Mic not working on CQ50Z in XP

[paulieweb]

I recently bought a Compaq CQ50Z. I downgraded from the default installed Vista to Windows XP Professional.

I used the instructions and drivers from these two sites:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=2938376&postcount=11

http://saysprasad.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/compaq- presario-cq50-107au-drivers-for-windows-xp/

and I read through this thread:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1520465

and all of the drivers are installed.
Device manager shows no unknown devices.

But the built-in microphone (part of the webcam?)
doesn't work. The Windows Sound mixer shows Line-In
and Microphone, but neither of those records any sounds.
The laptop only has a mic port, so I thought maybe
Line-In would help, but it doesn't.

 

[paulieweb]

Anybody know, if I use the recovery DVDs to recover my settings to how the computer came

will it install to the C: drive or the Windows drive?

 

[linney]

Recovery should have plenty of Warnings about what is about to do and perform. Usually it is along the lines that all data will be lost and the machine will be restored to the factory settings as of when it was shipped.

A retail DVD, or OEM DVD, not a Recovery DVD, will install Vista on a Partition that you specify as long as there is room for it.

You could check HP/Compaq's website for the exact procedure (and expected result) for your machine, it may even be mentioned in the manual.

Save your data before you go back to Vista if that is what you are intending.

 

[BadBigBen]

paulie - sorry that it wasn't that much help, about getting the mic to function correctly... I really do not understand why, all the info for it is in the driver...

about the recovery, C: and Windows, are the same unless you have the boot files on C: and windows installed on D: (or another partition)... now when you use the recovery CD, it will wipe the C: partition (and possibly any other partition), the purpose of such a CD is to put the Laptop into the state of Factory Reset...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[woowee]

Hi, I just stumbled across this site & thread because I've been having problems with getting my microphone (mic) to work. My main motivation for the needing the mic functioning is that my voip phone service's (Skype) softphone requires it. I've had it working before intermittently on my Fujitsu Lifebook 6210 notebook with XP. I'm almost certain that Skype was working with XP's SP2, but I can't say for sure if the same is true with the SP3 update.

Here is where I might be able to contribute something which wasn't said. I discovered that my Speech Recognition tab didn't exist in my control panel. I think I recall having had to play with the settings somewhere there in order to get the Window's Sound Recorder program to be able to recorder any sounds. If the sound recorded, then I was able to get Skype to transmit might voice via the mic.

So I believe I found out that in order for the Speech Recognition tab to exist, there first needs to be a speech recognition engine program installed. I believe it is called
Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine v5.0 and doesn't come pre-installed with the XP OS. It does however come bundled with some (or most but not all) of the XP Office software. Otherwise, it is a program you would need to pay extra for.

I've looked around the web a bit to see if other such compatible programs existed as freeware. It appears that there are numerous speech recognition apps out there but nothing so far that mentions "engine" or Skype uses. Here list a few as free and "open source";

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_speech_recognition_software

Anyways, I should say that I still haven't solved the mic problem yet since it was only this morning I've learning of these things. I'm not a teckie and understanding these things don't come very easily to me. (I don't even if I'm a "technical user" -- the only seemingly applicable choice given ). So yes, I'm still in need of some assistance should anyone here figure out more than I've already. Thanks.