Microphone concern on certain HP G60 (500-699) and Compaq Presario CQ60 notebooks.

[peterjussi]

I am having similar issues with my microphone, although possibly to a lesser extent. The quality from the microphone is poor, very muffled and quiet. It was described to me by somebody over skype as an "end of a tunnel" type sound. The only way to make a video call possible is to hold the screen no farther than 10 inches from my face so the mic can pick up enough sound to make what im saying perceptible.

So its pretty disappointing to come to this thread and see so many people with similar/worse problems, and to read through and see that Im only going to get jerked around by HP.

And just like the poster above me, I tried downloading and installing the new driver linked on this page, only to have it say:

Driver Installation Failed: Could not find the MEDIA device for this driver.

I actually got my hopes up as it was downloading. Serves me right for thinking it would be that simple.

[Midwest44]

My microphone problem is also that of a soft, distant, muffled sound.  I downloaded the updated driver.  It did not install properly so I called HP-Invent and downloaded the latest BIOS.  Still no improvement.  Finally a supervisor called me back and suggested I adjust the Microphone Boost to 20db (Control Panel -> Sound -> Recording -> Microphone -> Properties -> Levels).  This made the internal mic usable but quality is still poor.

Now when I use my external mic I have to go back and reduce the Microphone boost.  Unfortunately, the tone on the recorded musical instrument is awful, not characteristic at all.  I am trying to make this work with my SMARTMusic program (http://www.smartmusic.com/).  Is a new sound card necessary? 

[ColumbusDave]

Same problem with the microphone here on my model G60-519WM.

Received an alert Email from HP - tried the new driver - no luck.

Called the 800 number and after 3 hours of trying the same things I had done, HP rep wanted to restore my hard drive back to factory image. Since I had installed Win7 Pro, I did a Ghost backup on the current drive, then performed my own restore from the restore partition (4 hours).

The factory image provided no improvement in the microphone quality or volume.  Installed the new recommended drivers again (no change). Flashed the BIOS to F53. No change.

This is obviously a hardware problem, not a driver or Windows software problem.

The CORRECT resolution that HP should be following is listed below:

After running diagnostics (with their VNC remote sessions), admit there is a hardware problem and advise the customer of the following steps:

1. Ship the customer a WORKING G60 model with no hard drive or battery

2. Obtain credit card information in the event the customer does not return the defective unit

3. Customer swaps their own hard drive and battery into the replacement unit (instructions provided for dummies)

4. Customer sends original unit back to HP (same packing carton with prepaid shipping label)

PROBLEM SOLVED WITH LESS THAN A WEEK TURNAROUND.

RESULT IS HAPPY CUSTOMER.

Customer service is NOT rocket science folks!

Dave in Columbus, Ohio

[ale3692]

My problem with the microphone is that whenever I'm in the middle of a video chat it just goes off, so the person I'm talking to stops listening. So I always have to end the chat and call again, but it always happens. I have a CQ60-359LA with Windows Vista Home Basic so the driver that was posted at the beginning of this thread doesn't work for me 'cause it's just for Windows 7...

[Bookworm]

This driver and fix does not apply to your model, please be aware that you can see similar symptoms on different notebooks, but they may have different root causes.

What version of the BIOS and Audio driver do you have on your unit?

[ale3692]

Audio: Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221 Version: 4.58.0.0 Date: 10/06/2008

BIOS: Hewlett-Packard F.32, 20/11/2008

[mak4050]

 where can you get these free microphones at? can you still get them?

[3blessing]

this internal microphone problem is driving me crazy hp g60 530US.  hours on the phone with tech support.

told me  u'll just have to send it back to HP to fix it. 10-14day wait.  cant do it ,need computer.

anybody have any success, i have no sound. someone said buy an external sound card?

thanks

[si-member]

no more solution for HP microphone, i think the best way is to buy new notebook maybe DELL or IBM 

[HoosierJay]

I am also having a distorted and low level microphone output problem with my G60-235DX laptop that I purchased over a year ago.  I have been living with this problem because I have a reliable desktop that has no audio transmission problems.  Updating the audio drivers has not helped.

In my case, not only is the microphone output low and distorted when using the internal microphone, it is also bad with an external microphone connected to the MIC IN jack.

When I finally decided to investigate this problem further and see if maybe I will have to replace the audio card, that is when I discovered this forum. But it seems like this thread is describing a similar microphone problem with later HP G60 laptops (500-699) than my older 235 laptop.

I'm going to try telephoning HP tech support about this problem. I think I will use my laptop to call them via Skype so they can hear the problem.  I only hope they can hear and understand me.