Why doesn't my microphone work?

[greasedneut]

I bought 2 of the Zalmam Mic's w/ Clips and both of them won't register any sound, I believed it was highly unlikely both were failures, so i can think we can assume that it's a sound card problem. i'm relatively sure i have it plugged in to the correct slot, the very left on that image I posted. I used to have a working headset which I just plugged in to see if it would work; and it didn't either, but it used to work before I re-formatted.

Sound card is in Sig, I'm running 64 Bit Vista with updated drivers...

 

[spaceman]

Make sure the mic is activated in the x-fi console b/c the mic is on the flex jack. It can either output digital signal or input the mic.

 

[greasedneut]

worked great thanks, but how do i make it so that my speakers don't constantly play what my mic is hearing?

 

[MixPix]

Mute the microphone. It should be muted at all times on the playback side.