Computer Sound Card Problem - Help Needed

We just got a new sound card (Audiophile 192) to do some MIDI creation in the future.

The problem is that we cannot record from the microphone. The system does not appear to be recognizing the presence of a microphone or any input device at all. Sound playback works fine.

We have exhausted the Audiophile web site's Knowledge Base.

In Control Panel | Sounds and Audio Devices | Audio, the system lists the 192 as an available recording device, but the volume and advanced buttons are disabled (grayed out).

The volume control applet on the system no longer shows volume controls for line in or microphone. The Audacity recording program we currently use no longer shows any available input device for recording. We do not currently have any MIDI devices connected, just a microphone. We have plugged the mic into the Left In and Right In input jacks, with equal lack of results.

Immediately prior to installation of the 192 (to support future MIDI devices), we were able to record from a microphone using the sound card built onto the Intel motherboard. We have now disabled the on-board sound card in the BIOS. We have tried uninstalling the 192 drivers, removing the board and re-inserting into a different PCI slot (along with re-installing the drivers).

My husband and I are new to this level of audio work, but he has over 20 years experience in software development on the Windows platform.

In my search for answers, I came across a board thread which mentioned the need to plug the mic into a preamp for the system to be able to 'see' it. Does this sound like it might be our problem?

Any help you may provide on this issue will be most welcome. Thank you in advance.

Everything you've done to troubleshoot this device so far sounds correct.

I did find this on page 11 of the User Manual:

Audiophile 2496 Analog Input/Outputs
The Audiophile 2496 Digital Recording Interface’s analog inputs and outputs are
compatible with a variety of audio products. All analog jacks on the Audiophile 2496
PCI card are female RCA. The RCA jacks allow connection to unbalanced
(typically consumer or semi-pro) equipment.

NOTE: In order to preserve its high dynamic range and minimize
distortion, the Audiophile 2496 does not have microphone preamplifiers
built into it. Therefore direct connection to a
microphone is not recommended. Instead pass the microphone
signal through a microphone pre-amp (such as the M Audio
DMP2™) and then connect the pre-amp output to the input of the
Audiophile 2496.

Are you able to record using some other device other than a mic???

Being that there is no input for a mic specifically that is probably why those are disabled. The card seems to be capable of multiple input devices though, so I'd try connecting some other device to it and test the recording ability first.

Originally posted by mOjOm
NOTE: In order to preserve its high dynamic range and minimize
distortion, the Audiophile 2496 does not have microphone preamplifiers
built into it. Therefore direct connection to a
microphone is not recommended. Instead pass the microphone
signal through a microphone pre-amp (such as the M Audio
DMP2™) and then connect the pre-amp output to the input of the
Audiophile 2496.

All right! Thank you for finding that! I suspected as much.

Strangely, though, there was no recognition for any input device. No recording of any kind was possible. I think the card was bad.

However, My husband got to looking at things and we enabled my old on-board sound card and he used a regular plug to connect the keyboard to it and it works! I can record vocals and keyboard now! So ...

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thanks again!