[help] microphone problem

[Ozpa]

Hello.

Well me and my buddy use Ventrilo for gaming. A couple of days ago we set up everything right (he was having microphone problems) and we could talk to each other. 2 days later it doesn't work. He didn't change a thing in SoundMax or WinXP sound settings OR Ventrilo settings. He plugged the microphone jack the same way too.

Skype and Sound Recorder doesn't work either. It's just some random noise coming from him. I told him to try and re-plug the mic jack a couple of times and try turning it clock-wise, no help.

What might be the cause here? All the settings stayed the same

We'll try anything.

[Ozpa]

Tried reinstalling audio drivers and other microphone on that same PC - no help.

Been googling for 2 days no help :/

[Mussels]

in order for the mic to work, a few things need to happen.


Mic needs to be in the pink jack (not orange.. some people mistake them in the dark behind their PC)
Mic software needs to be set to use pink jack for mic (some auto sensing ones ask, people hit the wrong thing... and then tell it not to ask again, and screw it up)
Microphone needs to be set in windows as the default recording device

EG, i have three mics there, all working - only one is set as the one to record.


after that, you need to make sure your programs such as vent are set to use the right input device (they allow you to choose other inputs, besides the default)
and then make sure that the volume is up, mic boost is on (if required) and the mic actually works (test on another PC)

[Ozpa]

It worked one day, then 2 days later there's too much static to hear him. Haven't installed anything (hard or software), changed settings or whatnot.

[Meow9000]

Maybe try a new Mic ? just a suggestion...

[Mussels]

static would imply somethings wrong with the mic, normally.

[Laurijan]

Make sure the microphone boost is on:

[Mussels]

or if its on and volume is max, turn it down... if it goes too high for the mic, distortion and static are possible.


also make sure he doesn't have a fan or something blowing air onto the mic, that makes awesomely annoying sounds for listeners.

[Ozpa]

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that.

He tried another mic on his PC, almost exact same noise.
We tried Low, Mid, Max recording volumes. At low it's almost ok, the static is tolerable but his voice is too quiet too. (we use TeamViewer, a remote support/access tool so I actually do everything myself in his PC, including driver reinstalling and all)