# Microphone only works when I switch inputs



## rnejdl (Mar 11, 2013)

I have had this problem for a while and have a work around for it but would love a better solution.  Whenever I reboot, my microphone no longer works.  I have to use the mixer command to switch the input from mic to mix and then back to mic and then the microphone works just fine.  I'm using snd_hda if that matters, but wondering if anyone else has seen this or if I am all by myself.

Thanks!
Rusty Nejdl


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## mav@ (Mar 14, 2013)

What FreeBSD version are you using? Could you show [cmd=]mixer =rec[/cmd] command output? Do you have external or internal microphone? If external, have you tried to unplug it an then plug back?


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## rnejdl (Mar 15, 2013)

I am on FreeBSD 9.1-STABLE on amd64.


```
[tethys]:/home/rnejdl> mixer =rec
mixer: no recording device specified
usage: mixer [-f device] [-s | -S] [dev [+|-][voll[:[+|-]volr]] ...
       mixer [-f device] [-s | -S] recsrc ...
       mixer [-f device] [-s | -S] {^|+|-|=}rec rdev ...
 devices: vol, pcm, speaker, line, mic, cd, mix, rec, igain, monitor
 rec devices: line, mic, cd, mix, monitor
Exit 1
[tethys]:/home/rnejdl>
```

The above command unsets the recording device for me.  It was previously set to "mic". This is an external microphone.  I believe that the microphone doesn't work when I unplug and plug it back in but will test again when I next reboot.

Thanks!
Rusty Nejdl


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## rnejdl (Mar 23, 2013)

I rebooted my server and tested this using Audacity.  There was no microphone plugged in when I rebooted.  I plugged in my microphone and it did not work correctly.  Doing the following made the microphone work for me:


```
[tethys]:/home/rnejdl> mixer =rec mix
Recording source: mix
[tethys]:/home/rnejdl> mixer =rec mic
Recording source: mic
[tethys]:/home/rnejdl>
```

Any ideas?

Rusty Nejdl


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## mickey (Apr 25, 2020)

rnejdl said:


> I rebooted my server and tested this using Audacity.  There was no microphone plugged in when I rebooted.  I plugged in my microphone and it did not work correctly.  Doing the following made the microphone work for me:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...


Well, this is interesting. I have literally been trying to get any audio input from either the internal microphone of my notebook or an external microphone plugged into the front jack for days without success on 12.1-RELEASE. After switching the mixer's recording source to mix and then back to mic it instantly worked with an external microphone. Just yesterday I tested six different combinations of rerouting the audio pins, switching the recording source between mic and monitor back and forth to no avail, none of it worked.


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