CentOS - Jan 2006 - No Mic(Headphones are fine)

Hi All,

I went and bought a new headset, as I thought the old one,(almost 5yrs
old), was no good. But, when trying to skype, I still can't be heard. I
know the sound card worked before, although, it has been some time,
since I mic'd anything. Anyone got any ideas, other than a possible dud
sound card(socket)? Cheers.

Mark Sargent.

On 1/12/06, Mark Sargent <powderkeg at snow.email.ne.jp>
wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I went and bought a new headset, as I thought the old one,(almost 5yrs
> old), was no good. But, when trying to skype, I still can't be heard. I
> know the sound card worked before, although, it has been some time,
> since I mic'd anything. Anyone got any ideas, other than a possible dud
> sound card(socket)? Cheers.
By default, mics are muted and set to 0 volume. Since you didn't
mention checking it ( I figure you probably did, but it's always the
little things that crop up) I will. Also, if skype has a hardware
setting in it, make sure it's trying to use the right device. Some
webcams have a horrible mic built into them, and if you've got a
webcam, it might be trying to use that microphone instead of a real
one.

--
Jim Perrin
System Architect - UIT
Ft Gordon & US Army Signal Center

On 1/12/06, Mark Sargent <powderkeg at snow.email.ne.jp>
wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I went and bought a new headset, as I thought the old one,(almost 5yrs
> old), was no good. But, when trying to skype, I still can't be heard. I
> know the sound card worked before, although, it has been some time,
> since I mic'd anything. Anyone got any ideas, other than a possible dud
> sound card(socket)? Cheers.
This sounds like something you've been working on for a while, so
forgive me if you've tried these things:

1) I'm always plugging the jacks into the wrong sockets. Way more
often than if I just did it randomly, even.
2) I haven't used Skype on CentOS, but on FC3 and 4. I often have
trouble with Skype being unable to get control of sound after using
the sound card in some other way (playing music). And sometimes skype
fails when I just use it a second time. The normal fix, "killall
skype" does not work for me (although digging for and killing
processes individually sometimes does). Have you tried rebooting and
then using Skype before anything else?
3) It sure seems like a bad socket. Could you try some other app that
records from the mic, to narrow the problem down to skype vs. sound
card? I don't know the easy way to do this, but I'm sure audacity
could work.

Used sound cards on eBay & craigslist go for $5, unless you want a
good one. Why people go to the trouble of listing them and shipping
them for so little money I'll never know, but I appreciate it!