Inspiron 1545 Integrated Microphone not working

Sorry-- according to your manual you either have a dual mike built into the webcam or an analog one. You need to say what operating system you have. IF Xp, you must install the Notebook System Software first before all other drivers or the other drivers will not install correctly.

Thank you for the quick reply,

I have vista x64 which came with the system.  It appears as though I have a dual mike built into the webcam, at least based on the small holes a little over an inch away from either side of the webcam/LED.

I am most concerned that the mic fails to record even in the 32 bit diagnostic tool, which runs independant of windows and my drivers.

Take a look at What is the Integrated Webcam and Digital Array Microphone? Toward the bottom of the page is a link to a trouble shooting wizard. The troubleshooter walks you through all of the mic configuration which might be helpful. I haven't heard of your model having a particular problem with the mic array.

Thanks for the reply, however the steps suggested in that troubleshooter do not help.  I just got off the phone with Dell technical support and the conclusion the techincian reached is that i have a faulty array mic.

I have been directed to go back to futureshop... It's over 14 days since purchase though so I don't expect they will simply exchange it (again... the first unit i got had bad ram after 10 days and was already exchanged once...)

I've gotta say, I'm not overly impressed with the build quality!  Maybe I should have listened to all my friends and gotten a MAC instead...

Matt

Hi Matt,

I've got an Inspiron 1545 with Vista Premium 32 bits and I had problems with the integrated microphone and webcam and I realized that Widows Upgrade downloads and installs automatically a driver for the webcam that is not compatible with the integrated webcam and mic. Perhaps you should look for this driver and uninstall it.

I suppose that you did a downgrade to Xp, sometimes drivers are only designed for vista and with Xp you'll have problems for sure. In my particular case, I uninstalled this driver and the webcam and mic worked again. Another solution could be to check if the mic is activated in the sound console of the system, maybe it is deactivated.

I hope that my comment helps to solve your problem.

Joe.

Did you get your microphone working? I have the same problem and also have a 1545 running on XP. I don't want to lose my laptop for repair if not necessary. How did you resolve your problem?

Kim,

Fortunately the microphone of my laptop is working now. The problem was with a new version of the webcam driver; I uninstalled it and it worked again.

Perhaps you have a problem with the OS. As far as I know, the drivers for the 1545 are only available for Vista.

Another solution could be checking the sound settings of your laptop, the mic might be deactivated.

Joe.

Hello,

I have a 1545 and have reinstalled windows, the device drivers from dell's website and the webcam central software from the CD.  I find that the internal microphone will not record audio.

I have attempted to boot into the 32 bit diagnostic CD and also get a failure when testing the integrated microphone.  If I connect an external I am able to get a pass on the side mic test.

Anyone else having this problem, or can anyone confirm with a 1545 that the internal mic is working?  If this is known problem I can avoid sending the new laptop in for repairs..

thanks,

I have attempted to boot into the 32 bit diagnostic CD and also get a failure when testing the integrated microphone.

When a device fails the Dell 32-bit Diagnostics, that means there is hardware failure. The test does not use Windows or Windows device drivers, so any software or configuration issues with those things are eliminated from the test. Thus, any failure during the testing is a result of hardware failure.