Ok here is the basic problem I have:
I have an Acer Aspire 5630, which is about 9 years old. It's had issues over the years but has been fairly reliable considering its age. This morning I tried to use the internal microphone for communicating over the web but there was absolutely no sound being picked up. As I've had issues with the sound drivers on and off for a couple of years, with regards to playback, I went through the normal process I'd usually follow to fix that, namely:
run realtek hd audio manager and adjust volumes / uncheck muted devices
run windows volume control and adjust volumes / uncheck muted devices
run hardware troubleshooter to make sure microphone settings have not been changed / disabled
run device manager to check hardware conflict does not exist and/or device disabled / outdated
system windback to last time I recall microphone working properly
Visit Acer website and get latest realtek hd audio drivers for windows xp
visit realtek website and get latest realtek hd audio drivers for windows xp
Still no sound when I speak. Curioursly during the hardware test it was detecting noise from the laptop fans and movement of the keyboard / hard drive, but speach just sounded like mechanical waves not an actual voice.
I suspect the microphone may be broken, but as I'm not a technician I'm not sure if I've eliminated all the possible checks to prove this. I have a newer laptop I can use in the meantime, but if this can be fixed I'd like to know how.
Anyone have any suggestions of something else I might try?
