Mic works poorly

[dswift]

I'm trying to narrate into a moviemaking program, however the signal from my mic is very weak. So I've gone back to the beginning and tried to test out my mic with the Sound Hardware Test Wizard. But, following the instructions I found, I hit a deadend before I can complete the test. I open Control Panel > Sound and Audio Devices > Volume. Then I am instructed to click the "Advanced" button. This button is grey and cannot be clicked. Does this mean I am missing hardware, or is it a software problem? I have followed the rest of the instructions, but without results.

Thanks in for advance for any help.

Doug

Windows xp
Pentium 3.06
504 MB RAM

[Disk_Contented]

Perhaps a reinstall of the sound driver might help, or double click the icon in the taskbar notification area, see if that will open it.

I would say you select the voice tab of the sound section. This will show you the recording section.

In any case, I believe what you are looking for is the +20db boost checkbox.

[dswift]

Thanks for the reply. I have successfully performed the Test Hardware function, and it revealed very poor Mic performance. So I guess I'm not sure where that leaves me. How do I reinstall a Sound Driver? Any other steps I should consider?

Many Thanks,

Doug