Lenovo microphone problems?

Discussion in 'Lenovo / IBM' started by acer93, Mar 16, 2016.

  1. acer93

    acer93

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    I am using a Lenovo ideapad 100 right now, a cheap laptop for internet use,
    It does have a microphone built in but works rarely. I read it on several places that Lenovo always had microphone problems with its machines.

    Any advice?
     
    acer93, Mar 16, 2016
    #1
    IBMPC8088 likes this.
  2. acer93

    IBMPC8088

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    I haven't used the Ideapad series yet, but if you have a usb port available (which I'm sure you do even if it's a smaller unit), you can always get a $4 or $6 usb audio device which has separate mic in and headphone out jacks. They're about that much on Amazon or Ebay. I gave some away to some DJs and musicians who needed them, but ordered a few more from Amazon a month or two ago when I was down to 1 extra.

    You wouldn't need to use the headphone out, but the mic in jack lets you connect any external microphone you like in the event that the built-in one stops working or isn't working the way you need it to.

    Sabrent and SYBA are both good choices for a cheap but versatile usb audio device for you if you find that trying to configure or reconfigure the built-in mic doesn't help (or you need something more if you need to do mixer-based sampling and recording with more than one line out or an auxiliary mic in that normally may not be there). I usually go with Syba because I liked it just a little better, but Sabrent is good and always works, too. There's another one that is good called C-audio that is a clone of these, but I haven't used it yet.

    I was mortified when I got an acer with a combojack that never seemed to work right no matter how it was configured. (Not just acer though, HP and even some asus models are doing this too now :-/ ) So I know how it sucks when you go to use the microphone and have to reconfigure it or do something else because it doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

    For some reason it only let you use one at a time, and even when I got the cable for it, it still wasn't able to work the way it was supposed to. Ironically, I fell back on my lenovo thinkpad (before the ideapad series) and it works without any of those hassles.

    Before I did, I ordered a usb audio adapter, and found that I can use that on the acer for the mic in if I need to without having to bother with the combojack, and can use it universally on just about any other laptop or desktop I have.

    Like spare flash drives for an emergency, it's always good to have at least 1 or 2 of these laying around that you can use in a pinch if there are ever audio problems or you need audio on a system that can see usb 1.1 or usb 2.0+, but is either without a sound card or having issue with recording.
     
    IBMPC8088, Mar 16, 2016
    #2
  3. acer93

    acer93

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    @IBMPC8088

    Thank you very much! This was a really useful advice.

    I am going to buy one of those USB audio devices you mentioned. While skyping it can be quite embarrassing to keep ask : do you hear me? do you hear me?
     
    acer93, Mar 17, 2016
    #3
  4. acer93

    rz3300

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    Well I am sorry to hear about your problems, and I can sympathize with you because I have had to deal with microphone problems before, and unfortunately they are pretty unfixable, at least from my experience. When I took mine in the people just gave it back and said that there was nothing that they could do without replacing a certain board and all of that and I just decided that it was not worth it. I hope you can find a better solution than I did.
     
    rz3300, Apr 10, 2016
    #4
  5. acer93

    acheno84

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    Sorry to hear about your mic issue. I had the same problem with mine as well. The guy at the store told me that it's common and usually keeps breaking after being sent back for repairs (thanks for pushing me to buy this thing in the beginning, jerk) so I picked up a USB audio device and it's been great ever since. :)
     
    acheno84, May 22, 2016
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  6. acer93

    Brandon Cole

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    Yeah I experienced the same problem when I used my Lenovo B560. Sadly, it's not just Lenovo. Manufacturers usually tend to save money by installing a very low quality mic. They'll usually break after a year or two. You can find a cheap mic from Five Below or Walmart. Would do wonders compared to the front-in mic.
     
    Brandon Cole, May 27, 2016
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