Troubleshooting PC microphone (where is it)?

Where is the microphone on an IBM A31p Windows XP laptop?

I signed up for Skype and I can talk with headphones and a mic.
I can HEAR with the PC speakers so all I need is the external mike.

But doesn't the IBM A31p laptop have an internal microphone?
Where would it be?
How do I troubleshoot it?

I already went to the control panel "Sounds and Audio Devices" "Audio"
tab to select the only "Default device" for "Sound recording" which
was:
SoundMAX Digital Audio

The microphone is NOT muted but I can't seem to adjust the volume know
more than three ticks out of ten in the "Recording Control" advanced
button.

Any idea how to troubleshoot the default microphone in an IBM A31p
laptop?

Do you have a manual? It just may tell you how to enable it.


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"

"Shaft Drive" <motorcycleshaftdrive@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1124665863.296128.270410@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
> Where is the microphone on an IBM A31p Windows XP laptop?
>
> I signed up for Skype and I can talk with headphones and a mic.
> I can HEAR with the PC speakers so all I need is the external mike.
>
> But doesn't the IBM A31p laptop have an internal microphone?
> Where would it be?
> How do I troubleshoot it?
>
> I already went to the control panel "Sounds and Audio Devices" "Audio"
> tab to select the only "Default device" for "Sound recording" which
> was:
> SoundMAX Digital Audio
>
> The microphone is NOT muted but I can't seem to adjust the volume know
> more than three ticks out of ten in the "Recording Control" advanced
> button.
>
> Any idea how to troubleshoot the default microphone in an IBM A31p
> laptop?
>

What makes you think there is one?
IBM doesn't mention one in their specs.
Most laptops don't have one.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-58281

"Shaft Drive" <motorcycleshaftdrive@yahoo.com> wrote in
message
news:1124665863.296128.270410@z14g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
> Where is the microphone on an IBM A31p Windows XP laptop?
>
> I signed up for Skype and I can talk with headphones and a
> mic.
> I can HEAR with the PC speakers so all I need is the
> external mike.
>
> But doesn't the IBM A31p laptop have an internal
> microphone?
> Where would it be?
> How do I troubleshoot it?
>
> I already went to the control panel "Sounds and Audio
> Devices" "Audio"
> tab to select the only "Default device" for "Sound
> recording" which
> was:
> SoundMAX Digital Audio
>
> The microphone is NOT muted but I can't seem to adjust the
> volume know
> more than three ticks out of ten in the "Recording
> Control" advanced
> button.
>
> Any idea how to troubleshoot the default microphone in an
> IBM A31p
> laptop?
>

On 21 Aug 2005 16:11:03 -0700, "Shaft Drive"
<motorcycleshaftdrive@yahoo.com> wrote:

>But doesn't the IBM A31p laptop have an internal microphone?
>Where would it be?

If it has one, it might be on the top screen surround, or on the front
of the main case But maybe it hasn't. Not all laptops do.

There's a Mic socket, I think. Is there one or two Mic devices in
the Mixer? If only one, the socket is all there is.

Richard Urban [MVP] wrote:
> Do you have a manual? It just may tell you how to enable it.

No I do not but I may be able to find a PDF of the manual on the IBM
support web site.

However, I don't think the "settings" are the problem as I went through
the very extensive and perhaps the best written layman's help I've ever
seen at:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/soundsetup_win2k.html

Yet, still I can't get the internal mic to work (everything else seems
to work find).

I wonder if this IBM A31p even HAS an internal mic?

Pen wrote:
> What makes you think there is one?
> IBM doesn't mention one in their specs.
> Most laptops don't have one.
> http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-58281


Hi Pen,
Indeed! Fundamentally, I suspect there isn't a microphone but I don't
know if one exists as I never needed it before I installed SKYPE. I
think I have to agree with you that there may not be an internal mic as
I don't SEE anything on the outside (I'm familiar with the little set
of three holes, the assemblage of a dozen holes, the single hole mic,
etc.).

Thanks for the pointer to the web site. I think you found my problem.
There doesn't seem to be an internal mic on the IBM A31p Thinkpad
laptop!

I am currently tethered to the PC with a computer headet (stereo
speakers + mic) and that works fine for SKYPE purposes; but I think,
since this laptop has bluetooth built in, that I may get a bluetooth
headset?

Any experience with that?

If I get a bluetooth headset & mic, would the IBM laptop bluetooth
handle that so that I could walk around the house untethered to my
computer to use my computer to make free telephone calls all over the
world to other computers?

Thanks for any and all advice!

Best summary I know of IBM PC specs is the "Dodson sheets", also known
as PSREF. One place you can find them is
http://www.pc.ibm.com/pcinstitute/mxw10.html

I'm not sure whether they cover the presence/absence of built-in mikes
on the Thinkpads... but they should.

go here,
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-58281

doesn't say anything about mic...

Shaft Drive wrote:
>
> Where is the microphone on an IBM A31p Windows XP laptop?
>
> I signed up for Skype and I can talk with headphones and a mic.
> I can HEAR with the PC speakers so all I need is the external mike.
>
> But doesn't the IBM A31p laptop have an internal microphone?
> Where would it be?
> How do I troubleshoot it?
>
> I already went to the control panel "Sounds and Audio Devices" "Audio"
> tab to select the only "Default device" for "Sound recording" which
> was:
> SoundMAX Digital Audio
>
> The microphone is NOT muted but I can't seem to adjust the volume know
> more than three ticks out of ten in the "Recording Control" advanced
> button.
>
> Any idea how to troubleshoot the default microphone in an IBM A31p
> laptop?

On 21 Aug 2005 16:11:03 -0700, Bob Horvath wrote:
> Check this link
> http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/...6/a31p-09.html
>
> It appears that you need something called an "ultraport" to fit in the
> "ultrabay", then addons plug into that.

It appears from that text that the microphone is an add-on feature:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/...6/a31p-09.html

"Another innovative feature is the addition of the UltraPort connector,
which is located at the top of the screen. The UltraPort connector can
be used for a variety of devices, including the UltraPort Camera II,
the Bluetooth UltraPort module, the UltraPort Flash Reader, UltraPort
IDRA, and the UltraPort Array Microphone."