Solved Help with built-in Mic and line-in Mic

I'm not sure about this problem as I've never had it happen. I have a laptop Windows 8 with a built in mic. Recently I got a very good headset and mic. The connections are both sound jack and mic jack. The problem is that when I go to try and deactivate the built in mic and only use the line-in jack they appear under the same property. If I disable the built-in mic then it seems to disable the line-in jack too. Is there a way to only use the line in jack and disable the built-in mic? As I said when I plug in the line-in jack it appears with the built-in mic.

The other problem I forgot to mention is that when I go the Mic properties it shows the built-in mic. But it doesn't seem to see the one for the line-in jack. I've clicked on the the "show hidden" or "show disabled" field and it still doesn't see it.

Normally, when a separate mic is plugged in, it will disable the internal mic. You should have "Stereo Mix" set as the default Recording Device, no a mic or whatever. With Stereo Mix set, whatever is plugged in should work.

Go to the Sound Panel, Recording Section. If Stereo Mix (May be labeled System Mixer) is shown, enable it and make it the default Recording Device. If it is not shown, RIGHT click in an empty area in that panel and then check to show Disabled and Disconnected devices. Stereo Mix should now show and you can then enable it and make it the default recording device.

Set the new mic as default in Sound Recording (right click on the speaker icon in the task tray > Recording Devices)

fireberd said:

Normally, when a separate mic is plugged in, it will disable the internal mic. You should have "Stereo Mix" set as the default Recording Device, no a mic or whatever. With Stereo Mix set, whatever is plugged in should work.

Go to the Sound Panel, Recording Section. If Stereo Mix (May be labeled System Mixer) is shown, enable it and make it the default Recording Device. If it is not shown, RIGHT click in an empty area in that panel and then check to show Disabled and Disconnected devices. Stereo Mix should now show and you can then enable it and make it the default recording device.

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Ok looks like you were right. The line-in jack does disable the built in one. The reason I didn't see it was because of Adobe Connect. When I set up my mic it seemed to default to the built in one. But I noticed that as soon as I plugged in the headset (with the mic turned off) the bars detecting the level of sound didn't show. As soon as I turned on the headset mic then the sound level bars started working. I should have noticed that sooner but was oblivious to it. All that searching thinking something was wrong and all was good the whole time. Thanks for the help.

Cool. Glad to hear you got it sorted out.