Topic: computer problem: mike feeding sound into computer speakers

[wandering]

with no provocation from me. It's doing this even as windows starts up. Anybody have any idea why this might be happening?

[nitsu niflheim]

Your computer is possessed by Captain Howdy!

[Caliban]

Quote
Originally posted by: wandering
with no provocation from me. It's doing this even as windows starts up. Anybody have any idea why this might be happening?

You are going to have to tell us what your current setup is, please.

[wandering]

Labtec microphone attached to mic port. UBL pro speakers attached to sound out port. Windows XP (not SP2.) Using the computer's one administrator account. 448 mhz Pentium II with 256 mb of ram. Creative sound blaster PCI. Is that what you need?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Open the Volume Controls in your system tray, and disable your Mic input.  Check advanced settings if the Mic volume control doesn't show up.

[vudu]

Your computer is trying to create its own entry for the Naruto contest.

[wandering]

Well...I did that. But isn't what it's doing abnormal?

Oh well. I guess I can live with muting/unmuting the mike whenever I want to use it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It's normal.  The mic is a constant analog feed, just like the line-in port, just like the speaker-out port.  It's up to the user to keep it active.

HOWEVAR

That simply controls the ability to HEAR what's going in the mic.  It's actually the Recording (vs. Playback) settings in the Volume Controls that determine how loud a recording is.  You might not hear the mic now, but you can still record from it.

[wandering]

Except I can't! When the mic is muted in volume control I can't record with windows sound recorder.  

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Now that's just craziness.  Look at both Playback and Recording settings and you'll see that mic-output and mic-recording are independent.  Make sure the checkboxes for Mic are selected so that you see both controls.  Only the mic-recording control would mute the actual recordings.

[wandering]

Well, I would've sworn to you it wasn't recording when I was muting the mike volume. But just now I muted, and it still recorded. So, yay.

Interestingly, sound recorder, at one point, recorded audio from a movie that was playing in the background on my computer, even though my speakers were turned off. So maybe the thing mysteriously set itself to record only noises coming from the computer, or something? MMm.

Thanks for the help.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Shazaam.

The Recording Controls determine what source your system will record audio from (the checkbox with "Select" next to it), whether you use Sound Recorder or many other programs.

[wandering]

Ah! I did indeed check that box next to mic. So I guess that explains how things got fixed, possibly.