How to turn on the microphone on a laptop

Many laptop users use them to communicate over the Internet. In this case, you cannot do without a microphone. After all, it allows you to fully communicate and record messages. But sometimes a situation arises when the device is unavailable. What to do?

How to turn on the microphone on a laptop

To turn on the microphone built into your laptop, you only need to perform a couple of simple manipulations. Follows the recommendations:

1. Look at the right side of the PC panel, where the clock with the date, the network icon and the language bar are usually located.
2. Right-click on the sound icon and select Recording Devices.
3. In the new window, find the “Recording” section and select “Microphone”. Click Properties.
4. The “General” tab will open, where you need to go to “Device Application” and activate it.
5. When all steps are completed, click "OK".

This method will help you quickly turn on the device, provided that all the settings on the Windows computer are correct, and the user just accidentally turned it off.

Reference! It is important to understand that any device on a laptop works using a driver. Before turning on the microphone, make sure that the driver has been installed.

If you're logged into Skype and the microphone isn't working, you can try turning it on directly from the program. Go to the program settings and click on “Sound and Video”.There you can not only start the device, but also select the degree of its sensitivity.

How to connect an external microphone

In many laptops, the microphone quality leaves much to be desired. To ensure good sound, users buy external devices. Usually you just need to connect them to your computer, and the system automatically configures them. But if something goes wrong, pay attention to the following nuances:

1. Click the speaker in the bottom right panel and go to the Recording section. After connecting an external device, there may be not one, but several microphones. In this case, the system gives prerogative to the internal rather than the external device.
2. To correct the situation, you need to disconnect the first device. Click "Microphone" - "Properties". Deactivate the equipment in the “Use of device” section.

Attention! For the changes to take effect, click the “OK” button at the end of all manipulations.

If the microphone is located in the headphones, to connect it you just need to connect them to the laptop. Make sure the volume control is turned up to maximum on both the computer and the headphones themselves.

What to do if the microphone does not work

If you are sure that you did everything correctly, but the equipment does not work, there may be some system failures in Windows. You can find them like this:

1. Go to “Control Panel” - “Hardware and Sound”.
2. Select Troubleshoot.
3. The system will begin to look for the error on its own, and you will only have to choose one or another option from the proposed ones.
4. After the computer independently analyzes and finds the problem, it will offer solutions. A window will appear on the screen where you need to click the “Apply fix” button.

Once the automatic correction is completed, you need to check the result.

Important! To enable the microphone and expand the settings, there are special programs, for example, “Realtek Manager”. They provide maximum opportunities to improve sound. You can select the volume of the device depending on its distance from the user, use the noise reduction function, etc.

If the automatic fix does not help, check that the driver is available and working properly. This is done like this:

1. “Control Panel” - “Device Manager”.
2. In the list of equipment that opens, pay attention to “Cameras” and “Sound and video devices.”
3. Make sure that there are no warning icons (yellow triangle with an exclamation mark) next to all names. If it is, then most likely there is a problem with the driver.
4. Right-click on the damaged device and select “Update Driver”.

Drivers are usually updated automatically. But sometimes you have to do this manually on the websites of the laptop or sound card manufacturer. After manual update, do not forget to reboot the system.

If you are sure that you did everything correctly, but the microphone does not turn on, it may be faulty. Then you need to give the PC to a specialist at a service center for diagnostics.