Inspiron 5100 microphone problem

Not sure what you mean by it does not 'respond', if you mean it isn't working or you mean you don't hear it thru the speakers.

If the latter, that's because Dell ships the Inspirons with the ability to monitor the input at the mic jack turned off. On most models mic monitoring can be restored by altering the value of the registry key 'DisableMicFromPlayback' in Windows XP.

Users of Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5150, 5160, 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 500m, 600m and 700m found the key.
Users of Inspiron 4150, 4700 and 8100 did not find the key in their registries.
A user of Inspiron 600m reported that he found the key only by using the direct Registry path.
(An 8600 user reported that he also set the value of the key 'EnablePoPBypass' to 0.)

As you can see I don't have a report from a 5100 owner, so if you try this please let me know if it works.

(This Registry edit was originally posted in a basic form by dilleyo, and jk79 later added more detailed instructions. I have put it into a step-by-step format for those of us who need it this way. If you are already familiar with editing the Registry skip down to the direct path at the bottom.)

1. Go to Start menu and click on Run. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
2. At the top of the list, highlight My Computer.
3. Under the Edit menu, select Find.
4. Type in 'DisableMicFromPlayback' without quotes and click 'find next'.
5. Highlight DisableMicFromPlayback. Right click on it and select Modify.
6. Highlight 01 and change to 00. Click OK.
7. Exit the Registry and restart the computer.

Next, configure the system mixer:
1. Open Volume Control by right clicking on the speaker icon on the taskbar, or go to Start/Control Panel/ Sound & Audio Devices Properties/Advanced (button).
2. Under the Options menu, select Properties.
3. Under show the following volume controls check the box next to Microphone. Click OK.
4. A mic control appears in the Volume Control. Make sure the mute box is unchecked.
5. If your external audio source (a stereo or tv tuner etc that you have connected to the mic jack) has a way to control its volume level, turn it down to control excessive volume.

Jim


Here is the direct Registry path to the key:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005\Settings.

Hello Jim,

Its working perfectly now. Thanks for turning me into a computer guru overnight.

Cheers

 

I made the registry change and the mic control now appears however I still cannot get a tested ext mic to work. I am using the recorder to test. It is unmuted and I have adjusted the volume. 700M btw

The registry change and having the mic volume control are not necessary in order for the mic to work. They just control the volume of mic-jack input that goes to the speakers.

Open Audio and Sound Devices Properties Properties (right click on the volume icon on the taskbar, or go through the control panel). Select the Audio tab. Click on 'Volume' under 'Sound recording'. The Recording Control opens. Make sure that mic is selected as the recording source, push up the recording volume, and open 'Advanced' and turn on 'mic boost'.

If it still doesn't work ... check the plug on the mic. It must be a mono, not stereo, mic. If the mic is part of a headset then all bets are off. There are a lot of problems with those. Also there is a mic test in Dell Diagnostics that you might want to try. Failure of the test would indicate a hardware failure.

Jim

I have the inspiron 700m with the same problem, I bought a monaural mic headset and still cannot get it to work. If I hit the mic hard with my finger i get that sound but not talking normally. Any thoughts?

tbarra,

I'm sorry but I don't know why the mic isn't working. What do you mean by 'not working', when you use it to record into Sound Recorder you don't get a recording?

As I replied to you before, there seem to be a lot of problems with the headset mics.

Jim