E6420 Microphone Driver Issue

[SpringWater]

Hi,

A while ago I purchased a refurbished E6420 laptop. I haven't really thought of using skype on it until now. I found out that the laptop does not have any drivers installed for its microphone and therefore doesn't detect its internal mic. I installed every single driver on dell's website. None of them seem to work in terms of the microphone. I was able to find a lot of information regarding this issue for the model of my laptop that has a build in camera. Mine does not and the driver on dell's website doesn't appear to make my mic work.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[DMGrier]

Okay, this may seem silly to ask but did you try opening Device Manager, finding the mic and having it check Windows update?

EDIT: Also have you ruled out if the Mic is defective? A good test is to burn Ubuntu to a thumb drive. Boot to the thumb drive and once Ubuntu loads the installer select the try first option. This will not install Ubuntu but load you into a Ubuntu Desktop running from memory. Click on the Ubuntu logo and search for the "Sound Settings". Click on the Mic tab and see if Ubuntu recognizes you have a mic. Just like in Windows you will see a input volume indicator bouncing as sound is detected.

to date I have never seen the default drivers in Linux not see the Microphone or web cam. This would at least tell you if the OS can properly see the hardware.