headphone jack not recognizing microphone

[Snipe694]

hi, i bought an insignia ns-pah5101, a headset with microphone which uses the headphone jack, not a usb. although i can get sound to come out of the headset just fine, the microphone is not recognized by my laptop. in the recording tab in sounds, the headset doesn't even show. this is the case whether or not i use the y-adapter that comes with the headset (this laptop only has one headphone port. when i plug in only the microphone plug in the y adapter, the recording tab still shows no change)

 

[MasterWigu]

So u cant connect both microphone and headphone wires to the laptop since it has only only jack port? And then you use the Y adapter to convert both into a single jack? If this is the case, the laptop port may not support the 4 contact jack, and cannot recognise the microphone.