Help with Sound Recorder!

Hi! I am in a bit of a pickle trying to use my sound recorder .

My Dell Inspiron 700m laptop computer comes equipped with the SigmaTelAudio sound recorder. Basically, I am looking to record sound with a microphone that is plugged into my computer. When I run the test, nothing registers and on playback, I can't hear anything.

Is it possible the driver is not working or I need to plug my mic into a USB port instead & need an adapter?

I am pretty clueless about this stuff as I am a singer and artistic type, so any help explaining would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

Check the easy stuff first. Double click the speaker icon in your taskbar and verify that the mike isn't muted and the gain setting isn't bottomed out.

Then check that there may be a small switch on the mike that is turned off. Don't laugh, it happened to me once.

 

It's definitely none of that. There is a fuzz sound that plays back when I try to record.

 

If there are no errors indicated in Device Manager and you are sure your mike works and is plugged in properly, I am out of ideas. It could be a bad mike or a bad input stage to the card which wouldn't be shown as an error in Device manager. Perhaps un-install and re-install the audio software.