# Cannot turn off internal microphone



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I am unable to turn off the internal microphone on my laptop. Attached is a picture of the setting I see when trying to make this adjustment. I cannot un-check the Select box. Clicking on it yields no response. I've removed, rebooted, and reinstalled the sound drivers. Everything works fine with the sound, but I seem to be getting some feedback that might be caused by the microphone. I'd like to disable it.

This is a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop running Windows XP Professional SP2.

Any ideas?


----------



## RT (Aug 20, 2000)

Can you click the Advanced button as shown in the screenshot?


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Yes. But that doesn't have any option to disable the microphone.


----------



## RT (Aug 20, 2000)

(EDIT: Sorry, deleted my last post)

Open Control Panel and Sounds and Audio devices, click the Audio tab and then Sound Recording, and Volume...

Can you slide the Mic volume down from there?


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I can slide the control, but I can't uncheck the box. The same control appears regardless of how I get there. It just can't be completely disabled.


----------



## RT (Aug 20, 2000)

Try looking in Device Manager, it may show the mic under Sound or System devices.


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Nothing there either that I can tell. I was in the right place from the start. I'm looking right at the check box. Problem is that I can't uncheck it.

I do appreciate the help.


----------



## RT (Aug 20, 2000)

Nothing under System Devices?
This is where the built-in PC speaker is (at least for desktops) so I figured an internal mic might be there too.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

FWIW, I can't seem to find a mute for my volume on this XP-SP2 system either.  My mike is external, so unplugging it works to mute it.


----------



## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

if all else fails... duc tape it.


----------



## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

have you updated the drivers for the sound? Perhaps that will enable the controls for the mic.

Other than that... I'm not sure where else to disable it other than in the recording controls
in the sound cp. There seems to be a registry edit, but some people have had issues with that (worse feedback)


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

There is a system speaker under System Devices in Device Manager, but there's no option to turn off or mute the mic that way. Just driver info and resource info. However, that doesn't appear to have anything to do with the actual audio chipset. The manufacturer / driver info just isn't right. 

The first thing I tried was installing the latest audio drivers. Didn't work.


----------



## RT (Aug 20, 2000)

Scanning the Dell forums, there are a lot of folks who would like to disable that mike...but I did not see one successful solution there. Dell's idea of fixing this seems to be simply not including an internal mic on subsequent models  

I did see mention of a regedit, but I don't think it was for XP.

One poster there did suggest, as Couriant has above, to cover the mic with tape!


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I wonder if there's any option to just kill the mike in the BIOS?


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

RT, thanks for the Dell forum search. I'm not sure I've ever read through the Dell forums. Was it www.dellcommunity.com?

JohnWill, I'll check out the BIOS. I usually think to look there when troubleshooting strange problems, but I forgot in this case. It's funny what we forget to do when troubleshooting our own machines. That's why this forum is such a great place. It helps to have a second opinion.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I don't know that anything will appear there, just another place to look. I find it curious that I can't disable the mic on this machine, but I can turn it's volume all the way down, so it sort of accomplishes the same thing.


----------

