Help for mic problem

Before I start, this is a pretty convoluted solution I arrived at after 6-ish hours of troubleshooting so it probably won't work for everyone. I figured I'd post it here anyway since it's the first thread about this issue if you search on Google. I'll try to be as descriptive as possible. This walkthrough takes about 1.5 hours to complete.

My laptop is a Predator PH317-54 that I bought only about 2 weeks ago.

TL;DR: An absolutely ridiculous Realtek issue that SHOULD NOT be present in a $1,500 laptop. Go through this walkthrough if you want but you're better off exchanging your laptop for a replacement or returning it and getting another one from another manufacturer.

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-- First, download Realtek's old Dell audio driver from this link: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=y2rjg

-- Run the installer to set up driver 6.0.1.8549 from Feb 2019

-- Select the restart option once the uninstallation of your current driver is complete. Then wait about 30 seconds for the installer to begin automatically when your computer restarts.

-- After the restart, the second phase of the installation begins automatically. You'll probably get the error below:

 

-- Interestingly, you can ignore this since the driver is installed anyway. You can verify this by going to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Recording and seeing that "Microphone Array" has been replace with "Microphone" and it should be working. You should also see a notification asking you to restart again (see image below this one). If you don't see this, try running the installer for driver 6.0.1.8549 again. I had to run it twice to get this.

-- You can also verify this through the sound settings by right-clicking on the volume icon and go to Open Sound Settings:

-- At this point you have an option to disable automatic driver installation in Windows' settings so you can stay on Dell's driver but that's probably not recommended for Acer laptops.

-- Go ahead and restart your device to complete the installation. You may need to restart twice if you get the notification below after the first restart:

 

-- After the restart, go back to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Recording then you should see the following:

 

-- Do the following in sequence:

  -- Enable Stereo Mix

  -- Disable Microphone array

  -- Right click on Stereo Mix as the "default device" if it isn't already

  -- Re-enable Microphone Array and set it as "default communication device" if it isn't already

-- You should now see that the Microphone Array is working (hopefully). You can verify this by lightly tapping on the microphone. The mics are usually located at the top of the screen near the camera.

 

-- If you got this far, awesome. I'm surprised it worked for someone else. Let's update to the latest driver now.

-- Go to the following link if you have a PH317-54: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/8482?b=1 . If you don't, click "find another model" on that page and look up your laptop.

-- Expand the Driver section and download the "Audio" driver

-- Unzip the download and run setup.exe in the extracted files.

-- The installer will ask you to restart twice. Once after the uninstall of the old driver and once after the installation of the new one.

-- After your computer restarts, go back to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Recording and ONLY RIGHT-CLICK and enable Stereo Mix. Now you should see that Microphone Array is working. You can lightly tap on the built in mic to test this.

-- DO NOT GO BACK to your sound settings and run the troubleshooter or change the default device to anything other than Stereo Mix (see image). The "Test your microphone" section will remain blank. This is fine. Stupid, yes, but fine.

-- Again, leave your default device as Stereo Mix and leave the Microphone Array as the default communication device.

-- If you did run this and the Microphone Array is not working. Try the following:

  -- Disable both devices

  -- Plug in a headset with a mic

  -- Enable Stereo Mix

  -- Enable Mic array and set it to default communication device if it isn't already

-- If that didn't work, keep try with different combinations and tap on the laptop mic to test. I don't really have a process for this, it kinda came back on it's own after a bunch of tries.

-- Below is a test in Discord to show that my mic is working now. I also tested this with my headphones and they seem to work fine.

-- If you made it this far, congratulations! You've fixed an absolutely ridiculous issue with Realtek. Leave any feedback below and I'll try to remember to visit these forums to check and respond.

~Ramund_Hin_Unge