I cannot imagine why my microphone doesn't work . The installation test only gives a weak sound with noise. Same with a children's CD. It is a new mike, well plugged in and I have checked all the boxes.

Those computer mics need voltage to supply any sort of volume. The sound card doesn't provide enough in some cases. You can buy a battery pack that the mic plugs into and then it plugs into the sound card. It will boost the mic to acceptable volume. You can order it directly I believe from Adrea Electronics www.andreaelectronics.com and I believe it is called the aps-100.

The key here is that the kid's audio CD sounds anemic too, I presume from the computer's CD device, so I think that points to problems other than a microphone power supply. Are other sounds from your computer okay, ME signon for example? I wonder if you have the mic plugged into the wrong jack, don't belive that stuff that comes with the computers. The color coding and fancy instruction sheets are sometimes incorrect, as I found out. Some computers have an "on mother board sound card" and a separate sound card, make sure that you have the mic plugged into the correct set of jacks. Plug the mic around until it works. That is what I had to do as the diagrams were completely wrong for my computer. Turn the speakers on, check the mic input settings and plug the mic into the various jacks until it works. The mic, in the wrong jack (such as line or something) could interfer with the kid's CD. Tim

Louise, try the microphone with other computer or with a stereo. Did you upgrade to ME or was it factory installed on your computer... check out if your sound card driver is windows ME compatible if you upgraded... give more info about your computer... to play CDs on weaker computers with windows ME you have to use the old windows CD player of find a different player than WMP7. Also check the speaker connections... sometimes they oxidize a little and need to be wiggled to reestablish the good connection Regards Miro

If you have a Soundblaster card,go to Audio HQ and set system speaker config.That ought to do it.

Sorry LouisI've been up all night. Any way, check same place for mic setup,also make sure it is not muted.