Dell Inspiron 3537 internal mic not working

Newer systems have a combined audio port.  When you plug something in a pop up should allow you to select the type of device.

What are you listening to your microphone with, voice recorder?

When I listen to my internal mic on my laptop I cannot hear anything

By default, you can't hear the mic. This is to prevent feedback. In order to hear the mic, open the Sound dialog, the Recording tab, select Microphone, then Properties. In the Properties box, select the Listen tab, then check the box to listen to the mic, and where you want to send the signal.

If you still cannot hear it, or if it doesn't seem to be working at all, make sure it is selected as the default device. If still no luck, it might be defective or disconnected. Sometimes functioning can be recovered by removing the bezel and reseating the camera connection, and make sure that the mic is lined up with the hole, and with no obstruction there. There is a service manual available with instructions and diagrams if you want to attempt that.

Is this a driver problem or do most of these models have this issue?

We get posts about mics not working, but I'm not aware of it being a particular problem with this model. It's probably not the driver but it is a possibility. You could download and install a fresh copy of the driver, for your operating system, from your support page. You could install a different version of the driver. Or you could test the driver by switching to the Windows native audio driver.

1. Open the Device Manager (find it in the Control Panel, or type devmgmt.msc into the search box).
2. Expand the "Sound, video & game controllers" and right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio".
3. Select to "Update Driver Software".
4. Click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer".
6. Put a check in the box "Show compatible hardware" if not already checked.
7. In the list of devices, click "High Definition Audio" (the native driver).
8. Click "Next".
9. On the Update Driver Warning box, click "Yes" (install the driver).
10. Restart the laptop if prompted. If not prompted, sometimes you have to restart, sometimes not.
[To get back to the Realtek driver, do it again but reverse the names in steps 2 and 7.]

If you only have the symptoms with one of the drivers, then the other is at fault. If you have the same symptoms with both audio drivers, then it is very probably not a driver issue.

Also there is no mic input on this type of Inspiron I was wondering if there is a way of using cellphone headphones as a mic and headphones at the same time?

The audio port on the Inspiron 3537 is a headset jack (mic plus headphones), meant for use with cellphone type headsets . But not all headsets will work -- unfortunately Dell does not provide a list of approved headsets. In particular, you might have trouble with some Apple headset, because not all of them are incompatible with PC wiring.