G73JH Microphone Jack not Working

I've searched and searched (believe me, I've searched) and I've tried a bunch of the solutions that I've found (if the files were still downloadable), but nothing seems to help. Here's the long story:

My G73jh was overheating, and throwing PCI errors, and the warranty was running out so I took it in to be RMA'ed. I actually had to send it back twice because they didn't fix the problems, but last week I got it back and it seemed to be all good....until I plugged in a headset. The headphones work, but the microphone doesn't.

The machine came back with a new Windows 7 install so I thought, "Probably a driver issue". Well, I've uninstalled, scrubbed the registry, reinstalled the stock drivers from the ASUS site. Nothing. The headphones work, but the microphone does not. With no headset plugged in, the speakers work fine and the built in microphone works fine (And yes, I've tested the headset on another computer, it works fine too).

When I plug in the microphone, I DO get the little popup that I've plugged something in the "audio plug" (it's the same message as when you plug in headphones). But no microphone.

I'm trying to avoid ANOTHER RMA (and another 2 weeks without my computer), so does anyone here have any feelings whether it would be software or hardware? Should I just pull it apart and see if the RMA tech forgot to plug it in (I don't have a lot of faith in them)? I'm comfortable doing that if I have to.

I also have to say that the re-install of the audio drivers is a real pain. The Realtek drivers from the Asus website seemed to install fine (but don't detect SRS(?) or something, I don't have it handy) and the Creative driver from the Asus website just doesn't install -- "no supported hardware found" or something. There seem to be 75 different opinions on how to install them and in what order and which tweaked version, etc. I just want it to work.

Does anyone have ANY ideas? RMA? Take it apart, then RMA if I can't find anything? Software ideas?

Thanks for anything you've got!

Ian

 

Did you do a clean install of Windows 7 or just a scrub of the registry?

 

I haven't done a clean install myself, I just uninstalled all the audio drivers, and manually went through the registry and removed anything that mentioned Creative or Realtek.

I can certainly do it if you think it might help. I guess as a last resort prior to RMA'ing it again.

Ian

 

It is definitely worth a shot. If that doesn't work opening it up to check for any cables/ribbons unconnected might help, but if memory serves right the audio panel connections are through a single ribbon. So it either has to be partially connected or damaged to cause the Mic jack to not work.

 

Ya, it seemed unlikely to that the headphone jack would work fine, but not the microphone jack. I'll try a clean install tomorrow and see if things look better.

Do you know if is there a recommended order to reinstall the drivers from the Asus site? Or is there a better (newer) set of drivers? I know when I updated my video drivers from the stock ones I had NO end of trouble, so I hope I'm not making things worse -- it seems fairly finicky.

Ian

 

I never install Audio, Chipset and Video drivers from the ASUS site, the rest yes from the ASUS site. I use AMD's latest catalysts and Intel's latest inf utility for chipset drivers. For Audio I use the modded 2.48 driver plus X-Fi package.

Order would be

Chipset
ATK Drivers
Video
Audio
Then with everything else it doesn't matter.

 

Can you fill me in on where to find these guys?

 

I don't remember where I saw it first. But here it is on megaupload share

Clicky

Be sure to have your Anti-Virus to be disabled, as the activator is falsely detected as a virus/Trojan. Read the read me file first.

 

Many thanks! I'll report back in the next couple days and let you know how it went. In the mean time, if anyone else thinks they have an answer, feel free to speak up.

Ian

 

If you continue to have issues with this after your reinstall, let me know and I'll have it hauled here to Fremont, assuming you're in North America.

 

Nope, clean reinstall, followed mharidas's instructions exactly. Still no working microphone plug -- the built in microphone works fine.

Sigh.

What's your deal Chastity? Should I open it up and have a look (On principle, I want to send it back to RMA land, but I really don't want to part with it for another week or two).

Any more ideas anyone?

Ian

 

Things have now gone from bad to worse: I got Steam and WoW set up again so my son can use them, took the computer down to him, and within a minute he called me back down stairs.

The machine had suddenly powered off. Now it won't start at all. I've left the battery out for a couple minutes, tried powering off adapter only, battery only, and both.

The ONLY indication I have that there is ANYTHING going on is if I plug it in, the battery light comes on. If I then push the power button, the battery light goes off (and comes back on 5 seconds later or so).

Sigh. RMA again I guess.

Ian

 

Well that's very bad. Sorry to hear that.

Are the fans spinning, can you hear them when you tried to power on?

 

Nope, nothing. Just had a chat with Chastity on IRC, called the Canadian Repair Center and walked through all their trouble shooting.

Nada.

I was then told that because the warranty had now expired, I will have to pay for the repairs. Apparently, Best Buy doesn't let Asus know when they are repairing equipment, so there is no record (from the Asus point of view) that my machine was having any problems. Even though the FIRST work order clearly states "Send To Asus; On manufacturer warranty".

Asus support through Chastity, is helping though. We'll see what happens. But in the mean time I'm AGAIN without a gaming computer...That's 3 weeks already and we've only stepped backwards.

I'll say it again....sigh.

Ian

 

sorry to hear that. Hope ASUS support can come through to help you out especially since they say warranty is over.

 

So, just by way of a follow-up, the main board had in fact died and Best Buy did replace it on warranty. I've got it back now and everything SEEMS to be working well: no more PCI errors, no more overheating, and all the ports seem to work.

I would like to point out though that Best Buy doesn't do their warranty work through the manufacturer for ASUS products. I have to admit that that fact miffed me a bit, but they did come through and fix it, so I can'r really complain.

Thanks Chastity and mharidas for your help. It's good to know there's people out there when you need them!

Ian

 

Glad someone came through to solve your laptop's hardware malfunctions.

 

I have to get the background story to when/how Chastity was hired! I know she did all this wonderful work here while not being an employee, so it's great to know that it was recognized.

We probably have the best possible direct route to support and assistance that ASUS has available, and they were incredibly wise to hire an enthusiast to help others.

I'm sure there's a story around how it all went down, and I'd love to hear it.

In the meantime though, I have to show a lot of respect and appreciation for what Chastity has meant to the ASUS ROG enthusiast community, and this site in general.

 

Heres Your Fix! .. (if your hardware and software are fine)

I have this comp and the problem is connected with toggling between using the HDMI and LCD settings. Sometimes when using the function F8 key, toogleing between the two, you end up with both the internal speakers and the headphone jack working at the same time. Try toggleing back and forth between the three settings of LCD, LCD+HDMI and HDMI, until it works properly. It happens because the HDMI port can also send sound and it sometime turns on both or turns off both and sends sound to an external device. All this new driver, formating and stuff, is not the fix, least not with my G73JH.... good luck!

GoldN