PC Headset Woes

Doctor Fink · November 2008

A few months ago, I was trying to find if any of my old headsets would work with my computer. With the ones that would work (particularly those with 3.5mm jacks), I would always get this nasty echo from the playback while I was testing out the mics. I figured that since they were a bit old, that they had created this echo.

Fast forward to today, wherein I just received my ordered pair of Genius HS-02 Headset from Newegg. When I plugged in the jack and tested it out, once again I got the nasty echo effect on the playback. After a couple tries of plugging the jack into another input outlet (all for mics) now the playback won't pickup anything at all.

Is there some sort of issue with my sound card or computer, or have I just wasted 10 bucks in buying another trashy headset?

Rohan · November 2008

Have you tried updating the drivers for your sound card/onboard audio? If the problem persists, maybe you could return the new headphones and get a USB pair instead? I have the Logitech 350 Premium and they're very, very good. No more plugging and unplugging cables when I want to switch.

1ddqd · November 2008

Onboard sounds can have this issue - make sure the headset is plugged into the onboard audio's green Output and that your sound card is detected and working (use Device Manager - type it in the start menu in Vista, or right click My Computer and go to Properties).

If the sound card doesn't have a yellow exclamation point, it's probably good. Other things it could be:

- Shorted output on onboard audio jack
- Shorted headset, or overpowered/shorted out b/c you plugged it into something bad (doubtful)
- Bad wires (have you used any other headset or speakers to see if it works at all?

Verify it's still outputting sound first, then we'll figure out if it's a headset issue or not.

Doctor Fink · November 2008

My sound card is functional. The headphones on the headset do work, and when I plug in the mic jack, my computer immediately playbacks whatever I say into the mic through the speakers. However, the only problem is when I try to test the mic in the control panel, or on Steam's voice settings I still get the nasty echos and garble.

Airan · November 2008

If you're on XP, go to Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Voice > Test Hardware. See if that helps, because it fixed the hideous reverberation problem I had with Source games.

Darmak · November 2008

Doctor Fink wrote: »

My sound card is functional. The headphones on the headset do work, and when I plug in the mic jack, my computer immediately playbacks whatever I say into the mic through the speakers. However, the only problem is when I try to test the mic in the control panel, or on Steam's voice settings I still get the nasty echos and garble.

See if in your volume control panel the stereo mix (or whatever it's called) is muted. Whenever mine isn't I get the most awful static and feedback when I try and use my mic.

Doctor Fink · November 2008

Darmak wrote: »

Doctor Fink wrote: »

My sound card is functional. The headphones on the headset do work, and when I plug in the mic jack, my computer immediately playbacks whatever I say into the mic through the speakers. However, the only problem is when I try to test the mic in the control panel, or on Steam's voice settings I still get the nasty echos and garble.

See if in your volume control panel the stereo mix (or whatever it's called) is muted. Whenever mine isn't I get the most awful static and feedback when I try and use my mic.

Muting it seemed to do the job. It did get rid of the loud garble and most of the echo which still happens a bit when I test it in Steam's voice settings, but not when I test it in the Control Panel.

For the most part, though, I say that fixed it. Thanks for the help.

No Great Name · December 2008

So, my mic has recently stopped working in vent and steam games. It works fine when "monitored" in recording devices, but in vent or steam it's just a garbled staticy mess.

I've recently upgraded my video card, but my mic was working fine for a day or so after that. The only other thing I've downloaded was shockplayer for IE. To play isketch. I've tried deleting that, but the mic is still messed up.

Any ideas?

edit: This is for all mic ports, front back and sound card.

Sound card is Asus Xonar D2X, onboard is some kind of realtek hd audio.

I'm vista 64bit.

Penny Arcade

PC Headset Woes

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