorder. Loads of my settings are greyed off so I'm unable to change them. I rememeber somebody saying that plug the jack in the back of the computer and a balloon will come up saying a jack has been plugged in, so click the balloon and let it recognise the mic... when I tried this nothing would come up when I clicked the balloon. Thats been the most hopeful way around it for me.

I'm currently on a Realtek ALC660 (Onboard), and I'm starting to get a little impatient as many people have been spending months trying to find a resolution, and I'm not the smartest when it comes to computers. Because of this, I'm thinking of buying an external sound card for my USB, so I can use it just for the mic (as the sound of the is fine, its just the mic). I've looked on Ebay for these and they are going for like 99p, would these be very reliable and any good? I use my mic a lot whilst talking to friends over Teamspeak.

If you know how to get round this... please help!!! otherwise, could anybody give me some advice on what or what not to buy for an external sound card. I'm willing to spend only up to about £15 on it.

Any help or support would be great!!!
Thanks
James

ITS FIXED!!!!!!!! Yahoooo!!!!

I had the exact same problem as the original poster here with my mic recording at super soft levels. I toyed around with the sliders, putting them down then back up and oddly enough that worked a few times, but as soon as I'd reset the computer it would go back to being quiet. After doing that a few times it stopped fixing the problem... I dunno how.

But anyways... I emailed Realtek and got back a picture of how the sound manger is supposed to look like. The essence of the reply I got was that I needed to enable the mic boost.

I almost replied back stating that I couldn't even access the mic boost since the 'advanced controls' option was grayed out.

I decided to dig around before sending back hate mail and I discovered that you can get the 'advanced controls' (and therefore the Mic Boost) to show up. And its easy.

In my master volume window I only had "Master Volume", "Wave", "SW Synth", and "CD Volume" with their sliders showing. For those 4 sound sources there are no advanced controls, which is why it was always grayed out for me.

I clicked on 'Options' then 'properties'. While viewing the "Realtek HD Audio output' mixer device, make sure to check the box to wherever you have your mic plugged in. For me it was "Rear Pink In". (I had looked through the list before, but was always looking for "Mic In", not this pink crap).

After checking "Rear Pink In" and hitting OK, go back to the Master Volume window and hit Options. You should now be able to select "Advanced Controls". The "Advanced" button should then appear below your mic input ("Rear Pink In" for me). Hit that and enable the Microphone Boost in the next screen.

That has completely solved the quite microphone problem I was having.

i have tried every ways which mentioned in this thread. my mic was all silent still.
i installed Realtek Driver R1.50, pulling "Front Pink In" and "Rear Pink In" up, ticking "mic boost" and blah blah blah

BUT i can use "mic" to record now!!! Indeed my "mic" is not really a mic... it is an earphone!! LOL! it sounds odd and stupid but it does work!!
so far i had tested on a JVC HAF120P ear bud headphone and a Sony's earphone (dunno its model), they both work well =)! i think it may related to the "stereo microphone" in which kikebabe had talked about before...

I'm having a similar problem to a lot of people in this thread. Although, I can alter the microphone recording volume and I can select 'Microphone Boost', the recording is still pathetic. Even with Microphone Boost on, the microphone has to be pretty much IN my mouth in order to record anything at all. I know it's not the microphone as it has worked on other systems, and I don't need to actually eat the microphone in order to record anything XD

Just for reference, I'm using Realtek AC'97 onboard sound. I have a Gigabyte nVIDIA GA-K8NSC-939 motherboard.

why are my mic boost settings in the output settings? like most others in this thread my mic was literally useless. i have a gigabyte ds3 mobo and windows xp pro installed. my mic is plugged into the rear pink input. i had to go to the output settings, unmute the rear pink input, then i was able to enable the boost when the advanced button was enabled.

BUT

now when i talk into my mic it spits it out of my speakers. i want to disable that "feature". i want my mic to be used for input for skype, chat, etc... w/o that loopback.