[Snoopdogie187]

Hello everyone,
I have a toshiba laptop with a built in mic. The problem I'm having is random static, to the point that is all you hear and me just slightly in the background.

It does this over msn, and When I use sound recorder on my own laptop.

It is random, it will come and go, sometimes be better, sometimes be worse. There is no real patteren to it.

Im wondering if it is something hardware or can it also be software, what do i look for in trying to fix this, etc.

thank you

 

[deleted122510]

Hi -

If you've bought a cheaper MIC the cord could be the problem. My Mom's cheaper MIC does the same thing and it produces a tiny amount of static. It's most likely a hardware issue.

Something else to consider is your MIC volume (you're intake) could be set to high :

Go to your systray | Select your volume icon then right-click and select "Playback Devices" | Select "Microphone" or whichever has the green check mark beside it | Select "Set up microphone" | Follow instructions.

Now, since you've done this - go to your your "Microphone" icon (follow the guide above till the point after "Playback Devices" and right-click "Properties" from there select the tab titled "Levels", and make sure it's balanced and not set to 100%.

Here's a few useful links I found :
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f23/microphone-records-static-creative-sound-blaster-pci-16399.html
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f23/mic-randomly-becoming-static-145324.html

HTH

 

[Snoopdogie187]

Its an internal mic so the hardware is hard to get to.

Also, it goes from mild static to really bad static, and someone even told me it has made beeping sounds, and other strange sounds.

I have tried the volume and that has had no affect. It is also random, sometimes it will be perfect, other times its not.

And also, the laptop isn't around anything else electronic, I sually actualy use it on my lap.

 

[TriggerFinger]

I am no expert in sound/audio thingies but are you sure it is the mic and not the speakers? Have you tried an external mic (disable internal mic) and does it behave the same way?

 

[deleted122510]

You can literally pick up very very cheap MICs for around $10 USD on Ebay - I'm sure of it. Also, I totally didn't read your MIC was internal - Sorry. Take a look at those guides/links though.

 

[Snoopdogie187]

yea, its not the speakers, happens on different computers and everything else (like music) comes up perfect, just anything through my mic.

I'm not sure i have an external mic, I would have to check for one, and an external one is something im trying to avoid, I would actually rather take apart my laptop actually (its because I do use it for classes, or sometimes how im sitting, the wire would get in the way, etc).

Could the sound drivers going bad cause something like this? Or something in Vista? I have had a lot of strang problems with vista and when I get some time, I'm going to re-installe it.

 

[deleted122510]

You could try reinstalling your audio drivers - what's the make and model of both your PC and your Sound Card? And I assume you have x86-bit or.. x64-bit?

 

[Snoopdogie187]

I will go download it off of the toshiba website for now. I just know its a realtek, not sure what model, never saw one actaully.

 

[deleted122510]

AIDA32 will tell you you're computers exact model - hopefully.

 

[Snoopdogie187]

I know the exact model, right now I'm trying to install the audio driver, which the first time it only installed the old one, and restarted, then now it keeps timing out (through the device manager and the drivers own install package). I will try a few more things and see how that goes.

 

[deleted122510]

Keep us updated.

 

[Snoopdogie187]

Any realtek driver won't work, tried it with Run as admin, tried it with my wireless turned off (it always said it was on the audio hub - its a usb inteneral wireless card). I tried to let windows do it on its own.
The only thing I got to half work was the windows generic driver. And that, only lets me hear certain sounds. Like I can hear the sounds ventrellio makes, but not anyone talking, I can hear the windows sounds (like the dong sound when you do something wrong or a pop up comes up), I can hear itunes. I can't hear one game. Its just odd.

 

[Snoopdogie187]

Also, just looking it up, this seems to be a common problem (low volume) on vista. I have seen many people say that with no solution. I'm wondering if that is true or not.
Also later, I will check my mic on windows 7 and see if i have the same problem.

 

[deleted122510]

That is weird - have you checked and made sure you're volumes aren't muted for Skype (if that's what you're using) or XFire, etc?

 

[Snoopdogie187]

Yea, well I havent tried skype, but its only random programs that are having no sounds and are not muted through the program and through vista. It should be just a driver incompatiblity but I can't get the proper driver to installe.

 

[deleted122510]

How can you not get them - you can't find them or you just cant install them?

 

[Snoopdogie187]

I have old ones on my laptop, I tried the drivers that came with my computer (off of a cd), I downloaded the newest ones from toshibas website and ever one of them failed. I think they all time out at some point.

I think I'm going to do a complete reinstall of Vista (I have had random problem for awhile now, but was never able to find my cd for it until recently). I just have to find out how I can save a lot of files i have without putting them on an external hard drive or cds (I wouldn't have enough space)

Also, I turned on my laptop today and it Installed a driver for the soundcard and I dont think its the realtek one but its working better.

And also I can't use headphone at all. It does nothing, and I know I that the headphones/jack does work.

 

[deleted122510]

Ah, sounds like you do need a fresh clean install of Vista.

 

[Snoopdogie187]

Any thoughts on how to do that with keeping all my current files, programs i don't care about, those i will take the time to reinstall.

 

[deleted122510]

"Upgrade" to Windows 7? This keeps all your files and gives you a better OS.