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I have recently come across my microphone suddenly not working on my computer and I checked, it seems the microphone isn't picking anything up. I know I have no extra information here, but I'm just 12 and I'm not really that well at linux, thanks!
and make sure the mic is not muted in there. F5 key shows all the slider controls.
Thats the 1st thing to check if it was working before. Next thing I would check is that you did not mute anything accidentally via the hotkeys on your keyboard for mic.
The user manual for your laptop online will tell how to mute and unmute it.
I think Debian uses pulse. In addition to checking the alsamixer settings, install pavucontrol, the pulse mixer application (it's in the repos), if it's not already present, and check the settings in it.
Also, if you haven't not already done so, check the mic in another device to make sure the mic hasn't gone west and, if the mic has a battery (I have one that does in the extension), check the battery.
and make sure the mic is not muted in there. F5 key shows all the slider controls.
Thats the 1st thing to check if it was working before. Next thing I would check is that you did not mute anything accidentally via the hotkeys on your keyboard for mic.
The user manual for your laptop online will tell how to mute and unmute it.
I've tried that, and I do not use a laptop, I use a PC I built myself.
I think Debian uses pulse. In addition to checking the alsamixer settings, install pavucontrol, the pulse mixer application (it's in the repos), if it's not already present, and check the settings in it.
Also, if you haven't not already done so, check the mic in another device to make sure the mic hasn't gone west and, if the mic has a battery (I have one that does in the extension), check the battery.
I already have pavucontrol and I have checked, it knows it's there, it just doesn't pick up any sound.
I tried it on my mother's Linux Mint and it works.
It's a long shot, but try booting to a Live CD of something not Debian based and test to make sure that the sound card mic input still works.
I've found that it's important to rule out hardware problems; no amount of tinkering with software can fix a hardware problem.
I forgot to tell you that when I plug it out and back in it works for a few seconds and then it stopped.
Does that mean it works? I mean, it worked before I came home from my 3/4 week vacation. (As did my sound, but I fixed that now)
But, hey, it's worth a try, thank you.
(edit)
I forgot, whenever I removed pulseaudio and configured alsa, it did work.
So it is a pulseaudio problem.
I don't use pulseaudio though. Just alsa. I don't skype. Which requires pulse audio as I understand it now.
Well, skype doesn't require pulseaudio, as I used alsa untill I was 9 and then I switched to pulseaudio since my father told me I could hear more than one sound. Then again, when I removed pulseaudio, my microphone worked fine.
Any fixes that still let me use pulseaudio?
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