Low mic volume with any mic (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

[Miranda]

I have a Sager NP3265 laptop and use a Samson Go Mic. When I had my Acer Aspire 4540 laptop (motherboard died, so I bought the Sager), the mic worked extremely well - it was so sensitive that it could pick up my voice from far away.

But now with any program, the mic pretty much has to be close to my mouth to even hear me. The only exceptions seem to be Skype & Steam voice chat - people can hear me on there and I don't have to be close to my mic.

But when I use other programs like Audacity or video recording in MSI Afterburner, my mic volume is so low you can barely hear anything unless I raise my voice or have the mic annoyingly close.

Things I've tried:

• Uninstalling/reinstalling the driver - the Go Mic didn't come with a driver disc so it uses the one Windows provides and Windows detects it as Samson GoMic
• Disabling all other "recording" devices that were enabled
• Checking/unchecking "Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device"
• Switching to 1 channel, 16 bit, 48000 Hz (DVD quality) - (default was CD quality)
• Checking/unchecking "Listen to this device"
• Microphone levels setting is already at 100 - there's no boost option and it isn't muted
• Set as default recording device
• Using all three settings on the mic itself - it has unidirectional, omnidirectional, and -10db pad
• Different mics - I also tried the built-in microphone, my Xbox 360 headset, a mic plugged into the microphone jack and they all have the same results as the Go Mic
• Disconnecting other USB devices
• Updating audio drivers

Differences between the Aspire 4540 & Sager NP3265:

Acer used Realtek audio, Sager uses VIA audio
There are a lot of other differences like motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc, but I don't know if they're relevant to this mic issue
Both use Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

I've searched and found a lot of people with the same issues, but not really any solutions that work for me.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is using a diferent USB port, but I don't think that'll make a difference since my Xbox 360 controller was plugged into a different port than my mic and the headset ended up having the same volume issue.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

 

[UnicornBang]

I had the same exact problem miranda. Mobo died, bought a new one and would have to scream in my mic for it to register any sound. The problem is realtek and their drivers. I really hate them. You can try this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNULfk2yCqc

That method didn't work for me but it has worked for many people with the same problem and realtek drivers. My solution was buying a new mic with built in sound. I picked up a logitech g930. So I don't even bother with the realtek garbage anymore. I really hope that link helps you out. Good luck.

 

[Miranda]

Thanks for the reply. It was my old laptop that had Realtek. My current laptop uses VIA, so I can't try what's in that video.

I tried to use the options in the VIA manager, but only my speakers, stereo mix, and built-in mic show up in there - it doesn't show my USB mic. Messing around with the settings in VIA doesn't make the built-in one any better either.

[quote name='UnicornBang']My solution was buying a new mic with built in sound. I picked up a logitech g930. So I don't even bother with the realtek garbage anymore. I really hope that link helps you out. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

I've exhausted most of my options already, so I'm getting close to that point where I'll probably end up buying a new mic too.

 

[UnicornBang]

Sorry I couldn't help. But I will say after getting the new mic with the built in sound drivers I have had an amazing experience with games, movies, and music.