Microphone Jack broken

[BloodyGlitch]

I have a Dell Inspiron 3650. I game quite a bit but recently, my mic hasn't been working. At first, I thought it was just my headphones but I tried multiple headphones and they wouldn't work. They do work with other devices though. I am currently using a software called "Wo Microphone" which allows you to use your phone as a microphone, but it is inconvenient. Any ideas on what I can do?

[tomoki]

Wait, you mean the headphone jack is broken? If that's the case, couldn't you use a USB based headset? 

[anothertom]

Given the state of those ports, I'm not surprised it doesn't work.

 

You might be able to source a replacement front IO board from the manufacturer. Otherwise you can try a USB soundcard (the sabrent/syba USB interface is a good cheap option) if your USB ports still work.

[mariushm]

Connect the microphone in the back of your computer, most sound cards these days allow you to reconfigure the jacks for whatever role you want ( output jack for 2.0 or 5.1 or 7.1 configurations, or line in , or microphone).

 

Or, if your headphones or your microphone has too short of a cable, just buy an extension cable and  male jack - female jack and plug the male jack in the back of your pc

 

1.5$ if you want something basic : https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-13787-shielded-Extension/dp/B00007FGU7/

 

6.5$ if you want something fancier and potentially lasting for longer time : https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-3-5mm-Female-Stereo-Audio/dp/B01CNAUYBY/

 

 

You can also cut one of these cables to remove the male jack (the one on the left in the picture) and you can attach the three wires (ground, left and right channel wires) to the wires that go to the front panel.

 

The audio header on the motherboard is standardized and the role of each wire is in the motherboard manual or you can figure them out just by googling... so you can attach ground to ground/com wire , mic wire to leftor right channel and mic power to left or right (i forget which one is left and which one is right but a quick google search will tell you that)

 

[mariushm]

Oh and if that's supposed to be one of those jacks that has 4 contacts , then there's extension cables for that as well

 

7$ 6ft extension cable : https://www.amazon.com/Extension-iXCC-Gold-Plated-Universal-Smartphone/dp/B01CV0JIA4/

5$ 3ft  : https://www.amazon.com/Extension-iXCC-Gold-Plated-Universal-Smartphone/dp/B01EILFCLS/

or

5.5$ : https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-3-5mm-Position-Headset-Extension/dp/B008DWGLLO/

 

and you can buy a short adapter which converts the TRRS (4 contacts) to headphones + microphone jacks, which you can plug in the back of your computer

 

https://www.amazon.com/Headphones-Splitter-Computer-Headphone-Smartphone/dp/B01I7SS3EQ/

 

 

[BloodyGlitch]

21 hours ago, tomoki said:

Wait, you mean the headphone jack is broken? If that's the case, couldn't you use a USB based headset? 

Thx for replying, and I am considering that option, but I was just wondering, aren't those typically worse?

[BloodyGlitch]

On 1/26/2018 at 4:17 PM, mariushm said:

Connect the microphone in the back of your computer, most sound cards these days allow you to reconfigure the jacks for whatever role you want ( output jack for 2.0 or 5.1 or 7.1 configurations, or line in , or microphone).

 

Or, if your headphones or your microphone has too short of a cable, just buy an extension cable and  male jack - female jack and plug the male jack in the back of your pc

 

1.5$ if you want something basic : https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-13787-shielded-Extension/dp/B00007FGU7/

 

6.5$ if you want something fancier and potentially lasting for longer time : https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-3-5mm-Female-Stereo-Audio/dp/B01CNAUYBY/

 

 

You can also cut one of these cables to remove the male jack (the one on the left in the picture) and you can attach the three wires (ground, left and right channel wires) to the wires that go to the front panel.

 

The audio header on the motherboard is standardized and the role of each wire is in the motherboard manual or you can figure them out just by googling... so you can attach ground to ground/com wire , mic wire to leftor right channel and mic power to left or right (i forget which one is left and which one is right but a quick google search will tell you that)

 

Sorry for the confusion, it is not a stand alone microphone, it is a headset. I have 4 ports, a black one which is in the picture, a pink, green, and a blue one. How can I change any of the colored ones to accept a headset, like the black one does.

[mariushm]

If your headset has that jack with 4 contacts , then you need to buy one of those  adapter cables that take in the 4 contact jack and create 2 separate regular stereo jacks, one for headphones and one for microphone.  See my message above with the picture that says "2 pack"  in it, that's the kind of adapter cable you need.

 

Then you plug the two jacks in the back of your PC, one into the stereo output (usually green) and one into the microphone input (usually pink). But, like I said, most modern motherboards allow you to change the role of each jack in the back to whatever you need.  Make sure you lower the volume in Windows a bit before you try to listen to something, the volume by default may be too high for headphones.

 

For example, on Realtek sound cards,  even if you plug them in the wrong jacks, you can go in the application that comes with the driver called Realtek HD Audio Manager and double click on the jacks and say what you want those jacks to be.

 

For example, here's how it looks on my computer.  Your version may be different or you may have a sound card from another manufacturer, or with a different skin, or those icons on the right me be hidden under a menu somewhere. Just look for them.