Recording troubles

[Kevvvv]

Hello everyone, this is my first post here
I've used Audacity for several years and have never encountered any problems with it until recently.

I am using an old laptop running Windows XP (Audacity 1.2.6), and have managed to record one stereo track perfectly using a cheap, no brand microphone that I have lying around the house. However, this only seems to work when plugged into the headphone jack socket - the microphone socket doesn't pick anything up. As I said, I recorded a stereo track using the "mic" input just fine, but when I went to record another track (again with the mic in the headphone socket) the computer's sound was muted and I couldn't hear what I was playing in correlation to the original track. "Play Other Tracks.." and "Software Playthrough" were both checked, but to no avail.
I've searched tutorials but I couldn't find anything useful to my situation (I apologise if I have simply been ignorant!).
Help would be appreciated on how to get the microphone working in its correct socket.

Kxo

[steve]

The microphone should not work in the headphone socket. My guess is that the socket is wired up incorrectly. If this is a socket on the front of your computer, have a look on the back of the computer and see if there are sound card sockets there.

[Kevvvv]

Those are the soundcard sockets.. Very strange!
When I plug my headphones into the headphone socket, they work fine, which makes me think it can't be a wiring problem, especially seeing as they don't work in the microphone socket. Thanks for your help anyway..

I have no idea what the difference could be, I've recorded plenty of tracks with the same setup.

[steve]

Giving my crystal ball a quick polish....

My guess is that you are using a desktop computer with on-board sound. There are a couple of sound card sockets on the back that are connected directly to the motherboard, but you prefer to use the pink and blue sockets on the front of the machine as they are a lot more convenient. The sound card is probably a RealTek HD or Sigmatel and has an auto-detect feature for when you connect a microphone or headphones. The auto detect feature may no longer be working correctly, either because (a) it is often unreliable, particularly on front sockets, or (b) the dialogue screen has been canceled by the user at some point and is now disabled.

The sound card has a control panel that is accessed through a loudspeaker icon near the clock (probably brown) which controls all input and output functions in a manner that is obscure, mystifying and undocumented. It probably has effects such as "Noise Cancellation" and "Echo Cancellation" switched on by default, which will make a mess of your attempts to record. If there is no control panel on the Desktop, then it may be hidden away in the Windows Control Panel.

Unless you are using a USB sound card, "Software Playthough" should be off.