# Can't record sound



## zase8 (Jul 23, 2006)

Hi!

I can't record sound. When I plug the microphone in, I hear sound coming out of the speakers so I know that it is working. But when I run any type of sound recording program, none of them seem to pick up any sounds from the mic. I've checked all the menus, properties, volume controls. But I don't think the problem is with that, I can hear sounds, just can't record them. It was working a few months earlier. I didn't not update my computer recently, so that can't be the problem. I have however I very bad sound card. AC 97. I play Age of Empires 2 and the game won't run with this card. A few months back, I've been trying all different settings with my card to get the game to run. In the end I had to completly disable it to get the game working. Maybe I have changed some microphone settings then. I remember going into BIOS and fiddling there. So can anyone suggest someway to set all the sound settings to default, or what I can do? Thanks in advance.


----------



## xg3nx (Aug 6, 2005)

Well. I suggest going out and buying a cheapie sound card. You can get a nice 24 bit Creative Live! sound card for about 15 dollars. But if you are REALLY cheap, the most i can say, in your sound recording program, make sure that the soundcard is selected and not default wave mapper. That throws a lot of programs off with me also. Not sure why :-\


----------



## chauffeur2 (Feb 7, 2006)

G'Day zase8. Welcome to TSF.

Please try these steps in order....

Right click on the Volume Control in the System Tray [near the clock]..If you don't have the Volume Control icon in the taskbar, do this..
Go Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices > tick the box 'Place Volume icon in the taskbar' > Apply > OK.
Now: Open Volume Control > Options > Properties > Playback > scroll down and make sure that all of the following are ticked: Volume Control; Wave; SW Synth; Front; CD Player; Line-In; and, 'microphone'. Now click Recording, and tick the following: Stereo Mix; CD Player; Line-In ; Microphone. Now click Playback again > OK.
Back to Options > Advanced > there should now be an 'Advanced button on the Microphone, click it > tick the box ' 1 Mic Boost' Close, and exit out of Volume Control.

Now right click on the System Tray Icon again > Adjust Audio Properties > at the bottom next to Speaker Volume, click Advanced and set the type of speakers you have from the drop down box > OK. Now click on Speaker Volume and make sure that the volume is not turned down >OK.

Now go Voice > Test Hardware, and the Test wizard will run you through a test to see that everything is [hopefully] working, and when your done > OK >OK.

As I said hopefully you should now have recordable sound, but if not post back and we'll scratch our heads again.:wink:


----------



## zase8 (Jul 23, 2006)

chauffeur2 said:


> Now right click on the System Tray Icon again > Adjust Audio Properties > at the bottom next to Speaker Volume, click Advanced and set the type of speakers you have from the drop down box > OK. Now click on Speaker Volume and make sure that the volume is not turned down >OK.
> 
> Now go Voice > Test Hardware, and the Test wizard will run you through a test to see that everything is [hopefully] working, and when your done > OK >OK.
> 
> As I said hopefully you should now have recordable sound, but if not post back and we'll scratch our heads again.:wink:


I can't find the part about the speaker volume or the test wizard.

I remember I had this problem a couple years back, and I think the test wizard actaully fixed it that time. Now could you please help me find this test wizard. I am running Windows 2000. I tried to follow your steps, but couldn't find it. Thanks.


----------



## zase8 (Jul 23, 2006)

Ok, nevermind, I've found the wizard I used last time. The microphone is now working properly. Thanks to everyone who responded.


Anybody who has microphone problems try this: 

Start>Run, type "dxdiag" (without the quotes), hit enter.
Click on the "Network" tab. When it loads, click on the "DirectPlay Voice Options" it is near the middle of the page. Then click "Run Wizard..." Go through all the steps. Worked for me.

Thanks again.


----------



## chauffeur2 (Feb 7, 2006)

Sorry, the directions I gave were for Xp not WIN2000.
Anyway, thanks for the tip and letting us know that you got it sorted out.


----------



## philiphoward (Aug 5, 2006)

I might have a similar problem...

I have just bought a headset. I can hear all sound fine through the headphones. I have performed the Windows microphone tests mentioned above, and while the level indicator does move slightly sometimes when I speak into the microphone, it never gets very high unless I tap the microphone. On playback of the test phrases ("This Papaya Tastes Perfect" etc) I can only hear my speech intermittently, at a very low volume, and with crackle.

All sliders are turned "up" in Volume Control, all mutes are "off". 

I tried the "dxdiag" (directplay voice wizard) and had this result:
_
Full Duplex: Passed
Half Duplex: Passed
Mic: Crashed
_
The error message was 0x80150173.

Can anyone understand my problem? 

Other info:
I have noticed that some sliders (e.g. Master Volume> Mic Volume> "Advanced", and also the one for SPDIF) are not movable - they only appear in half-colour and I can't do anything with them.

I'm not sure if the mic qualifies as "digital in" or "audio in" (I try to make sure everything is turned up just in case).


----------



## philiphoward (Aug 5, 2006)

Apparently that error code stands for "Already pending".


----------



## Kai Lien (Aug 30, 2006)

Hi there. I have the same problem as zase8 and I have realtek ac97 as well. You know what's weird is that my dvr worked before and now it just won't record sound at all. I finally found my nvidia audio ouput personal cinema box and connected the wires to the tv via svideo and I managed to record some nice video+sounds yesterday. Today, I tried to record but there are no sounds again! I really don't know why this is happening. Sometimes I will hear crackling sounds from the speakers too. I just followed *chauffeur2*'s instructions and the Direct Voice Play gave me this error code message: 0x80004005. 

I just remembered, I installed the Realtek AC'97 Drivers 3.91 yesterday. Perhaps that made the recording not work again? :embarased :sad: 
If that were the problem, how do I de-install that driver?


----------



## gillyguthrie (Oct 20, 2008)

I would like to add my two cents to any other people who may have this mysterious problem of being able to hear their mics and line in devices through their speakers, but sound recorder and other software will not register a sound input. Running dxdiag>>network tab>>Directplay Voice Options>>running the wizard fixed the problem in my case also. I think some poorly coded guitar tuner program I downloaded scrambled a driver or something somewhere. When I actually ran the wizard, I had a *lot* of static in the delay test which seemed like a problem, but my AIM chat/Skype/Sound Recorder worked again after running the wizard. I'm so thankful that I found the help on this forum and would like to thank the above posters for their help!

Mike [email protected]


----------



## gillyguthrie (Oct 20, 2008)

P.S. My motherboard has onboard Realtek Sound, it's curious that the above poster also had this problem with Realtek. I tried re-installing my drivers first of all (version 5.1 or so) to no avail, luckily the voiceplay wizard fixed me.


----------



## clucas (Nov 22, 2008)

my sound card driver doesnt support recordind is there an update or something i can do?


----------



## clucas (Nov 22, 2008)

my souncard doesnt support direct sound input any updates or something i can do 2 be able 2 record?


----------

