Windows 7: Mic not recognized, no sound

I have a built-in mic on an Inspiron 1521 laptop that does not work ever since I have installed Windows 7. I've been told it could be solved by installing drivers, but I'm not sure which drivers those would be. Also, I've looked at the settings and set one microphone as default, but it still wasn't recognizing the built-in mic at all. So if someone could please direct me to some drivers or give me some other kind of help, that would be appreciated. It's getting really annoying not being able to record anything for my podcast or talk to my international friends. >.<

You said you set the mic as default, but did you set it as default communication device too?

The problem is that it doesn't even recognize the mic. Like, it has a mic there to configure, but it's not actually my mic. I went onto Dell and tried to download the Sigmatel driver, but it kept giving me an error saying I had not selected anything to download, though I clearly had.

lol I hear ya man, but did you try to set it to default communication device?

That's what it looks like. That's not my mic. So that would be why it doesn't work.

Ya. That's wrong. Set it as default communication device too.

Yes, it is your mic.

How do I do that? And that's not what my mic was before. It actually says built-in or sigmatel, or something.

HE can't set it to default, it's already default, since its the only Mic device, and besides, the option is shaded out too.

Tried uninstalling the drivers for it, and running windows update?

I did that, and it disabled my speakers for a bit. I put that one as the default, but it is still not recognizing MY MIC.

So it has driver or are we helping you locate some?