P150SM built-in mic problem and misc. questions

Hey, hi.
I just received a P150SM (running W7) and so far I'm really happy with it except for the built-in microphone. The sound is incredibly weak and a little distorted; it's hardly usable (unless I communicate by hand clapping). I used a Dell studio 1558 for years and the built-in mic was as good as a phone, so I'm (badly) surprised by the Clevo's.
Is it a known issue? I tried reinstalling the Realtek driver, but no can do. I've the same "quality" with the default Microsoft drivers.
I currently don't have an external mic to plug in, but using my headphones instead gave the same disappointing results.
I had Sound Blaster nX-fi mb3, but it uninstalling it makes no difference.

As for the misc. questions, I've two.
The user manual says a little red LED shows whether the webcam is recording or not, but I don't see any on my PC; I'm not that concerned, but is this absence a widespread "feature"?
Also, it's possible to desactivate wifi/bluetooth/webcam through the control center (Fn+esc), but is there anyway to make this setting the default at boot?

 

I've had similar quiet/muted issues with my mic and sound with the mic in use. It wound out it was an issue with the realtek and hotkey drivers.

You need to uninstall the realtek driver, then uninstall the hotkey driver, then, re-install the lastest realtek driver then re-install the latest hotkey driver (for your exact machine).

Sager ( custom gaming laptops - Welcome to Sager Notebooks) has drivers you can download that will be the latest.

Once I installed the latest realtek and hotkey drivers, my mic and sound have been absolutely crystal clear, and the speakers appear to pound out MUCH louder sound.

I can play movies in a living room with the speakers cranked up and actually watch it from a distance with the wife and hear everything. That impresses me.

 

That's weird!! How can the hotkey drivers affect the sound in any way? Jesus...can't get any stranger than this (or can it..?)

 

You've no idea how strange PCs can get. I once installed, then disabled, an antivirus software which blocked access to 90% of all websites except google & youtube. Even turned off. I also had another issue where a previous AV software would cause my audio in Batman Arkham Asylum (and no other game) to stutter, distort and crack, making the game almost unplayable sound-wise. I didn't figure out it was the anti-virus for years and I never got help from the official forums.

 

I thought we had the same issue and did what you said but it didn't help. Only to find the issue might be a little deeper than what I thought.

Reading the P150SM and P150SM-A manuals, I realise I must have the latter (i7-4700MQ and GeForce GTX860M). But everything, including my hardcopy of the concise manual, is for a P150SM. For example, I've an old version of the hotkey app, where you can only chose only predefined colors pour the keyboard LEDs.

When I tried the latest version of the hotkey ap for P150SM-A, it bugged. The keyboard lighting went off, for example. My software must be to deeply P150SMish for a such a high level P150SM-A app, I (wildly) guess.
So I'm back with the old version, which I don't really mind.

But my mic still doesn't work. And I think I know why. At first I thought it was located near the touchpad, because there's is a little hole for it. But in the manual, it's near the webcam (makes sense). And it actually is, I can clearly hear myself better as I come near it.
But there's no hole for it near the webcam. Nor for the webcam LED. I believe my mic is hidden behind the chassis and that causes underwaterish performances.
You seem to have a P150SM-A as well; could you tell me if you chassis is pierced near the cam for the mic and the LED?

 

I actually have the P157SM-A, but what I've read the chassis are pretty similar.

On mine, the mic is approximately one inch to the right of the camera, maybe shy a cm or so.

Actually, I measured it. from the edge of the camera, it's exactly 7/8th inches to the right.

 

Ok thanks, if your measured it I assume you've got a hole for it.
I guess I'm good for after sale service now -_-