Solved Internal laptop microphone working in settings, but not in all other applications

Hello,

I have been having a really strange issue with my laptop's internal microphone ever since I got my laptop a few years ago. Essentially, the internal microphone doesn't work in all the applications I've tested it in (Discord, Google Meets, Audacity, etc.). That is, the microphone is detected in the application's audio settings and I can select it, but it doesn't actually "hear" anything or transmit sound to the relevant application. However, if I go into my computer's audio settings, I can test the microphone and it shows everything working normally (the audio bar moves up and down when I speak as expected). Over the years, I've been unable to find any information about an issue like this one on the internet (either that, or my Googling skills are bad).

I've managed to work my way around the issue for a while by using a headset microphone. Now that I have a bluetooth headset, though, I would like to be able to use my internal microphone so that I can work around this other bluetooth issue: Why Bluetooth Headsets Are Terrible on Windows PCs.

I'm not sure where to start with diagnosing an issue like this, so please let me know if there is any extra information you would like me to provide.

You may have already tried some of these, but here's a few things to try.
1. Enable app access to microphone
MS blocked third-party apps and programs from accessing your computer’s webcam and microphone to protect your privacy.

To enable an app access to your microphone or camera go to Settings-Privacy & Security- Select microphone- first make sure microphone is toggled on-then find the app in the list you want to use your microphone and toggle it on for the app. You would do the same for your camera.

2. Set your microphone as default Plug in microphone and go to
Settings-System-Sound-Choose a device for speaking or recording. Select your device and make it default.

3. Use the Audio troubleshooter -Settings-system-troubleshoot-other troubleshooters-recording audio-run
The do the same for Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.

4. Disable Audio Enhancements- If there is any audio enhancement software installed such as Realtek Audio Manager or Realtek Audio Effects try disabling it. You may have to do this from the startup tab in task manager.

5. Reset Windows Audio Service

1. Go to Search, type services.msc, and hit Enter to launch the Services page.
2. Locate the Windows Audio service.
3. Right-click on it and select Start if the service is not enabled. If it’s enabled, then select Restart.
4. Wait for a few seconds and restart your computer

6. Update your sound drivers. I'm sure you have Realtek but I was unable to get into any HP site to verify the correct driver. It appears their servers are down.

Hope something here makes a difference for you.

I tried all of these suggestions, and none of them seemed to work. My microphone test consisted of opening Audacity and seeing if I could record audio using my system's internal Intel "Microphone Array" device.

1.) I've looked at the security settings before. None of the apps I've been testing are disabled, so I don't think this is the problem.

2.) I checked the default setting for sound input, and it was already set to "Microphone Array." Again, this is where my issue comes up. In the settings for sound input, the volume bar moves up and down when I speak, so the microphone works correctly according to my Windows installation. The problem, though, is that it doesn't work with any other software applications I try to use.

3.) Because of the nature of my issue, the OS thinks that everything with my internal microphone is fine and dandy (it's not able to find any issues with my computer's audio input).

4.) I do have Realtek on my laptop. I disabled "Realtek HD Audio Universal Service" in the startup tab of task manager as you specified and restarted my computer, but that didn't do anything either.

5.) I followed your steps for this point as well, and I was not able to get my internal microphone to work using this method either.

6.) I'm not sure what the best way to look for updated drivers is, but when I went into device manager and checked for updated drivers for my audio devices, it wasn't able to find any new drivers (it said I have the most up-to-date ones).

After trying all these steps, I also booted up Google Meets to to double check my internal microphone with a different application, and that didn't work either.

I did a little searching and found these threads.

This one had 31 people with same issue. It was fixed by updating bios.

This solution with 41 complaints fixed it for folks on Reddit

If the issue persists, uninstall the microphone driver and restart to automatically install a fresh driver for the same after updating the BIOS from the HP website.

1. Open device manager, the fastest way is through the search bar:
2. Open ‘Audio Inputs and Outputs’
3. Left-click on your recording device.
4. In the menu that opens up Click ‘Uninstall’.
5. delete the driver. click apply/OK and then, restart the pc.

The link to the full list of other things you can try can be found on this thread:

Spectre X360 15" microphone not working anymore.

I tried uninstalling the microphone driver like in your steps, and that didn't work. I also read through the thread you posted. The people seemed to have the same issue I'm having, so I was really hoping that updating the BIOS would do the trick. However, when I tried updating to the latest BIOS version on the HP website, and that didn't work either.

crafter312 said:

I can test the microphone and it shows everything working normally (the audio bar moves up and down when I speak as expected).

Click to expand...

crafter312 said:

the volume bar moves up and down when I speak, so the microphone works correctly

Click to expand...

Have you listened to your microphone playback . Do you hear it playing back to you as you speak?

In the list of recording devices, the volume bar goes up and down when I speak. However, when I open the properties of the internal microphone and enable the "listen" option as shown in the video, I don't hear anything (I made sure that my volume was turned up and all that stuff).

What stands out to me here is your headset microphone works correctly while this internal microphone has never worked, even before you had windows 11. After all you've done, this makes me lean toward the problem being hardware. This could be a defective internal microphone or wiring on the motherboard that converts it signals. Even though the microphone is recognized and the little bars go up and down in the microphone test, this only proves the input of the microphone to be good, not its output. The fact that you cannot hear your voice in the playback test proves there is a loss of input signal somewhere.

If you still want to troubleshoot it as being a windows problem and prove to yourself that all windows files are valid and have no corruption you can do this:

1. verify sound driver- Go to Official HP® Laptop Drivers and Software Download Put in your serial number. Select windows 11 as operating system. See if an audio driver has been released for Windows 11. If so, download and apply it and then check microphone. If no Windows 11 audio driver is listed, change OS type to Windows 10 on the HP site. Under 'realtek audio' it should list a driver version. Go to device manager, expand sound category, right click on realtek audio, select properties, driver tab. Compare your driver version with that you found on HP site. If you are not running latest sound driver, download and update it. As well you can check settings-windows update-advanced options-optional updates. See if it has found an updated sound driver.

2. Verify that no installed software is conflicting with the internal microphone by performing a clean boot. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

3. Check for file corruption in system files. Open command prompt as administrator - type sfc /scannow (note the space). When sfc completes, note if it found any corrupted files it could not fix. If it found files it could not fix, continue to step 4. If it found files but was able to repair them, restart computer and try microphone again. If still no luck, go to step 5.

4. From command prompt as administrator type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth When dism finishes, restart computer. Try microphone again.

5. If you really, really want to prove Windows is not the issue here, you can do a clean install but after all the above, I think it you would be spinning your wheels.

You can always use an external microphone if you do not want to use your headset.

glasskuter said:

What stands out to me here is your headset microphone works correctly while this internal microphone has never worked, even before you had windows 11. After all you've done, this makes me lean toward the problem being hardware. This could be a defective internal microphone or wiring on the motherboard that converts it signals. Even though the microphone is recognized and the little bars go up and down in the microphone test, this only proves the input of the microphone to be good, not its output. The fact that you cannot hear your voice in the playback test proves there is a loss of input signal somewhere.

Click to expand...

I think you bring up a good point about it potentially being a hardware issue. Additionally, I think I've gotten to the point where if it is a software issue, it's beyond anything that I'm willing to try to fix myself. I'll look into getting an external microphone, and I'll probably take my laptop to a computer place at some point to be looked at. Thanks for all the help!