Voicd Recorder not working

[prycey]

Hi, I have an Asus Laptop with a built in voice recorder. I used it for the first timein a while today and it was REALLY fuzzy; playback sounded like I was on the receiving end of a really bad radio. I plugged in my microphone to see if that worked, but that's really jittery and you also can't make out what I'm saying.

Anyone have any ideas? I just sent my laptop off to get repaired, I don't want to have to again. It does have about 2 weeks of warranty left, though. :S

[soybean]

[highlight]I just sent my laptop off to get repaired[/highlight], I don't want to have to again. It does have about 2 weeks of warranty left, though. :S

So, it's out for repair now?

[prycey]

Ah, no, sorry. What I meant was that I sent it off, got my DVD writer fixed, and now as soon as I get it back I have this problem.Typical, eh?

Any ideas, though?

[soybean]

If you used the mic and voice recorder before taking your computer to that shop, and it was working right before you took it to the shop, I'd say you ought to call the shop and complain.  

Does the computer use onboard sound or does it have an add-on sound card installed?  

[prycey]

It's a built-in sound thinger; I haven't upgraded it in any way.

I don't really want to go through the hassle of sending it off again, etc. If I phone them up if I can't fix it myself I will complain that it was working fine before I sent it off the previous time. Doubt it'll get me anywhere, though. Sigh.

oh, and it's all on the warranty by the way - isn't costing me anything but time and hassle.

[soybean]

Installing an add-on sound card to replace your onboard sound might be a good solution.  An add-on card usually offers better sound features and quality than onboard sound; even some of the  lower cost cards can be a good solution when you're having problems with onboard sound.  Over two years ago, I installed a card that costs less than $20, including shipping, and it's worked fine.  I do use a mic with it and I've also converted some music tapes to digital format by connecting my tape player to the Line In connector on my sound card.  

Here are cards from two online sellers I'm familiar with:
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=57&page=2
TigerDirect: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:107|&Sort=4

[prycey]

So it's most likely the sound card then? I'd be more than happy to pay £10 or so on a new one if it meantI didn't have to bother with sending my laptop off  for a couple weeks. I just don't want to buy a soundcard and find out that it's not that that's actually wrong with it!

Appreciate the help by the way!

[soybean]

OK, before deciding on the sound card purchase, take a look in Device Manager.  Do you see any yellow triangles with an exclamation mark in them?  This indicates a problem with a device.  Also, run dxdiag (Start, Run, and type dxdiag in the Run box), select the Sound tab, and click on the button for Test DirectSound.  Were the tests successful?

[prycey]

I have an explanation mark in the "Other devices" bit in Device Manager for the "Multimedia Controller". the dxdiag tests are succesful and I also have no explanation marks next to anything in the Sounds menu in Device Manager

:/

[soybean]

You should resolve that problem in Device Manager.  It may be related to the issue here.  Select the device marked with the yellow triangle and find the button to update or search for a driver.  You should see a panel where you can specify where Windows will search for a driver.  One of the options should be CD-ROM.  Do you have a CD or CDs that came with your computer that have all the original software, including Windows, that was installed on it?  If so, one of those CDs probably has a driver that should be installed for the problem device.  If you do not have such CDs, then I suggest you let Windows search the Internet and search it's own files for a device driver.

A reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/835639/en-gb

[prycey]

fixed! I was looking through the CDs that came with my laptop and found out that has lots of drivers on it. I tried itout and installed the audio drivers. Now it works like a charm! Thanks a lot!!