Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Troubleshooting my own user idiocy

Random dumb tech story: For months my computer microphone has had a lot of loud static on it. Every time I say something in a game like Left 4 Dead 2, people complain and tell me not to talk again.

I finally got around to investigating the issue, which involved unplugging things, looking at the sound controls, etc.  I was bewildered to find that the computer was recording noise even when the mic was unplugged.  Then I realize: I have a USB webcam that I rarely use.  It's plugged into the back, it has its own built in mic... and it's hanging behind my desk RIGHT NEXT TO THE FAN.

Everything's crystal clear now.

4 comments:

  1. So both microphone inputs were active at the same time?

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  2. Yep, they're both USB and they both activate automatically when plugged in.

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  3. I once had a similar facepalm situation with an integrated laptop microphone. People kept yelling at me to turn my volume down. I had the microphone volume so low it was basically off. Eventually, I went into the control panel and found out that there was a separate microphone boost. It was cranked all the way up. It seems that everything I said was being amplified by about 20 decibels.

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  4. Bravo. :D

    Now to find that misplaced semicolon that's been totally changing the behaviour of your program.... somewhere... lurking....

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