No mic when single audio socket connected to external speakers

[mattpenn]

Hi,

I am from a school where we still have a setup for VGA connections to smart boards and laptops with double (headphones/mic) audio inputs.

In the last 2 months we have acquired new laptops with HDMI and SINGLE audio socket connections only.

When doing remote teaching from the classroom this presents a problem. Video is fine as we have VGA to HDMI cables but when the audio cable is connected from laptop to speakers we are then unable to use the built in mic?!!!

I have tried messing about with settings but surely this is a very common setup... what on Earth am I doing wrong? It’s Windows 10. I can only conclude I’m missing something very simple?

thanks all...

 

[prime2515102]

If you go down by the clock and right-click on the speaker icon and click "sounds" then click the "recording" tab there will be a list of your mic inputs.

Setting the internal mic to default should do the trick (right-click the mic, and click "set as default device" and "set to default communications device"). Usually the external mic is set to default so that it automatically takes over when something is plugged in.

If that doesn't work, you can try disabling the external mic: It probably only shows one (internal mic when the speakers aren't plugged in, external mic when they are) so you have to right-click anywhere in the box and select "show disconnected devices" then right-click on the external mic input and click "disable."

I hope that helps, if not you're going to need an external mic. You can get a TRRS to dual-TRS adapter for this which will split it into a separate mic and headphone/speaker jacks.

Edit: Added screenshot in case you have two speaker icons like I do (the highlighted one is the right one):

 

[That_Sound_Guy]

Just to clarify - Your previous laptop did not have two inputs. You had a mic/line in port as input and headphone which is an output.

Your new laptop probably has a hybrid or bidirectional port which can be used for both. In the sound card settings you should be able to tell the laptop what port it is being used for. In your case it would be an output for headphones. Then that should allow the embadded chassis mic to be selectable and not disabled for use.