Hello everybody!
In today’s video, I’ll show you what to do if your microphone suddenly stopped working,
how to find out why it happened and fix
the problem.
It can happen out of the blue, for example, after an update, installation of an application
or new drivers.
Windows 10 users are facing this problem more and more often, especially after the latest
update.
The mike can stop working for the entire system, or for some programs only - such as Skype.
I’m going to show you what to do if your mike stops working properly, be it after an
operating system update or after the user made some changes to the system settings.
First of all, make sure the mike is connected properly: its connector is usually red or
pink, or there is a corresponding symbol of a microphone.
If you have it connected to the front panel of your system unit, try reconnecting it to
the back panel.
After you’ve seen that your mike is connected and you’ve done it properly, you can move
on to the next step.
Sound settings Now right-click on the speaker symbol in the
system tray and select “Open Sound settings.”
If you see the mike scale moving, it means the mike is working, and if it doesn’t move
at all while you’re speaking into the mike, then there must be something wrong with it.
In Input settings, try clicking on Troubleshoot, then check your device and click Next; if
you see there are no problems found, go on, and if there is a chance to fix the issue,
agree and then test the mike again.
In the same settings, open “App volume and device preferences” in the section “Other
sound options,” and make sure that your input device is chosen correctly, or try clicking
on Reset to return to default settings.
If the input device is recognized and responds, then the problem is certainly not about your
hardware or drivers - it might be the latest April update that made some changes to privacy
settings.
Privacy settings If it really happened after the Windows 10
update check if apps are allowed to access the microphone.
In the latest version of this operating system, there are new privacy settings letting you
adjust the settings on how specific programs access your mike.
To see if that’s your case, open Settings by right-clicking on the Start menu and then
go to Privacy.
Select “Microphone” and make sure that apps can use it.
Otherwise, click here to change it and enable the option by dragging the slider to “On”
position.
Have a look below to see if the program having difficulties with the mike is granted access,
and enable it if it’s disabled.
If this program is not on the list, then it has no problems accessing the mike.
You should also enable access for Win32WebViewHost.
If there is the same problem with your camera, change the camera’s settings to let apps
access it.
After all operations, check how the microphone works.
If nothing helped, let’s move on.
Configure recording devices Now you should check settings of your recording
devices.
For starters, make sure that it’s your mike that’s selected as the default recording
device.
To do it, right-click on the speaker symbol in the lower right corner of the screen (in
the tray) and select Sounds, then choose the Recording tab in the window that opens.
If your mike is shown here but it’s not selected as the default device, right-click
on it and choose “Set as default device” and “Set as default communication device.”
If you see your mike on this list and it’s already set as the default device, choose
it and open Properties.
Go to the Levels tab to see if it’s disabled here, and set the mike level closer to 100.
In the tab Advanced, try checking off exclusive mode options.
If the mike is not on this list, right-click here and check the boxes next to showing disabled
and disconnected devices.
If the mike appeared, but it’s inactive, right-click on it and select “Enable.”
If the mike doesn’t work properly yet, try another way.
Device Manager Start Device Manager by right-clicking on
the Start menu.
Open the section “Audio inputs and outputs” If your mike is not shown here, it must be
disabled, connected incorrectly, out of order, or there is a driver problem.
If the mike is shown but there is an exclamatory mark next to it, right-click on it and select
“Uninstall.”
Then go to the Device Manager menu and click on Actions / Scan for hardware changes.
There are chances that the mike will start working again.
And if the mike is not shown here at all try reinstalling sound card drivers; open the
section “Sound, video and game controllers”, right-click on the sound card and select “Uninstall”
then go to Action / Scan for hardware changes.
As a result, drivers will be reinstalled to your computer again, and now you can check
how the mike works again.
If this trick didn’t fix the problem, go to the website of your motherboard manufacturer
to download suitable drivers and install them manually.
If you are wondering how to find out the manufacturer’s name and update hardware drivers, watch one
of our videos by following the link in the description.
The mike doesn’t work with a specific program If your mike works all right and is shown
in the system settings, but it doesn’t work with specific programs, for example, Skype,
or another one, the program may be misconfigured, as it may have its own mike settings.
Even if you set up the mike correctly in the operating system, their settings may differ,
and a certain program won’t be able to use the mike as it is supposed to.
What’s more, if you disconnected the device from the computer, and then connected it again,
the settings might be reset.
So if your mike doesn’t work with a specific program, open the program settings to configure
the sound devices properly.
You may have to specify the right mike for the program to use, and everything will be
alright.
To configure it in Skype, open Tools / Options/ Audio settings, select your mike, and check
the box next to “Automatically adjust microphone settings” and click Save.
It should get the mike working.
If this method didn’t help you - again - most likely you have some issue with the mike or
your computer’s hardware.
It might be a damaged mike cable, a disconnected cable, a damaged connector or other things.
Test the mike with another computer.
That is all for now.
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Thank you for watching.
Good luck.