Dead mic channel on NForce card

[Tom41]

I have an ASUS motherboard (full of Rubycons, but that's another story) with an on-board NVidia NForce video/graphics card. Recently I noticed that the signal from the microphone was not coming through at all.

I've tried two different microphones, and have confirmed that the microphones themselves aren't faulty (they work on my other PC). On this sound card, the microphone input is not amplified and passed through to the speakers - nor can I record anything from the microphone input.

I've also tried both front and rear microphone sockets, and played around with the Windows mixer settings - still nothing. I've also checked all wires going to the front panel are secure as well.

Windows still acts like the microphone channel is present; it's selectable in the mixer and I can adjust the level - so I doubt it's a problem with the drivers. Could I possibly have knocked a jumper or DIP switch when changing the GPU fan recently?

Since it's onboard, I can't easily take the card out and have a look for obvious faults. Has anyone else had problems like this with NForce cards?
NB: the Line Input channel is still working; both pass-through and record.

[kc8adu]

Re: Dead mic channel on NForce card

stick the line in into the mic and try.
if it works then the mic in is not supplying bias for the mic.
might be a jumper for that.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Dead mic channel on NForce card

If it is a crystal mic, it needs a small voltage to work. Like KC8 said, there may be a jumper to set the mic type.

Try a dynamic mic and see if that works. You could also try plugging a set of non-amplified speakers or headphones in the mic jack, they will act as a mic and pick up enough sound to tell you if the input is working.

[Tom41]

Re: Dead mic channel on NForce card

I tried plugging a tape player into the mic socket, and still nothing came through. Tried both front and rear mic sockets; neither worked. I'd assume that if it was working, it would try to amplify the tape player's sound signal and end up distorting - but it's still completely silent.

Perhaps I should try a Live Linux CD to see if it is actually the Windows drivers...