I wrote up that FAQ before Vista came out, and since it is a stickie I can't edit it to say it is just for XP. A moderator needs to do that.
Those instructions are just for monitoring the input jack thru the speakers. I don't see how being able to do that in any way would increase your input gain for recording. I might suspect a hardware defect; it would depend on the results of running the mic test in the audio section of Dell Diagnostics.
Meanwhile here are the best directions we have been able to come up with for enabling monitoring in Vista. Unfortunately this only works for some of the the folks who try it but not all.
[Create a System Restore point before editing the Registry! To create a new Restore Point go to Start/Help & Support/System Restore and tick 'Create a restore point'.]
1. Go to the Start menu and click on Run.
2. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
3. Click on File/export and save a copy of the Registry to your desktop. (This is optional if you created a Restore Point.)
4. Using the + signs in the left pane, navigate through the registry to get to this location:
5. Click on the key SpeakerHP to select it.
6. In the right pane, right click and select New > Binary Value.
7. Type 'EnableInputMonitor' without quotes and then press Enter.
8. Right click on the new name and select 'Modify'.
9. In the 'Value data' box, add 01 to the existing 0000, then click OK.
10. Exit the Registry and restart the computer.
11. After restart, enable input monitor in audio properties.
(Right click your speaker in program tray. Click Playback devices. Right click on Speakers/Headphones and click properties. Click on levels tab. You will now see a box saying input monitor. Click the speaker picture.)
(Thanks to forum members ethan_hines, fuzzy34, and chef moore for figuring this out.)
I've been tryin to record my music on my Dell Inspiron 1525, but I couldn't hear anything through the mic until 'after' i recorded it and played it back. Needless to say (or maybe it needs saying), that makes the recording process much more difficult than it needs to be. But with your solution, which all 4 Dell Reps that I've talked to so far had NO idea how to fix, your solution fixed it no problem.
wow, it seems like i have been going through this mic issue since i got the computer...its never worked and now I am out of warranty and I so dont want to PAY Dell for fixing an issue that never worked in the first place.
In fact I spoke to a few Dell tech support people while I was still in warranty and I wound up having to install my entire operating system a few months ago as a result since when they got done tinkiing with it, there was no sound going in or coming out at all and reinstalling the OS was the only solution. But still, mic not working.
I did try your solution jimco, and thanks so much for going through the trouble to post it but unfortunately for me... its a no go.
I am running Vista and I am plugged into the front mic jack. Is that where the mic is supposed to be plugged up or am I supposed to plug up thru a USB port
I have a XPS M1210.
Perhaps I should go thru the diagnostics....
ANyone? Any ideas? Anything? ANyone know how I can get this fixed?
"I am plugged into the front mic jack. Is that where the mic is supposed to be plugged up or am I supposed to plug up thru a USB port"
If it has a usb plug then use the usb port. If it has a regular 1/4" mini plug, use the mic jack -- rightmost of the 3 jacks. Make sure you are not configured for 5.1 surround sound or else the mic jack won't work -- it will be reconfigured to be one of the speaker jacks. See page 68 of your owner's manual.
If you have the optional swivel camera above the screen, it has a built-in mic and that could be taking precedence over the external mic. Try to turn off the mic and/or camera. See page 45 of the manual to learn how to access the camera's help file, and page 46 to learn how to find the camera and its mic's settings.
When folks say their mic won't work they usually mean one of three things and each problem has its own set of possible solutions.
1. They can't hear the mic through the computer's speakers. That is because Dell has the monitoring function turned off by default, either in the Windows Registry or the inf files of the audio chip's driver. There is a solution in the FAQ -- the 1st thread on this board -- for the models where it is turned off in the Registry.
2. The mic works except when used for voip.
3. The mic will not record when used with a recording application such as Windows Sound Recorder.
There are numerous causes for #3. If the computer is properly configured with "microphone" selected as the input source but it will not record, then no signal is getting from the mic to the recording application.
When you plug in the mic do you see on the screen a popup box asking whether you plugged in a mic or line-in device? If not, go to Start/Control Panel/ Sigmatel and check the 'allow popups' box. Then plug in the mic again, answer the configuration question, and test it.
If enabling popups doesn't solve the problem then next try running the external mic test in the audio section of Dell Diagnostics. To run Diagnostics restart the computer and as soon as it starts to boot up hold down f12. Select 'Diagnostic' from the boot menu. The computer will run its pre-boot assessment tests for 3 or 4 minutes before the Dell Diagnostic starts. These pre-boot tests play some beeps and tones through the system speaker but this doesn't test the rest of the audio hardware, so you still need to let Dell Diagnostics run after the pre-boot tests finish. Dell Diagnostics plays an instrumental piece of music complete with drums, so if you only hear some tones then you have only run the pre-boot assessment test.
When Dell Diagnostics opens, select 'custom', then the audio test. This will test your audio system independently of Windows and drivers, meaning it doesn't matter if they are working correctly or not.
Dell Diagnostics will play some audio and ask you whether you heard it, etc. Eventually the external mic test should come up. If the test passes that means the hardware is okay but there is a problem with the software or configuration. If it fails that means there is a hardware problem such as:
mic doesn't work mic works but the plug is incompatible with the jack the jack is malfunctioning the audio chip is malfunctioning etc.
Jim
PS a poster with Vista on an E1505 found a configuration setting for activating an external mic. I don't know if this applies to your XPS M1210 or not. He was a little vague.
"Go into the Control Panel Area "Audio" recording device. Right-click in the space where it (the mic) was displayed before and then press "activate" at the relevant mic shown."
thanks for your reply....yes I can get to the mic configeration going but it fails due to the sound is not heard.
I was trying to answer a call to my chat buddy through yahoo messenger. This is how i discovered the problem as I could not be heard. This call prompted me to config the mic and it failed, I tried the sound recorder to see if I could record, it failed.
I already went into the registry and made the changes as you suggested in the Faq which still leaves me mic-less.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
August 18th, 2007 00:00
Those instructions are just for monitoring the input jack thru the speakers. I don't see how being able to do that in any way would increase your input gain for recording. I might suspect a hardware defect; it would depend on the results of running the mic test in the audio section of Dell Diagnostics.
Meanwhile here are the best directions we have been able to come up with for enabling monitoring in Vista. Unfortunately this only works for some of the the folks who try it but not all.
[Create a System Restore point before editing the Registry! To create a new Restore Point go to Start/Help & Support/System Restore and tick 'Create a restore point'.]
1. Go to the Start menu and click on Run.
2. Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK to open the Registry.
3. Click on File/export and save a copy of the Registry to your desktop. (This is optional if you created a Restore Point.)
4. Using the + signs in the left pane, navigate through the registry to get to this location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\Settings\filter\SpeakerHp
5. Click on the key SpeakerHP to select it.
6. In the right pane, right click and select New > Binary Value.
7. Type 'EnableInputMonitor' without quotes and then press Enter.
8. Right click on the new name and select 'Modify'.
9. In the 'Value data' box, add 01 to the existing 0000, then click OK.
10. Exit the Registry and restart the computer.
11. After restart, enable input monitor in audio properties.
(Right click your speaker in program tray. Click Playback devices. Right click on Speakers/Headphones and click properties. Click on levels tab. You will now see a box saying input monitor. Click the speaker picture.)
(Thanks to forum members ethan_hines, fuzzy34, and chef moore for figuring this out.)
Jim
ronzorelli
4 Posts
0
August 18th, 2007 17:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
August 19th, 2007 01:00
Jim
ronzorelli
4 Posts
0
August 19th, 2007 12:00
_krystal_
3 Posts
0
August 30th, 2007 15:00
ronzorelli
4 Posts
0
August 30th, 2007 21:00
unh0ly_freak
1 Message
0
June 25th, 2008 04:00
DUDE!!! JIMCO!!! THANK YOU!!!
I've been tryin to record my music on my Dell Inspiron 1525, but I couldn't hear anything through the mic until 'after' i recorded it and played it back. Needless to say (or maybe it needs saying), that makes the recording process much more difficult than it needs to be. But with your solution, which all 4 Dell Reps that I've talked to so far had NO idea how to fix, your solution fixed it no problem.
So thanks again, jimco. :D
missnomic
2 Posts
0
August 2nd, 2008 23:00
wow, it seems like i have been going through this mic issue since i got the computer...its never worked and now I am out of warranty and I so dont want to PAY Dell for fixing an issue that never worked in the first place.
In fact I spoke to a few Dell tech support people while I was still in warranty and I wound up having to install my entire operating system a few months ago as a result since when they got done tinkiing with it, there was no sound going in or coming out at all and reinstalling the OS was the only solution. But still, mic not working.
I did try your solution jimco, and thanks so much for going through the trouble to post it but unfortunately for me... its a no go.
I am running Vista and I am plugged into the front mic jack. Is that where the mic is supposed to be plugged up or am I supposed to plug up thru a USB port
I have a XPS M1210.
Perhaps I should go thru the diagnostics....
ANyone? Any ideas? Anything? ANyone know how I can get this fixed?
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
August 3rd, 2008 12:00
"I am plugged into the front mic jack. Is that where the mic is supposed to be plugged up or am I supposed to plug up thru a USB port"
If it has a usb plug then use the usb port. If it has a regular 1/4" mini plug, use the mic jack -- rightmost of the 3 jacks. Make sure you are not configured for 5.1 surround sound or else the mic jack won't work -- it will be reconfigured to be one of the speaker jacks. See page 68 of your owner's manual.
If you have the optional swivel camera above the screen, it has a built-in mic and that could be taking precedence over the external mic. Try to turn off the mic and/or camera. See page 45 of the manual to learn how to access the camera's help file, and page 46 to learn how to find the camera and its mic's settings.
When folks say their mic won't work they usually mean one of three things and each problem has its own set of possible solutions.
1. They can't hear the mic through the computer's speakers. That is because Dell has the monitoring function turned off by default, either in the Windows Registry or the inf files of the audio chip's driver. There is a solution in the FAQ -- the 1st thread on this board -- for the models where it is turned off in the Registry.
2. The mic works except when used for voip.
3. The mic will not record when used with a recording application such as Windows Sound Recorder.
There are numerous causes for #3. If the computer is properly configured with "microphone" selected as the input source but it will not record, then no signal is getting from the mic to the recording application.
When you plug in the mic do you see on the screen a popup box asking whether you plugged in a mic or line-in device? If not, go to Start/Control Panel/ Sigmatel and check the 'allow popups' box. Then plug in the mic again, answer the configuration question, and test it.
If enabling popups doesn't solve the problem then next try running the external mic test in the audio section of Dell Diagnostics. To run Diagnostics restart the computer and as soon as it starts to boot up hold down f12. Select 'Diagnostic' from the boot menu. The computer will run its pre-boot assessment tests for 3 or 4 minutes before the Dell Diagnostic starts. These pre-boot tests play some beeps and tones through the system speaker but this doesn't test the rest of the audio hardware, so you still need to let Dell Diagnostics run after the pre-boot tests finish. Dell Diagnostics plays an instrumental piece of music complete with drums, so if you only hear some tones then you have only run the pre-boot assessment test.
When Dell Diagnostics opens, select 'custom', then the audio test. This will test your audio system independently of Windows and drivers, meaning it doesn't matter if they are working correctly or not.
Dell Diagnostics will play some audio and ask you whether you heard it, etc. Eventually the external mic test should come up. If the test passes that means the hardware is okay but there is a problem with the software or configuration. If it fails that means there is a hardware problem such as:
mic doesn't work
mic works but the plug is incompatible with the jack
the jack is malfunctioning
the audio chip is malfunctioning
etc.
Jim
PS a poster with Vista on an E1505 found a configuration setting for activating an external mic. I don't know if this applies to your XPS M1210 or not. He was a little vague.
"Go into the Control Panel Area "Audio" recording device. Right-click in the space where it (the mic) was displayed before and then press "activate" at the relevant mic shown."
missnomic
2 Posts
0
August 14th, 2008 02:00
thanks for your reply....yes I can get to the mic configeration going but it fails due to the sound is not heard.
I was trying to answer a call to my chat buddy through yahoo messenger. This is how i discovered the problem as I could not be heard. This call prompted me to config the mic and it failed, I tried the sound recorder to see if I could record, it failed.
I already went into the registry and made the changes as you suggested in the Faq which still leaves me mic-less.
thanks for your help--off to run diagnostics.
missnomic