Microphone.

I bought a desktop microphone for my lenovo laptop even though it has a built in because of a sound problem when using a video visit site. Oddly enough, my dell desktop with Windows 8 is doing the exact same thing with the new webcamera. Great video but no outgoing sound. Here is what it does. I can get to my sound box by right clicking the speaker and clicking on recording. It shows my insignia microphone as the default source for recording. When I click on levels it will allow me to move the slidebar to 100% and uncheck the mute. At that point, the green bars move and I can hear my microphone fine. The problem is that after 20 seconds, I lose the sound and the levels go back to zero and mute turns back on. Like I mentioned, this happens on my desktop as well with Windows 8. I have gone online and used microphone test sites but I believe my problem is internal on both. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Below is a snapshot of my levels window.
Lmiller

 

I forgot to mention, the new microphone is connected via USB port

 

Thank you for the welcome by the way...........

 

Hi. Have you run the trouble shooter as yet?

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-no-sound-in-windows

 

Not yet but I will shortly. I will post the results.

 

OK, it said it found microphone muted and fixed it but the result was the same....sound for 20 seconds and back to mute.

 

In the past when i plugged in a usb microphone, the mic from my webcam in combination with my external mic would cause problems. What i did to correct this was go into ' Device Manager' & disable my webcam mic. Worked great after that.

 

Thanks N3. I did that and it allowed the microphone to work for closer to 45 seconds but eventually, it muted itself again. I guess my question is after setting level and turning off mute, why does it not allow me to "Apply" the change? The apply button stays greyed out. I think we're getting closer though.

 

OK. I dug a little deeper in my software and found the audio package. I un muted it but the same result......it keeps muting itself. Up to that point the microphone works great.

 

Do you have a mic other than the usb variety that you can try? The problem may be significant to usb only.

 

Try launching the computer in "Safe Mode" and see if you get the same problem.
Disregard this post. Won't work.

 

Allheart. I tried different usb ports and even my desktop but the same results. N3, I will seeif one of my sons has a headset with a mic. My laptop is only two months old and the port is for either speaker or headset.

 

I will give that a try

 

I may have found the problem......with my laptop anyway.

This still leaves my desktop with the external web camera having the sound but it may be the usb connection as well. One computer at a time I guess.....

 

Won't work. I have edited my post.
Only keyboard and Mouse works in Safe Mode.
I wasn't thinking. Sorry.