I have read to open the Sound panel, click Properties for the Internal Mic
Did it say "Properties for the Internal Mic" or "Microphone Array Properties". The internal mic in those old Latitudes was not the same as the current "digital" mic arrays that are in the newer laptops with webcams.
Does the Enhancements tab not appear because my audio driver is out of date? If so, what driver should I download?
As you might know, Sigmatel went out of business before 7 came out. There are no Sigmatel 7 drivers. You have a Sigmatel Vista driver. It is the final version -- there won't be any newer ones.
Or, is there a completely different route to take to suppress background computer noises?
If you have a recording program that has a noise gate plug in, that should do it if the noise you want to suppress is lower in volume than your voice. You set the gate to be closed to any signal that is lower than your voice.
You might try the Sigmatel XP driver. It should install in 7 okay using XP compatibility mode.
[Download the XP version of your audio driver -- R171789 -- and extract the files (unzip or unpack) but cancel the installation process. Go to the folder on the hard drive to which you unpacked the driver files -- c:\Dell\Drivers\R171789. Find the setup.exe file and right click on it. Select the Properties. Find the compatibility tab and select XP.]
Next try to install the Knowles Intellisonic Speech Enhancement software for the Latitude. I don't know if it will install in 7 -- it is meant for XP -- and I don't know how good it works. It is described as being for "Noise supression and echo cancellation" for the internal mic. To find both of these items, go to the Latitude D630 drivers & downloads page and select XP operating system, then expand the Audio category.
I don't know much about that Knowles software, in particular whether it had its own control panel or was accessed from an Enhancements tab.
Did it say "Properties for the Internal Mic" or "Microphone Array Properties". The internal mic in those old Latitudes was not the same as the current "digital" mic arrays that are in the newer laptops with webcams.
I right click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Recording devices, which opens the Sound panel with the Recording tab open. Then I selected Internal Mic (the other option being Microphone), and at the bottom, the Properties button lit up. Clicking that opened up a window titled "Internal Mic Properties."
As you might know, Sigmatel went out of business before 7 came out. There are no Sigmatel 7 drivers. You have a Sigmatel Vista driver. It is the final version -- there won't be any newer ones.
Oh, no I didn't know that, but I guess that explains why I haven't been able to find anything...
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As for the alternate route: I was able to get the SigmaTel XP driver and installed it in compatibility mode, and while I got a little popup bubble from the taskbar saying it had been installed correctly, the InstallShield Wizard thing said it was unable to install correctly during configuration and gave me a popup with the options "Install using Recommended Settings" and "This program installed correctly." I chose the latter as I had already noticed some changes in audio (i.e. louder, settings changed), so I took that to mean it had worked.
As for the Knowles software, it was unable to install for Windows 7, even after I tried doing the compatibility route again. I got the error message "Invalid Windows version. IntelliSonic DX Drivers require Win2K or greater."
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You gave very clear directions, so thank you for trying to fix my problem. I guess the moral of the story is I should have stayed with XP... I'll keep looking for programs that help suppress background noise or just learn to live with it.
jordietx
3 Posts
0
March 13th, 2012 22:00
Forgot to add: The SigmaTel driver version is 6.10.0.5614, date 9/13/2007.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
March 14th, 2012 06:00
Did it say "Properties for the Internal Mic" or "Microphone Array Properties". The internal mic in those old Latitudes was not the same as the current "digital" mic arrays that are in the newer laptops with webcams.
As you might know, Sigmatel went out of business before 7 came out. There are no Sigmatel 7 drivers. You have a Sigmatel Vista driver. It is the final version -- there won't be any newer ones.
If you have a recording program that has a noise gate plug in, that should do it if the noise you want to suppress is lower in volume than your voice. You set the gate to be closed to any signal that is lower than your voice.
You might try the Sigmatel XP driver. It should install in 7 okay using XP compatibility mode.
[Download the XP version of your audio driver -- R171789 -- and extract the files (unzip or unpack) but cancel the installation process. Go to the folder on the hard drive to which you unpacked the driver files -- c:\Dell\Drivers\R171789. Find the setup.exe file and right click on it. Select the Properties. Find the compatibility tab and select XP.]
Next try to install the Knowles Intellisonic Speech Enhancement software for the Latitude. I don't know if it will install in 7 -- it is meant for XP -- and I don't know how good it works. It is described as being for "Noise supression and echo cancellation" for the internal mic. To find both of these items, go to the Latitude D630 drivers & downloads page and select XP operating system, then expand the Audio category.
I don't know much about that Knowles software, in particular whether it had its own control panel or was accessed from an Enhancements tab.
jordietx
3 Posts
0
March 14th, 2012 10:00
I right click the volume icon in the taskbar and select Recording devices, which opens the Sound panel with the Recording tab open. Then I selected Internal Mic (the other option being Microphone), and at the bottom, the Properties button lit up. Clicking that opened up a window titled "Internal Mic Properties."
Oh, no I didn't know that, but I guess that explains why I haven't been able to find anything...
---------
As for the alternate route: I was able to get the SigmaTel XP driver and installed it in compatibility mode, and while I got a little popup bubble from the taskbar saying it had been installed correctly, the InstallShield Wizard thing said it was unable to install correctly during configuration and gave me a popup with the options "Install using Recommended Settings" and "This program installed correctly." I chose the latter as I had already noticed some changes in audio (i.e. louder, settings changed), so I took that to mean it had worked.
As for the Knowles software, it was unable to install for Windows 7, even after I tried doing the compatibility route again. I got the error message "Invalid Windows version. IntelliSonic DX Drivers require Win2K or greater."
---------
You gave very clear directions, so thank you for trying to fix my problem. I guess the moral of the story is I should have stayed with XP... I'll keep looking for programs that help suppress background noise or just learn to live with it.