Line In Troubleshooting Help!

[DaBuzz]

I have a small, portable microphone I take with me to record notes. However, OS X or Word 2004 don't see it.

I have gone to the Sound pref pane, and when I select it, there seems to be no input.

Next I go to the Speech pane, and make sure "Line in" is selected.

Can someone help me troubleshoot?

I have a 17 PowerBook G4, 80GB, 2 GB RAM, OS X 10.3.4

BTW, the internal mic works fine, but it catches too much ambient noise.

I'm even open to a USB mic, if it is portable.