Line-in jack - feedback when microphone plugged in!

Hi folks,

On my Dell Inspiron 6400 I am having a few issues. When I plug any microphone in (it asks you if it is a line-in, microphone or whatever else when you plug anything in to the jack), there is always a feedback hum now and it sounds very bad - muffled and just poor in general!

It used to be fine! Is it doomed? It doesn't sound like something easy to replace or fix either

I have tried a couple of microphones, some worse than others, but all with the hum. I know for a fact that it used to be perfect.

matt

Sounds like you need to mute your microphone in the playback (but not recording) settings.

Turns out unplugging the AC Power lead from the back of the laptop reduces the hum ALOT so it is barely noticeable (you can see the slight wave of sound in Audacity but can't hear it really!). Something to do with the ground loop in the laptop...

Ah well, sorted

Cheers!

matt