how can i hear the mic while playing,and not recording?

please please help, i've been trying all day to record a song but besides all the other problems i'm having, i can't hear my guitar while playing, only after it is recorded. in my old computer i used to go to the windows xp volume mixer and set playback volume on mic high, and it would do fine, but now i can't find this option... please, i beg your help, i'm supposed to have recorded this song a long time now and simply can't do anything with this new computer. my config is: win 7 64 bit, built-in soundcard from intel motherboard DP55WB

when i go to the 'realtek hd audiomanager' and in the microphone tab set the playback volume to maximum, i think i can hear some really quiet sound humming on the background while strumming my guitar... it's so strange because it records on normal volume.

thanks for any suggestions, and sorry if i ask something stupid because i'm kind of noob with these things

If you're trying to record Guitar you're going in at "Line" level, not "Mic" level, try raising the Line IN level.

To monitor (hear) through the Realtek device there's a tab called "Listen", you may have to activate this function.

Go to Control Panel/"Sound", all the record/playback functions for your device can be adjusted there.

Ap

thanks for the support, but i couldn't find the 'listen' tab you said, i found only the 'playback volume' under the 'recording volume'... and as i'm a total noob i was recording in the mic hole, i'll use the line-in from now on.. thanks again

The Best i could ever offer anyone is this advice. Creative sound cards have a selection called "what you hear" and it records or picks up what the computer is outputting. try that.

well.. the problem is exactly that i'm Not hearing the guitar...:) but in win7 this works differently, and i dont have a dedicated creative soundcard, mine is from the motherboard. but for the win7 there's a great tutorial here in this post: "What U Hear" Recording - Enable
cheers