Unibody alum Macbook internal mic not working!!!

[latogoga]

Help!

I have a late 2008 unibody alum macbook, suddenly the internal mic stopped working. It's not working with skype nor garageband. It's selected in system preferences but the bar in the input label of the menu "Sound" does not move at all, only if I tap my laptop near the microphone. (upper left corner of the keyboard). I've used Mroogle and I haven't found any answer. My laptop is like 8 months old so it may not be a hardware issue.

Any advice is welcome.

Sorry for my bad english i'm not a native speaker.

 

[Cubsin09]

Apple Care?

 

[mikes70mustang]

i honestly would not use that mic for anything, its almost useless, horrible quality. its more like a gimmick that all notebooks have now

 

[iLog.Genius]

i honestly would not use that mic for anything, its almost useless, horrible quality. its more like a gimmick that all notebooks have now

I don't know if you can call it a gimmick. I find it works fine for Vent - the quality is good and my voice is clear.

Open your system profiler and under Audio, see if the microphone is listed there as internal.

 

[latogoga]

Apple Care?

I live in Colombia South America and I think apple care does not cover this country. I'm not really sure how to use muy warranty here.

Open your system profiler and under Audio, see if the microphone is listed there as internal.

This is what my system profiler says:

Intel High Definition Audio:

Device ID: 0x10DECB79
Audio ID: 63
Available Devices:
Headphone:
Connection: Combo
Line In:
Connection: Combo
Speaker:
Connection: Internal
Internal Microphone:
Connection: Internal
External Microphone:
Connection: 1/8-Inch Jack
S/P-DIF Out:
Connection: Combo
S/P-DIF In:
Connection: Combo

I guess the configuration is Ok and I have hardware issues.

 

[latogoga]

I
I guess the configuration is Ok and I have hardware issues.

I Just realized my mic came back to life!

There must be, however, some technical issue, thanks anyway.

 

[cfitz7111]

Sometimes computers just go dumb, sounds like one of those cases

 

[scottporter]

I have a late 2008 13 inch Macbook. Not PRO. My internal mic has become SUDDENLY 'muffled'. Setting all look good, normal. I can't find where it is physically to clean it. Where is it?? Maybe it is dirty and voice frequencies are blocked? Or has the element shifted, blocking the port? ARGH, such a stoopid question! I should know this!!

 

[Pentad]

Wasn't there a post about this awhile back that dust can 'block' the mic and once removed will 'fix' the problem.

Perhaps gently blowing into the mic might help?? Maybe this is what 'fixed' your problem??

Good Luck! I'm glad it works now!

-P

 

[The Pepper]

I have a white unibody MacBook (mid 2010) and the microphone area has the same tiny holes as the 13" unibody MacBook Pro – the problem is that dust builds up in them (and it can be fairly easily seen on a white laptop), all you have to do for your mic to work properly again is just clean them.

I don't know if it's the best, safest or most effective way to do it (but quite possibly it might be the only way without disassembling the whole unit) but I used a fine needle to poke every single hole a few times and it helped greatly. Just be careful not to damage the electronics under the casing. I also used canned air and sprayed it directly on the microphone after poking with the needle.

Before cleaning, all the mic recorded were hand claps, key clicking, direct tapping on the case in the mic area and similar. After my first try the sounds were much better yet still muffled. The second time I got it just right and it works like new.

I would like to add that before I solved the problem physically, I tried resetting PRAM and SMC, checked the mic on another boot drive, on a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition, obviously all to no avail.

Good luck!

 

[million7]

I have a white unibody MacBook (mid 2010) and the microphone area has the same tiny holes as the 13" unibody MacBook Pro – the problem is that dust builds up in them (and it can be fairly easily seen on a white laptop), all you have to do for your mic to work properly again is just clean them.

I don't know if it's the best, safest or most effective way to do it (but quite possibly it might be the only way without disassembling the whole unit) but I used a fine needle to poke every single hole a few times and it helped greatly. Just be careful not to damage the electronics under the casing. I also used canned air and sprayed it directly on the microphone after poking with the needle.

Before cleaning, all the mic recorded were hand claps, key clicking, direct tapping on the case in the mic area and similar. After my first try the sounds were much better yet still muffled. The second time I got it just right and it works like new.

I would like to add that before I solved the problem physically, I tried resetting PRAM and SMC, checked the mic on another boot drive, on a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition, obviously all to no avail.

Good luck!

You sir are a legend! if you were right next to me you would receive a much deserved pat on the back. I greatly appreciate it and thank you very much.

I am writing this using mountain lion dictation by the way.