Muting Realtek internal microphone doesn't work

3

0

I have a rather strange issue: Muting the microphone doesn't actually mute it.

In the Microphone Settings panel I see it as being muted (graphically), my keyboard button that mutes it also lights up, however it still picks up sounds.

I'm on a laptop with an internal Realtek HD Audio soundcard and latest drivers running on Windows 8.1.

Any clue why Windows thinks it's muted and how to actually mute it?
Disabling it from the sound panel will work, but that's a bit extreme.

Francisc

Posted 2015-06-18T21:28:40.730

Reputation: 967

2Which laptop do you have? – Steven – 2015-06-21T14:32:30.297

Answers

1

Things to try :

  • Ensure that the Mic is connected to the right port (pink colored)
  • Run the Microsoft sound troubleshooter
  • Check Windows Update, optional section, for any driver updates
  • If no updates were found, check the computer manufacturer's support website for driver updates to the audio device and to the chipset
  • If the computer came pre-installed with a sound studio, check also for updates
  • Check also for a BIOS update (to install with very great caution)

If nothing works, let us know the computer model, sound card model and driver details.

harrymc

Posted 2015-06-18T21:28:40.730

Reputation: 306 093

The Microphone is embedded, all drivers and updates (including BIOS) are already to date. I'm using a Lenovo W541. – Francisc – 2015-06-21T18:22:01.123

Does this happen if you boot in Safe mode ?

– harrymc – 2015-06-21T18:40:36.920

I just tried that and the sound devices aren't loaded at all in Safe Mode. It ignores any device which doesn't perform a critical function. – Francisc – 2015-06-21T18:47:46.363

That's because it's unfortunately not a Microsoft driver. More tries, but as I'm not using Windows 8 you might need to adapt them: (1) In Control Panel -> Sound -> Recording, see if you have two microphones enabled: Notebook & Realtek, and if so disable the notebook microphone. (2) If in Properties for the microphone you have an Enhancements tab, ensure that "disable all sound effects" is unchecked. (3) Disable the microphone in the BIOS. (4) If all else fails, sometimes the only solution is putting a dummy plug into the microphone slot (cut-off from an unneeded microphone cable). – harrymc – 2015-06-21T20:11:03.703

Hey. There's only one microphone and it's the Realtek HD one. Well, there's a wireless bluetooth headphone which has a mic too, but that's not turned on. If I disable it from the Sound control panel, it will stop "listening", so I don't need to disable it from BIOS to get that done. I'll try to screencapture what happens so it's easier to understand. – Francisc – 2015-06-21T20:40:28.703

Please try to answer all my points above, for better understanding of your problem. – harrymc – 2015-06-22T09:12:07.203

For #2: there are no effects or anything other than default settings. For #3: what should I expect to observe by doing that? Seems to me it will do just that: disable the microphone and I can do that from Windows as it is. For #4: That will probably work, but I can disable from software, no need for hardware. – Francisc – 2015-06-22T16:09:06.343

#3: Windows does not use the BIOS, so the BIOS may be a problem. Another try: disable the wireless bluetooth headphone. More: check Windows integrity by sfc /scannow. Your problem is so weird that it may have strange causes.

– harrymc – 2015-06-22T18:14:48.440

I removed the Bluetooth headphone yesterday, no change. I can run the integrity check, but the laptop is brand new, I wouldn't expect that to be the problem. – Francisc – 2015-06-22T19:33:02.610

Integrity check finished without finding any errors. – Francisc – 2015-06-22T19:46:21.160

That's about all the ideas I could scare up regarding software. I'm starting to think that your problem is not software but hardware. I would suggest to get in touch with Lenovo Support. If they can't find a software solution, and if the computer is still under warranty, you could ask for a replacement. – harrymc – 2015-06-22T19:56:46.920

It's under warranty but Lenovo make it extra hard to actually be able to talk to them. They're a good customer-oriented company like that. :) Thank you for all your help. – Francisc – 2015-06-24T18:08:45.027

1

Do ensure that you have connected the sound card to the microphone. You wouldn't want to waste all your effort on just one small mistake! It is quite troublesome to open a laptop, but it may be worth it.

Check the Realtek website here to see if you need to update drivers. Also, try to see if there is any option to actually update the software/firmware of the sound card, it could fix some bugs, including this (if it is actually a bug).

If this does not work, try getting a new sound card. I do know this costs money, but it may help to solve the problem, especially if this sound card is old.

Alright, that's all I can think of. Good luck and hope you find the solution!

Brick

Posted 2015-06-18T21:28:40.730

Reputation: 111

Hi. All the drivers are up to date. There's no firmware update that I could find available. The soundcard, like the laptop, is brand-new. – Francisc – 2015-06-21T18:23:28.877

Asked: 2015-06-18T21:28:40.730

Viewed: 975 times

Active: 2018-08-10T14:58:39.863