No sound from the Microphone?

If you’re not able to get your microphone record any sounds, there are two settings to check in Windows XP

First Step: Adjusting the Microphone Muting

Double-Click on the Speaker Icon ( ) in your taskbar tray, which should be located at the bottom left of your screen. You should see the Volume Control bar come up: If you do not see the volume control appear, but rather a smaller window with just a volume slider and nothing else, try RIGHT-clicking on the speaker icon and choosing “Open Volume Control” from the context menu.

Adjust the Microphone Muting and Volume:
On the Volume Control, you’ll see volume sliders for different sound sources on your computer—if you already see an entry for “Microphone” make sure the “Mute” box underneath is Un checked, and also make sure the slider is all the way up. Close the Volume Control by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the window.

If you do not see a Microphone Volume Slider in the Volume Control:

If there is no “Microphone” entry in the Volume Control window, click on the “Options” menu (located in the upper right of the window) and choose “Properties”. A properties window will appear—place a check next to the entry for “Microphone” (you may need to scroll down the list) and then click “OK”. You should then be able to adjust the volume for your Microphone. Once you’ve completed these steps, try the audio test again to see if this has cleared up your problem. If not, try the steps below.

Second Step: Adjusting the Recording Source

If the steps above didn’t resolve your microphone problem, once again try to RIGHT-click on the Speaker Icon ( ) in the lower right corner of the screen, and choose “Adjust Audio Properties” from the menu. Click on the “Voice” tab in the window that appears. Under the “Voice Recording” area, click on the “Volume” button. This will bring up a window in which can select the recording source. Make sure that the “Microphone” column is selected by checking the “Select” box, and also make sure the volume slider is up all of the way. To save your changes, click on the X in the top right corner of the window.

Keywords: Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Multimedia