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Headphones/Microphone

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9 replies

by rickporritt35 4 views

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PART 1: Mesh computer with Win98, sound card - SB live! [c800]. The sound comes out through the speakers OK but I can't hear sound through headphones when they are plugged in to any of the numerous connectors (3 at back of machine plus 1 each for CD & DVD drives at front). If I plug the Headphones into the speaker socket they work, but this is not practical of course.
PART 2: The microphone (this is a dual head-set)- When I test the microphone I get sound out of the speakers but cannot record using sound recorder. Any advice, even the obvious! is welcome

9 replies

by gigelul

Part2: double clik on volume icon and check in option\properties\recording, if your microphone is activated.
Part1: maybe your SB driver have some option to activate outputs or you need other driver.

by shanghai sam

a good start for part 2. I checked this, but eventually found success by using the 'audio tune-up wizard' accessed via MSN messenger - thanks

by thechas

Part 1.
Most sound cards no longer have outputs that are capable of driving even headphones. You need to have an amplifier between the sound card and the headphones.
If your speakers are connected to a jack on the sound card that is capable of driving headphones, I saw a device at www.cyberguys.com that allows you to have a headphone jack in line between your speakers and disconnects the speakers when you plug in the headphones.

As to the output jacks on the CD and DVD drives, many noe shut down the headphone jack when used with a data line player such as Windows Media Player.
Try shutting down the default media player, and use the front panel buttons to play a CD.
You should still have the default CD player under Accessories that will allow you to control the CD player from the desktop.

Chas

by shanghai sam

excellent answer, I learnt a lot form this. I have since noticed that on my machine at home which is ME there is no default CD player under accessories it's replaced by Media Player. But the default in win98 worked as you said with the headphonesplugged into the CD drive - thanks

by otl

Normal Head Sets have 3 conductors. (Common Ground, Left and Right output) If this has an integrated microphone then there should be at least 4 conductors in the cord. (You will see at least 3 black insulation rings on the jack that you plug in), the microphone is shunting (shorting/cutting out the audio output, or the connectors are not lining up properly to put the audio through the earpieces).

By using a Headset only it should function correctly in the jacks that were designed for the headset only configuration.

by shanghai sam

this particular head-set had a separate jack for the microphone, but I'll watch for this scenario in future should it arise - thanks

by richard_barsby

Hi you can plug the head phones into the headphone skt on the speakers but this poses a distance problem between the headphone and microphone plugs, what i have done with this card is set the card to 4 speaker set up and plug headphones into rear channel socket on the sound card this works for me as all you need is left/right info for most games.

Rich

by shanghai sam

Yes, using the HP jack in the speakers is physically limiting, setting the card for 4 speaker but using the headphones instead of 2 of the speakers is something I'll try next time - thanks

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