Resolved - Mic problems

[Almeida]

Name: R. Almeida

Rank: Pfc

Type of issue: Hardware

 

Brief Description of Issue:

Hello Marines,

 

so I've been on such problem to settle a mic for me, maybe someone could help on this. I have a lenovo p500 laptop with a P3 jack (a single jack for headphone and mic). This laptop has an inbuilt mic that does not work when I plug any earplugs or headphones in. The sound board is Realtek and one solution I found is going to its configs and setting my mic to "listen to this device". This of course generates a lot of eco, feedback and other problems since the mic remains "open" (laptop is usually kinda far from me). This was how I did for my BCT class.

 

So after that I went to a store and bought a P3 adapter cable for a headset I have -- an ordinary one with separated P2 plugs for headphone and mic. This didn't work at all, the mic is still mute and I tried everything I know. If someone has any idea of how to make this freaking P3 work I'd appreciate very much.

 

So finally I got a Bluetooth headset -- philips SHB5600. Now in my realtek menu I get both "headset philips SHB5600 hands-free" and "headphones philips SHB5600 stereo". So if I set up the first device I get mic working properly BUT the quality is telephone quality, horrible sound and ruins the playing since it is also low and a bit muddled. Any idea on how to improve the sound quality here would be great.

 

If I set up the second device the sound quality is very good and the mic most of the time works, but it is only changing tabs (minimizing the game) and the sound is gone!! Sometimes I need to delete the Bluetooth device and set it all over again to get it working, sometimes just changing maps makes the sound mute. 

 

So if any of you has any hint on any of these possible solutions I'd be really grateful.

 

***Medical Supply Staff ONLY Below this line***

Current Status: Resolved

 

Researching

Pending Reply

Resolved

Unresolved

 

Main Technician: R. Shank

Supporting Technician:

[Almeida]

Object delivered just now and working properly. I'd like to thank Shank for all his concern! 

[Shank2]

This is one of the those problems I kind of have to sit down and play around with. But in doing some research I found the below pin-outs for the audio plug. As you can see the plug with the microphone band is close to the base of the connector (Figure 1). Looking at the other diagram (Figure 2) you can see that the solid band (ground) runs almost half the length to the plastic base. So if you are only connecting headphones (figure 2) you are essentially grounding out the microphone input, which could be causing your problem. (common and ground are the same reference point, for this instance anyways)

 

(Figure 1)

 

   (Figure 2) (standard 3.5mm audio plug for sound only, no microphone)

 

As far as the Bluetooth goes, I'm am not even close to being qualified to answer that question. I have so many issues with connectivity and communication with Bluetooth I end up doing in circles all the time. One question though, did your Bluetooth headphones also come with a wire?  If they did then plug that wire into the headphones and the laptop and try the mic that way.

 

In any instance let me know how it goes and I'll keep trying to figure it out.

 

Also just a dumb question, you don't have a "mute" button on the wire that could be engaged?

[Almeida]

Thank you Shank for your reply. 

 

Unfortunately still the problem is here. The system recognizes that the mic is plugged, but no sound comes out of it. I checked all places where the mic could be muted, nowhere it seems muted. The mic works fine in another laptop with separated jacks for mic and headphones. Any ideas?

 

cheers

[Nasty]

Almeida,

 

I'm assuming you are using a headphone or earplugs that have all three bands that Shank metioned above? I did some googling and came up with the following. Let us know if it doesn't work.

 

LINK

 

Control Panel -> Hardware and sound -> Realtek HD Audio Manager -> Device advanced settings -> change Audio Director to Multi-stream mode. (May need to keep headset plugged in and restart computer after changing settings.

[Almeida]

Thank you Sanchez!

 

I already did this, this is how the new mic appeared on realtek's menu, but unfortunately it is still not working. As a final solution I'll attempt to use an external usb sound card, maybe that finally solves the problem.

 

cheers

 

 

[Shank2]

Any new developments with this Pfc. Almeida?

[Almeida]

I ordered online an USB external soundboard, let's hope this will solve the issue.

[Shank2]

Ok let me know either way!

[Candy 1st MRB]

Shank has this been resolved with the new USB headset? If so can we close?

 

[Shank2]

The adapter has not been delivered. We will update when received!

[Candy 1st MRB]

Excellent news Almeida, great work Shank. Ticket Closed.