Question MSI GE75 RAIDER Wired Microhphones/USB Microphones not working

[chronicdarkness]

So recently my microphone stopped working on my Ge75 Raider. I'm unsure if it was a windows 11 update or maybe Nahimic/Realtek driver or something else. I've tried using the wired ports on the left side, a USB-C adapter, a USB soundcard 3.5mm jack adapter but to no avail. The sound works on all of these things but the microphone does not. When it's plugged into the main port on the laptop it records EXTREMELY FAINTLY but the others don't even pick that up. The only catch here is I have a USB headset and I hooked that up and that actually works fine with the microphone. The headset works on other devices and other headsets do not work.

I've tried reinstalling the realtek drivers, the nahimic driver and program (mandatory bloatware with the laptop), I've searched to see if there was a microphone mute key on the keyboard, the headset is obviously not muted, it has permissions in the windows 11 privacy app. I'm pretty much at a loss, the only thing I can think at this point is to factory reset the laptop which I'm not really willing to do ATM for just the microphone. Figured I'd see if anyone else has any suggestions, thanks!

 

[SparkyTech934]

Hello, hopefully I can help you out a bit!

Realtek drivers are a plague on computers, out of the hundreds of times I've installed them, I've never once had a good experience. I always stick with the basic Microsoft generic drivers built into Windows. To answer your question though, navigate to your Windows input settings and find your microphone. Then look for the 'volume' indicator and make sure that it's set high (80% +). Realtek seems to set it down like below 20% which explains why others can hear you, but just ever-so slightly.

In Windows Settings, type in 'input'. Navigate to 'Manage input sound devices'. It's the second section under 'input' and it will have the volume bar.

Hope this help!

 

[chronicdarkness]

Thanks for the suggestion Sparky, I had already been in there and it's at 100%, was also in the device properties where you can get another volume as well that's also cranked.

 

[SparkyTech934]

Ah, I see. Well, we're not done yet! My question is, did you install Realtek because they are drivers, or because you wanted a specific feature? Because if it's doing more harm than good, you can always roll back the drivers like I always did.

This can be accomplished by keying Win + R (opens run application), then type in devmgmt.msc. Under the section called Audio inputs and outputs, look for the devices and double click on them. Go to the driver tab and make sure that the 'driver provider' is listed as Microsoft drivers. If not, try to click the 'roll back drivers' button if it is not grayed out. Do this same process, but under the 'Sound, video and game controllers' section of the Device Manager. It will be listed as 'Realtek audio device' or something similar. You can check the driver tab the same way as before and make sure Microsoft is the driver provider and try to roll back if not.

If you are unable to roll back and seem to be stuck with Realtek drivers, try uninstalling them through the control panel -> uninstall programs. Then you can go back to device manager and see if the provider is updated to Microsoft.

Last thing to try if that doesn't work is going to the driver tab of the device and clicking 'uninstall device'. This will remove it from Windows and it will either re-add itself automatically, or after a reboot.

Let me know how it works, best of luck!

 

[chronicdarkness]

Sparky,

You are awesome.. As to whether or not it's a 100% fix, it's good enough.

So MSI laptops love to come with a ton of bloatware, and yes the audio devices are actually called realtek audio devices so the drivers that came with the laptop and the ones I DL from the mfg website are realtek and nahimic. What I did was delete the drivers, both nahimic and realtek, as well as the realtek audio console and the nahimic 3.0 software. The microphone now works, its not super loud but it's good enough for me to say ok. (on a side note here, I even did a clean install [from their forums instructions] as apparently its a known issue and that didn't even work)

What aggravates me is that these laptops are amazing but they put this software in here that literally hinders the laptops performance. For example, my network card in this thing is a "killer lan" card. I've had problems with the thing giving me crap internet speeds/ping/rates so I tried deleting it but it made it worse. I literally had to edit the entire thing to get it to properly give me consistent internet when playing games.

If you have any other suggestions I'll happily take them as well if I can improve the microphone sound. Not sure if there's a boost setting hidden somewhere's, etc. I did happen to order a bluetooth gaming headset, since the bluetooth was working fine. I'm going to compare quality between the 2.

Once again though man, thank you so much. I love these forums, they always deliver

 

[SparkyTech934]

Great to hear that was a fix for you, and you're very welcome!

I have to agree with you, in fact, I have an MSI laptop (albeit and older one..) that has Realtek drivers and Killer network drivers. I didn't quite mind the Killer drivers, but the Realtek ones were hot garbage...

As far as the audio quality, if you're using the Microsoft basic adapter drivers, then you have to just play around with it a bit and see what works. Make sure that once again, your volume is up in the audio input settings like I previously talked about. It may have changed because of the driver uninstalls, etc.

If you are at 100% input volume and it's still too quiet, then make sure the programs you use are set to higher volumes too! For example, if you use discord, check the discord input settings to make sure that it is not low too. Your Windows input may be higher, but a certain program may be quieting the input as well.

If everything is maxed and it's still a bit too quiet, try to add extra decibel boost. To do this:
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound (when you click it, another popup window will appear) -> recording tab -> double click your microphone (another popup) -> levels tab. Once there, look to see if there is the ability to add +10, +20, or +30 decibels. May or may not be there.

I hope this helps! If your question is answered, feel free to pick a solution so that others can find it easier!