x220, mic, skype and Conexant 20672 SmartAudio HD soundcard [ Edited ]

[richardturnbull]

...Early November and still no real fix from Lenovo. 

The previous suggestions ultimately don't resolve the issues at hand:  usueless mic jack for skype, extremely flawed sound card... 

Let's keep hoping Lenovo will eventually offer a resolution to those of us affected; and let's keep this post active wtih peroidic updates.

Wonderful system... regretable sound card... and so far no answer.

[iaginzburg]

I bought  X220. Face  the same problem as other users.

After changing the microphone seting, it works, but very very quiet. However, after restarting machine the problem resurfaces.

I'am dissapointed. I can't use Skype, it's a very big problem for me. I can not  use my new X220 for business communication.

Hey, guys from Lenovo, what you can suggest me and others, do not buy your machines? Where is your reaction?

Very bad situation.

[yarosl]

Actually I had the same problems as described above. The sound was heavily distorted while using Skype or even Windows Sound Recorder . Skype talk was practically unusable. I was able to reduce the distortions only by changing the "Microphone Boost" setting to 0dB - but in this case the sound captured by the microphone appeared to be unacceptably silent. I have updated, reinstalled the sound driver, - no way! I was very disappointed to get such sound quality in the laptop which is positioned as "busyness mobility" .

The solution came accidentally while playing with the settings in the Conexant SmartAudio. It looks like it is the default setting VOIP->"Voice Over IP" that is responsible for some "sound effects" which result in such distorsions of sound. When changed to "Voice Recording", the recorded sound is good, at least that wierd distortions are gone. I have also unchecked the box "Automatically ajust microphone settings" in the Audio settings of Skype.

By the way, I don't know what idiot has designed such interface with a lot of pictures but without any logical structure. Moreover, it is not clear which icons are buttons an which are just pictures. I'd prefer a simple plain layout with "check" boxes with informative names instead of this mishmash.

[PeterTWJ]

Hi all

You can try this

go to Control Panel, Sound, Microphone, Properties

1. Under Listen tab, disable Listen to the device

2. Under Advanced tab, set the default format to the highest.

These shall resolve or improve mic problems / quality.

It works for some W520 that relegates it's mic

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-bad-microphone-Usable/m-p/528497#M19223

Alternatively, if you have time. I would welcome you to try this driver / optimization for improvement of speakers and microphones with Dolby Home Theater v4, more customizable than Conexant SmartAudio.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W520-Sound-Enhancement-Thread/td-p/442761/page... 

Cheers 

Peter

=============================================
Does someone’s post help you? Give them kudos as a reward, as they will do better to improve 

Mark it as solved if the solution works for you, so it could be reference for others in the future 

Refunded Set: W510, 4876-A11

Current Set: W520, 4284-A99

Dolby Home Theater v4 (ThinkMix V2)!

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Lapt​ops/W520-Sound-Enhancement-Thread/m-p/451401#M155... 

[plam]

---

yarosl wrote:

The solution came accidentally while playing with the settings in the Conexant SmartAudio. It looks like it is the default setting VOIP->"Voice Over IP" that is responsible for some "sound effects" which result in such distorsions of sound. When changed to "Voice Recording", the recorded sound is good, at least that wierd distortions are gone. I have also unchecked the box "Automatically ajust microphone settings" in the Audio settings of Skype.

---

I had the mic-is-unusable-in-Skype problem too. But I found some setting in the Windows sound settings like "disable sound processing" that made it work fine. I think it's the attempt by the hardware to process the sound that makes things terrible.

(Sorry: I'd be more specific, but that would require booting into Windows, which I don't usually do.)

[ChuckyL]

hi All, I think here's another way to try resolve the Conexant SmartAudio setting. 

1. On Window 7, go to Start > Control Panel > Sound
2. Select the Recording tab > select / highlight the Internal Microphone (Conexant 20672 SmartAudio HD) > click on Properties
3. Select the Advanced tab
4. In the "Signal Enhancements" section, uncheck "Enable audio enhancements"
5. Apply your settings
6. Go to the Levels tab
7. Set the microphone level between 5 to 20 (depending how sensitive you need to have the micophone pickup sound)
8. Set the Microphone Bootst to +10.0dB

By disable the Signal Enhancements, this will allow the microphone to be manually adjust to the sensitivity of the microphone.

I try this only for the purpose for recording.  The issue I had was that after about 10 seconds of recording playback, the sound quality quickly started fading and got lots of static noise. In addition, a large section of my recording was missing because the subjet was too far away from the laptop microphone.  Finally, when there's many people talking, the microphone only pick up the person nearest to the laptop.

[skype_user]

Thanks ChuckyL, this worked great for me.

(With a patient user the other end of the Skype call I think they key was to set the Microphone Boost to  +10.0dB)

[John675]

Lenovo T-420, Windows 7 32 bit. Internal mic worked almost 2 years. Only used for Skype. Stopped working recently, no clue why. Tried things mentioned here, no help

[jmariaca]

I got exactly the same problem two months ago. I suspect it happened after Skype was updated automatically. The problem: my sound card stops working when the call is answered, no mic, no sound. I use a Thinkpad T420s.