Broken Microphone?

I attempted to make a Skype call, though even after I cranked the microphone and enabled the booster in the driver menu, though the only time they could hear me was when I tapped or flicked the computer. Even making a low pitched noise an inch from the microphone didn't make any noise.

Is this a common problem?

 

I've got the same mic problem, but I believe it's software related. I've got the xp 160 GB 6 cell from Amazon. I've installed about 20 programs on it so maybe one of them interfered with the mic (but I doubt it). I had my mic working once by removing and reinstalling Realtek HD Audio sw. The fix didn't last and next time aa1 turned on, no mic. See a lot of messages about this on windows xp software section. The problem is not universal, because I checked an aa1 in Costco and the mic worked. Don't waste your time calling Acer. Their official resonse is to reinstall windows (or other op sys) and if mic not working send it back. One person with problem said reinstalling xp didn't solve deaf mic.

Easiest way to test this is to run Sound Recorder. You get a visual of the sound from the mic, and if you don't see any squiglies when you tap it, it's deaf.

 

Well. I just tried the mic again in sound recorder and I can't seem to make it move at all! Seems very odd, though I don't think it would be of very good quality anyway, I will probably go down to the store and pick up the smallest one I can find.

 

I f you can't get squigglies with the sound recorder you probably have the deaf mic problem. By the way when this built in mic work, it works great so this is a frustrating problem. You can check the mic level from sound recorder and make sure you have the mic selected and volume cranked up. If you have all this and mic is not recording, welcome to the deaf mic problem. The XP Acers I've tried in Costco work, I wonder if this is a problem related to the version XP. i Have ver 2002 Home edition with SP3, so it seems to be as up to date as XP can be. Very frustrating.

 

That's what i thought regarding my mic but it works perfectly in the special AA1 puppy linux (acer-puppy-410-27.iso)

So far i didn't have any luck with it in other linux distro's.

 

The Acer puppy linux must be handling the mic correctly. The factory installed xp I have can not receive sound from built in mic. My aa1 works fine with an external mic and can even accept a stereo mic. To determine if I caused the problem by installing programs, I used system restore (start, run restore) and restored my aa1 to the day I first received it. The mic was still deaf indicating to me that none of the programs I added caused the problem. I think this is an Acer problem with some of the xp (and maybe other os) drivers. I think there are non xp (ie linux) aa1s that also have deaf mics. One person even did a complete reinstall of xp but it didn't allow his mic to hear. It irks me that Acer won't get involved in solving this problem, but I guess it's up to us. Unfortunately not everyone has the problem, and Acer may have fixed it on newer units because the ones I've tried at Costco work.

 

That's funny, because I bought three of them from Costco that had the deaf mic. Finally I bought one from Wal-Mart and the mic works perfectly. I have compared mine to my friends and there doesn't appear to be any difference between them, Bios is the same. Of course I did all this before I found out about the driver issues so was not able to compare those yet.

 

Thanks for that information. I'll bet the solution involves removing and reinstalling certain software (probably the Realtek HD and/or AC97 drivers). I was playing around with this in a car and actually got my mike working until next power up. It worked really well, and was very sensitive without being scratchy. Unfortunately I was trying so many things I don't remember exactly what I did, although at that time I was probably only removing HD.

When looking at the Realtek HD sw it will say something like Realtek HD Driver Set Up (2.59) R1.94. I'm thinking this means that the installation/setup program (ver 2.59) and the drivers (ver 1.94) each have their own versions. In one post someone thought an older sw package (2.45) R1.78 worked, but so far nothing has permanently cured my deaf mic. I checked the driver on a working Costco AA1, and it was the standard issue HD ver 5.10.0.5628. Once the sw is installed, if there is a difference in setup versions, I don't know how you would find out. Oh well, the quest for a working mic continues.

 

I have the same problem with deaf microphone. I have found solution (not fully) to resolve this problem.
I run msconfig (type msconfig in Run window - Start/Run) and in tab "Run" (I think that is called in english xp version, I use polish edition xp) and disable RTHDCPL. After rebooting microphone works great until we load Realtek configuration program. I don't know what is happening, but if you run this program, the microphone will be deaf. I hope my solve will be useful.

 

Sounds like the deaf mic is related to some Realtek issue. Your suggestion sounds quite interesting, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. It might be dependent on which Realtek HD drivers you are using. A person on the xp software forum says the mic only works when a version R1.78 Realtek drivers are used and the rthdcpl.exe is run. So some have solved it running rthdcpl with ver 1.78 drivers and some by not running it. Unfortunately, neither fix worked for me.

 

I don't think its a broken microphone, i had the same problem but i fixed mine. Heres the link give it a shot you guys

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8968

 

If still facing issues with mic on XP, please see additions to this post http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=7595

I was experiencing "deaf mike" on one of my units and solved in ~30 mins. Note in Realtek HD app, mixer tab, need to make sure mic is selected, and with enough volume (halfway suffices).

Hope this helps.

 

I have a dead mike too, but the external works OK, and I have the 110 ZG5 Linpus model, which doesn't have any sound recorder. My entreaties in another post have gone unanswered- what is a decent Linpus audio recorder. All your stuff about Realtek apply to the Linpus model? All I can find in settigs or advanced menu is playback, recording,options w Mic Boost and Capture controls (both with mic and speaker- how do you capture a speaker?). I've already loaded my data and a bit of software on it, so don't want to bring it back (+ won't), but having to mess with an external mike is a huge inconvenience. Even with the external mike, though, I couldn't get sound with the webcam- is that normal?

On another note I was playing with the video player to see which was best and in the Mplayer, a white audio slider appeared and got turned way down to 3 of 10 in a flash, then disappeared, since then the audio is quieter on everything

 

MobileMan, sorry but all my experiences were with XP.I know "0" about Linux on A1s.

 

No experience other than xp either, but sound recorder is just an easy way to test the mic. Other applications like Skype would work just as well. I share your sentiments exactly, too much software on it to take back, but the mic would save a lot of messing with external mic or headset. I actually had my built in mic working 3 times only to see it stop for unknown reasons (probably getting stomped by other sw). When it was working I got a chance to evaluate it as a mic for skype. Unless I spoke within a few inches of the mic (inconvenient) my voice was distant with room sounds mixed in. In my opinion the headset will always give better phone sound like with Skype. So I guess I can live without it, but on those occasions when I don't want to mess with a headset it would have been nice.

 

How many xp sp3 aa1 users still have the deaf mic problem?

 

I still have the deaf mic problem. I have tried every suggestion offered on this board, several times, and still no mike.

 

Yeah, if I scream into it from 2 inches, people can hear something on Skype, but I have no other program to directly check it. The Fedora repositories list no audio or sound recorder (though there are a couple of editors). Almost installed a host of sound programs: all the ALSA and Pulse-Audio ones, a couple of mixers, gstream plug-ins, totem movie player. But really want advice on what is good from Linux guru.

Has anyone taken their bad mike machine apart and checked the wires- it really could be simple as a loose plug that takes second to fix. Do that NOW and report back, so I don't rip my machine apart for nothing. Think I have the same sound card Intel 82801G (iich7Family)... HD Audio Controller REALTEK Alc 662G/268 as you Windows people. If one could buy a button mike, just a 1/4" thick mike on a jack, that could stay plugged in all the time, this wouldn't be such a big issue. But without the built in mike, it's utility as a PHONE or communicator is greatly diminished.



ASPIRE ONE 110 ZG5, Linpus, 512K, w Skype, VLC player, all Live Updates, + a few Software Updates, advanced menu

 

[Yeah, if I scream into it from 2 inches, people can hear something on Skype, but I have no other program to directly check it.]

You should be able to check by yourself by making the skype test call. From my experience if you can hear any part of your voice played back it's just a matter of setting the volume (or perhaps mic boost) higher. Of course I'm not familiar with how you would crank the mic up if not xp. For those of us with xp and the deaf mic, there is no way to get a sound even if you scream into the mic. Having seen my mic work and stop working 3 times for unknown reasons, I know when it's working it's not a bad mic and you wouldn't need to scream into it. However consider the phone headsets people use with their cell phones. The mic portion ends up pretty close to your mouth (within a few inches). I think the bezel mic on the Acer would always be poor compaired to a headset. The time I tried the acer mic my voice sounded distant with a lot of room noise mixed in.

 

For those of us with xp, how would we test the mic from a terminal mode? The idea is perhaps we can bypass the Realtek software and even other xp issues and talk directly to the mic in terminal mode, directing it to record and playback. People talk about doing this in linux, as a way of testing the mic but can we do it in xp.