Microphone on X200 not capturing enough sound.

I recently started to use my X200 for Skype calls and discovered that the Microphone hardly captures any sound at all. The result being that people cannot hear me, unless I practically yell into the mic. I am running XP.

I have tried different version of the Conexant drivers, including the latest ones of course.

I have turned up volume to the max through 'Sounds and Audio Devices' in the Control Panel. In Skype it automatically turns up the volume to max as well as it automatically adjusts sound levels.

Microphone boost is on.

I have tried different settings in SmartAudio.

On my X61s there are no issues what so ever.

I am out of ideas. Did a quick search on the internet and seems I am not the only one with this issue.

Suggestions are appreciated.

 

Bump.

I seem to have read that the T400/T500 is suffering from this issue as well. If so I am wondering why there are no responses yet.

Solutions are much appreciated.

 

I have the same issue with my x200 running windows 7. If I turn up the volume boost it'll give me echo during a call. I did windows update and everything, running the latest driver, no luck. It got a lot better after I ran the Lenovo update, which it installed a software (not driver) that sits in the task bar and I find that helps.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.
However, in my case I am running XP and volume is turned up all the way, but still only very little sound is captured. Echoing would be a plus as it would then be inputting high levels of sound If I move very close to the mic and speak louder I can see the sound indicator in i.e. Skype sound options move slightly. But otherwise there is hardly any sound input.

 

Have you tried adjusting the input volume through the Control Panel?

Control Panel
Hardware and Sound
Sound
Manage Audio Devices
Recording Tab

 

Yes. Just like I have enabled Microphone boost.

 

Do you have a problem with low microphone volume outside of Skype?

If yes, I am it could be a defective microphone on your machine.

 

JabbaJabba:
we see something similar on X200t (thought I have the feeling the microphone system is different there - two microphones). My wife constantly complains that she is not able to use the internal mic for skyping, and she always uses Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 for being much better. I did not investigate this in depth (some skyping problems at our place are also related to bad WiFi), but I will check soon.

 

When I test the input levels via control panel, the sound level is very low as well. So the thought has crossed my mind, that it is defective.

However, it seems that other people with the same issue has fixed this using a driver from another machine: http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/ThinkPad-X200-microphone/m-p/75424

So it seems to be driver related. I just don't want to go down that path if there is another solution - i.e. a proper version of X200 audio driver which fixes this.

 

I am having the same problem, and it is incredibly frustrating.
(Running Windows 7 x64 on x200 tablet)

I noticed that a discrepancy between the microphone "recording volume" (the level indicator that responds to sound input) displayed in the system control panel "Sound" dialogue versus the Skype indicator (displayed in the chat window).
When the problem occurs (other end gets echoing sound, or low sound), it appears as though the Skype indicator fluctuates like crazy whereas the control panel indicator seems to respond properly...
Maybe this suggests it's a problem with Skype?

Anybody find a solution yet?
It definitely looks like a widespread problem, based on other forums and websites... can't seem to find a solution that works for me though...

 

Update:
I had previously tried reinstalling the Conexant driver via download from the Lenovo website, to no avail...
I just tried uninstalling it, and had Windows install the driver automatically... and the problem seems to have been solved (so far at least!)
Hope that helps others with the same problem!

By the way, it appears as though the "SmartAudio" program was not installed this time, so perhaps the problem originated with that?