External Microphone Not Detected on HP Pavilion 15-n258nr

[Nika_Vulaj]

Hello,

I have purchased an external condenser microphone for use with my HP Pavilion 15-n258nr. It is a 3.5mm 3-ring jack. I am running Windows 10, 64-bit. 

On the right side of my machine, there is an audio jack with a headset symbol next to it. When I plug my external microphone in here, the laptop detects it as "Realtek HD Audio 2nd Output" under the Sounds section instead of an external microphone under the recording section. Here is a screenshot:

 

I have run multiple driver checks to make sure everything is updated. I've even uninstalled and reinstalled the realtek audio driver and tried to run the windows 10 troubleshooter, but since the microphone isn't detected as a recording device, I'm not sure how that helps.

I have also checked the user manual (hopefully it's the right one) for my machine at this link. Here is a screenshot of my findings:

 

What confuses me is that this manual implies that my device has a separate microphone jack. It does not. I have a combination jack with a headset symbol next to it.

I can't think of any other explanation except that this machine isn't capable of handling an external studio-type condenser microphone. If this is it, let me know so I can go ahead and buy a jack-to-usb converter (which I have read can help).

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask.

Thanks, 

Nika.

[banhien · Accepted solution]

@Nika_Vulaj

Your machine has the following ports

2 SuperSpeed USB 3.0

1 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0

1 HDMI

1 RJ-45 (LAN)

1 Headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack

The combo jack DOES NOT support a stand alone microphone. Some people use a splitter which is similar to the following one (one for headphones, 1 for microphone)

But they say the chance is 50/50.

Microphone on a headset should work. other option is to use USB microphone.

Regards.

[Nika_Vulaj]

Okay,

Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate the confirmation.

Thanks again,
Nika.

[NeoLASE]

I have a BRAND NEW laptop, and this is very confusing.  So, you can't plug in stereo audio NOR stereo microphone?

It would be nice if this was included in the MANUAL that you can get stereo OUT and MONO in, ONLY.

Used to be nice you could actually use your computer for stuff without buying extra parts, following the Apple lead I guess.