Realtek HD Audio microphone not working

Hi there,

I have recently built my own computer for the first time, and it seems to have gone pretty well. The only problem is that I can't seem to use a microphone, and it's really frustrating. First of all, when I plug the microphone into the front panel, the computer thinks i've Unplugged it. Similarly, when I take the plug out, it thinks I've put it in. I have checked the connection between the front panel sockets and the motherboard and all seems to be correct. I've also changed to AC97 and changed the BIOS settings to AC97 and that hasn't worked. The annoying thing is that when I plug the mic into the rear pink jack, it STILL doesn't work (it detects that there's a mic plugged in, but the mic just doesn't work). I've just reinstalled the realtek driver, but to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you so much for any responses.

John.

By the way my specs are ASUS P8H77-M motherboard, coolermaster elite case, intel i5 core, realtek HD audio. I also have a Geforce GTX660 graphics card connected via HDMI to a monitor, and the sound comes out of the monitor. Could this be anything to do with the problem?

The HDMI may be the culprit. When you use HDMI, the HDMI audio is generated on board the video card and becomes the default playback device and your RealTek (listed as "Speakers" in the Sound Playback panel) is not used.

The HD Audio connector should be used as it has more automatic detection.

If you have a DVI or VGA connection to the Monitor (or another monitor you can use) try that and disconnect the HDMI cable. If you don't have regular PC speakers, you can use a headset to listen for testing.

Two other things, (1) Make sure you are using the RealTek sound driver supplied by ASUS and not the generic Windows installed HD Audio Codec. (2) in the Sound Panel, Recording section, make the "System Mixer" the default recording device (if its not set).

Thank you very much for the response. I can only connect a DVI cable to my graphics card, and my monitor doesn't have DVI, so I have to use HDMI. There is a VGA port on the motherboard, and I have a VGA port on the monitor, so could I use that? I'm sure I saw in a manual that you shouldnt use the motherboard VGA port with a graphics card connected.

Also, is the 'system mixer' the same as 'stereo mix''? I can't find 'system mixer' but it does say 'stereo mix'

Thanks for your help,
John

First, stereo mix is the same as system mixer. Usually, with RealTek its listed as system mixer so I didn't reference what else it could be called (e.g. SoundBlaster calls this "what you hear").

You could use the VGA from the PC to the monitor, for testing to see if the HDMI is what is causing the problem. The VGA video would be from the built in video in the i5 CPU (Intel HD2500 video). I'm using that on one of my home built PC's with an i5 3550 CPU and its working OK for what I use it for (I don't use it for gaming or high end video). If you want to use that, for testing, remove the Video Card so the BIOS will automatically change to the i5 CPU's video.

So there's no way I'll be able to use the mic with HDMI? semms really strange. And why does the PC think i've plugged the mic in when i've actually taken it out and vice versa?

The problem with plugged in or out, is either the connector is plugged in wrong (assuming its OK on the motherboard) a wiring problem with the cable or a problem with the case front panel (I've had bad front panels on two new cases). One other thing to try, since it detects it when you plug into the Pink mic jack, is to first disconnect the front panel connection from the motherboard, as the problem with the plugged in or not plugged in may be conflicting with the rear mic jack. Give this a try first and see what happens.