HP Envy 13 - Microphone not sensitive

[kirrri]

Hello all,

After successfully having someone solve my first problem with this laptop (involving a faulty fingerprint sensor), I have now decided to address the second, and hopefully final, issue I have been having.

My microphone is not sensitive at all - however it is working and I am pretty sure it is a driver issue too. Let me explain.

The microphone has always been quiet. One of the first things I did when I got this laptop last month was to Skype some friends, and they said I sounded extremely far away. I tried Skype's test call service and when speaking normally could only just hear my voice. I did a little bit of troubleshooting and even with mic sensitivity up to 100% and boost up to 30dB, I was still realistically unhearable.

It got to the point where I tried uninstalling drivers, and I discovered that uninstalling my audio drivers caused the mic to suddenly work perfectly - however reinstalling them caused the fault to reoccur.

I have reinstalled the drivers as I assume the Bang and Olufsen (Realtek) drivers are needed for high quality sound output or whatever - but I was wondering if there was a fix that would allow me to use the microphone with these drivers installed instead of having to uninstall them every time I want to use the mic?

Note: the microphone still works, but is not very sensitive and I can only just be heard even when I'm shouting into my screeen!

Thanks,

Kyran Hill

[Mrstenter]

Hi @kirrri,

Thank you for visiting the HP Forums! A great place where you can find solutions for your issues with help from the community!

I came across your post about the Notebook, and wanted to assist you! I have looked into your issue about your HP ENVY 13-d008na Notebook and issues with the Microphone not picking up correctly.  Here is a link to adjust some settings in the Microphone.

Here is a document on checking the Skype settings.

Please let me know how this goes.

You can say thanks for trying to help by clicking the Thumbs Up below!:smileyhappy:.

Thanks.

[kirrri]

This is an extremely frustrating reply - you haven't suggested anything I have already tried. Of course I tried increasing the mic sensitivity and the boost - even with these on maximum levels I am inaudible.

It isn't like the mic isn't working, however - if I shout into the microphone I can be heard quietly - however talking normally at a normal distance away results in my voice not being audible. 

This is an unusual problem so I am going to need a unique reply. The microphone is temporarily fixed by uninstalling drivers. Whilst this seems to be illogical, I can use the microphone without any drivers installed (I assume it uses default drivers) - however with HP's latest drivers installed, them the error returns.

Please don't hesitate to request more information, it is a difficult issue to explain but the key points are:

• the microphone WORKS but poorly
• the drivers seem to be the issue - when I uninstall the drivers it works... but as the driver is linked to the Bang and Olufsen speakers I need to reinstall them and upon reinstallation, the microphone is poor again.

Thanks,

Kyran

[Mrstenter]

Hey @kirrri,

The document provided gave several settings that might give a poor quaility when using the Internal Microphone. Uninstalling the driver will remove the settings reinstalling the drive would just restore the old settings.

The document provided shows you how to change the advanced settings by removing the check from the box next to Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.

Figure 13: Advanced properties tab in the Microphone Properties window.

You have the capabilty to configure the Internal Microphone. If Microphone Boost is available, adjust to +20.0 dB.

In your post you indicate :"however talking normally at a normal distance away results in my voice not being audible. "

Normally you would be seated in front of the Notebook. So I am not sure about normal distance away?

Thanks.

[kirrri]

The document provided gave several settings that might give a poor quaility when using the Internal Microphone. Uninstalling the driver will remove the settings reinstalling the drive would just restore the old settings.

Hello again,

Sorry for any confusion - I followed all the instructions on that document, some of which I'd already tried but nevertheless repeated, and my problem was not solved. Where the microphone boost was at 0, 10, 20 or even +30dB, the microphone is still not picking up my voice with enough volume for my voice to actually be heard.

---

@Mrstenter wrote:

In your post you indicate :"however talking normally at a normal distance away results in my voice not being audible. "

Normally you would be seated in front of the Notebook. So I am not sure about normal distance away?

---

Yes, you're right. I consider a "normal distance away" to be seated in front of my laptop - however I still cannot be heard. This is, of course, not only just Skype. This error has been reproduced in all applications where my microphone is required which is a shame as it is currently limiting me from using Windows 10 voice controls, as well as Skype etc.

I only bring up drivers because when I removed the drivers, the microphone worked so these "settings" you have described seem to be interfering. I could send you screenshots/audio clip/video clip at your request - one with me speaking at a 'normal distance' with these drivers installed, and one with me speaking at a 'normal distance' without these drivers installed.

I hope my issue is clearer now - from experience I am extremely confident in saying this is a driver issue.

Thanks,

Kyran

[drunknmonkey]

I would just like to say that I have been having exactly the same problems with the same laptop. Microphone detects a little bit of sound if you yell (very loudly) into it, but otherwise detects nothing. Same issue if you plug in an external mic. 

I have tried re-installing the audio drivers which fixed the problem for a few days, but reverted back to the same issue after that and is now unfixable by reinstalling the audio drivers.

[kirrri]

Wow - I didn't think the problem would extend to external mics too! I was thinking of buying one for myself if this isn't resolved within a few weeks... I guess I won't bother now.

Glad to hear this isn't a random case though - hopefully HP will put a little more effort into getting this solved now that there are at least two of us having trouble!

Good luck + if you somehow find a solution... please post it here.

Thanks,

Kyran

[Lk6]

I have exactly the same problem. Removing the Realtwk driver causes the system to revert to the generic Microsoft audio driver, which works perfectly and mic picks up sound as expected. The only problem is that they system automatically reinstalls the realtek driver after a while causing the problem to come back. Absolutly unacceptable level of tech support by HP.

[Alexbr82]

Hello All,

I'm also having the same problem. I'd like to thank HP support for trying to help as well as the user that are trying to find solution.

I hope a solution to this problem will be available soon.

Best regards to all!

[Fra3]

Hello,

I have yhe exact same problem!

Hope you will give us a solution before we will want to return the PC!