Greetings,

I have a Compaq tc1100 tablet PC and have been looking for a solution to this problem for some time. On every laptop and desktop PC I have looked at this option is available but on this tablet it is not.

How do I get the microphone to be a selectable option in the playback list under the Volume Control?

My situation: I need to record a conference, both video and voice. I need to be able to hear the mic (plugged into the tablet) in my headphones (also plugged into the tablet) to make adjustments to the volume of the mic.

Frequent response: "All you need to do is go into Control Panel> Sound & Audio Devices, Audio Tab, under Sound playback click Volume... Within Volume Control choose Options>Properties then put a tick in the microphone checkbox." But that’s my issue. There is no microphone checkbox to tick. It is in the Record section on Volume Control but not under Playback.

Don't get me wrong, my mic works fine and I can record myself but I want to be able to hear the mic through the headphones at the same time.

I did a search on the net for this and I found someone with the same issue. His solution was a registry search for something like ENABLEMICINPLAYBACK and change the value from 0 to 1. But I could not find that key on the tc1100 tablet.

I can understand why the mic in playback isn't there to start with as the inbuilt mic is so close to the inbuilt speakers (feedback) but we had another tc1100 tablet and before it had to be formatted the microphone checkbox was in the playback list. So it can be done.

Any ideas?

Here is another bit of information that might help. I have noticed that the sound card is running half duplex (had two instances of sound recorder and I could not record on one while the other played back).

That is most probably my problem. Next question. How do I enable full duplex (SoundMAX Digital Audio) on a tc1100 running Tablet version of XP?

Response from HP on the subject of Full Duplex on a tc1100 tablet:

"Dear HP Customer,

Based on the information in your email, we understand that you wish to enable full duplex for the inbuilt Sound MAX Digital sound card.
We do not have option to provide full duplex for the inbuilt Sound MAX Digital sound card.

HP eServices"

Bummer.

If anyone could confirm or deny what HP have said, that would be great.

The duplex mode can be enabled, I edited the inf files for the sound driver and commented out the 'disabled' portions relating to the mic. Driver then reinstalled. Needs a bit more understanding as the sound system becomes unstable. Without deep technical info I could screw the pc up...
Bottom line is it probably can, HP won't as it creates a few howling problems hence the 'not supported'..

I'll keep trying. What is needed is the config file from a system that's got the same electronics but an enabled mic ip. I'll keep you posted...

I also use a Dell GX270 which uses the same SoundMAX Digital Audio built in sound card as the HP tc1100.

You said you need a config file from a system that's got the same electronics but an enabled mic... Where do I look?

Good question.. On the tablet the altered files are in \swsetup\SMAXWDM\W2k_XP\a couple of inf files.. So the question is do you have a sound drivers disk for your GX270 that has the same sort of structure as the tablet sound driver?.. This is all educated(ish) guess work...

Yes I do. I have the SoundMAX drivers for the GX270. \SMAXWDM\W2K_XP\smwdmCH4.inf and smwdmCH5.inf

Those are the only inf files with in that folder. What line(s) do u need to view?

search for disable and mic in tablet config file.
ie
[Magellan.AddReg]
HKR, Disable, "20db", 1, 01 ; Mic 20db Gain
HKR, Disable, "AuxR", 1, 01 ; Aux Record
;baz HKR, Disable, "MicS", 1, 01 ; Mic In Select
...
...

[DimndCom.AddReg]
;baz HKR, Disable, "MicM", 1, 01 ; Mic In Mute
;baz HKR, Disable, "MicV", 1, 01 ; Mic In Volume
HKR, Disable, "PhoM", 1, 01 ; Phone Mute
HKR, Disable, "PhoV",

...
..

If the value is set to 0, i think it's enabled! That's why i just commented it out... There are several places that this occurs.. REMEMBER, blind leading the blind here and you could screw things up.. The dell machine uses the same driver but looks like different hardware if you read the inf file.. I'm only guessing here...

If you do this then reinstall the driver you'll get a howling feedback when the mic is enabled...

I need to sleep now. I'll have another go when I'm alert and had time to digest and infer what everything means.. Good luck if you're going to change the settings..

When the inf file \swsetup\SMAXWDM\W2K_XP\smwdnCH4.inf is edited and all instances of a line referencing mic and disabled is set to the value 00 instead of 01 then the driver re-installed, the microphone is available for playback..
On my system every 5 secs the sound dies and I have to refresh a view of a directory or put volume control in focus and then press a key... There's a simple expanation here, sadly dont know.. Does anyone else have the same result?
:ohmy:

It worked. I can now use the microphone in playback.

Using the sound drivers for the SoundMAX and editing the file \swsetup\SMAXWDM\W2K_XP\smwdnCH4.inf, I changed the lines:
'HKR, Settings, "AltMicSelect", 1, 00;Define MS an on/off control'
'HKR, Disable, "20db", 1, 00;Mic 20db gain'
and the two 'HKR, Disable, "MicV", 1, 00;Mic in Volume' changing the 01 to 00 then reinstalling the drivers.

This allows me to have the microphone in the volume playback, advanced options for the microphone and microphone boost.

Be careful to always have headphones plugged into the port as if the mic mute is un-ticked it will cause very loud feedback (being that the mic and speakers are so close on the tc1100). With my setup I have a microphone and headphones plugged in when using it.

As with the problem about the sound being cut off every 5 seconds, to fix this, leave the power plugged in. I guess it has something to do with the power saving options when it is not plugged into the wall to save the battery.

Would just like to thank Bazzeroo and www.tabletquestions.com for the help.

Cheers

Big Thanks to bazzeroo and Chaos187,
I tried it with TC1000 and it works too.
The file name and variable names are alittle different but the ideas are the same.

Thanks again guys.