Steam not picking up my microphone

[Vengaard]

Hello! For a few days Steam doesn't pick up my microphone anymore, which is annoying when playing online games like DayZ or Arma.

My mic is a AT2020 XLR plugged to a Behringer Xenyx 820 and a Asus Xonar D1 Soundcard [Win 10 64 bit]. It all worked perfectly fine until 2 days ago when I switched from my USB mic.

Before you ask: It's all plugged in the correct way (and set to default) and my mic does work on other programs like Teamspeak. Steam also recognizes my mic, but the microphone test is not working. I've heard Nvidia Geforce Experience Share might cause this, but I also uninstalled it and disabled "Share", but it is still not working. I am kinda desperate right now. Help would be very much appreciated!

[The Giving One]

You are correct about the GFE share thing, as that was known to be a problem but I thought that was resolved. You seem to have eliminated that possibility anyway.

And just in case it matters in your issue here, TeamSpeak has been known to lead to mic issues, so keep that in mind after other troubleshooting may fail.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

Other Applications

.....

TeamSpeak (can lead to mic issues)

Go into your mic settings for audio device and check to see about audio enhancements. Exit Steam first. Close it fully. Disable the enhancements and try again.

[Vengaard]

Thanks for your comment. I don't have the audio enhancements option under my devices though. Maybe because I use a soundcard and not the onboard sound?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Vengaard:

Thanks for your comment. I don't have the audio enhancements option under my devices though. Maybe because I use a soundcard and not the onboard sound?

Hmmm...maybe. Can you try switching from the card to the on-baord audio for now and disable the enhancements and try again ?

In Windows 10, the audio enhancements issue was seen widely here in this forum, and every once in a while, someone posts and we suggest that and it usually works.

I will look at your other posted information meanwhile, if you wish to try this suggestion given here.

Do you have the latest stable driver for the card installed, and only doing so after downloading from here...if my search is correct ?

https://www.asus.com/Sound-Cards/Xonar_D1/HelpDesk_Download/

Use the drop menu there for your OS (Windows 10 64 bit)

I don't suggest that beta. I would get the other one, that seems to be fully released as stable.

[Vengaard]

Yes I already tried that, updated all my drivers, reinstalled steam etc.
I will active the onboard sound on my bios again and see if unchecking audio enhancement works.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Vengaard:

Yes I already tried that, updated all my drivers, reinstalled steam etc.
I will active the onboard sound on my bios again and see if unchecking audio enhancement works.

Reinstalled Steam ?

Then check your settings in case something defaulted to a different setting.

Steam in the top left of the client, then settings, then voice. Check your settings there maybe.

[Vengaard]

I reinstalled after the error occured. I checked all my settings (Steam side and software side) but it's all correct. I now disabled the audio enhancement option but the issue is still there.
I have no idea how to fix this.

[The Giving One]

I don't usually ask questions like this, so excuse me here, but you said "for a few days" in your opening post.

Can you think of anything that changed since it apparently worked before those few days ?

Anything at all....Windows updates, drivers updated from Windows and NOT from ASUS by you, etc...anything.

Also, do you have any other programs listed in the link I gave you ?

Do you have Skype ?

[Vengaard]

I used an USB Mic before (the same as mine now, AT2020) but switched to the XLR Variant with a mixing desk now. There are no issues with other programs, it's only Steam not "compatible" with my microphone. Other than that I changed or installed nothing.
Also no, I don't have skype.

I use F-Secure, but I used that before too without issues. Even turning it off doesn't fix the problem.

[The Giving One]

If the mic is USB, that can also be possibly driver related, maybe. Did you update all the device drivers from ASUS only and NOT by using Windows update ?

Please clarify as to how you updated your device drivers, including USB drivers, for that board.

Originally posted by Vengaard:

I used an USB Mic before (the same as mine now, AT2020) but switched to the XLR Variant with a mixing desk now. There are no issues with other programs, it's only Steam not "compatible" with my microphone. Other than that I changed or installed nothing.
Also no, I don't have skype.

I use F-Secure, but I used that before too without issues. Even turning it off doesn't fix the problem.

Truning programs off is not always good enough. There can be hidden or child processes of the parent program still running in the background that can conflict.

I doubt it is an issue with those other programs also, but still, you have programs that are listed on that list, so again, you should keep them in mind as related here. Don't dismiss anything because you assume it is not the problem, as that is not the proper way to troubleshoot an issue like this.

Those programs are know possibilities. Only way to be sure they are not part of the problem, yes even if you have used them before, is to fully uninstall them and restart your computer and try again.

I can post links all day where users did not have issues with programs previously, and later on those very programs proved to be the issue or part of the issue.

You can also look at what others did to try to resolve this, possibly. My search terms are...

"mic not working"

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061466924237&include_deleted=1&q=%22mic+not+working%22

But you can also use the forum search using other terms.

[The Giving One]

EDIT..I realize this may be a silly question, but they have to sometimes be asked anyway, as I am sure you understand.

When you disabled the card and enabled the on-board audio, you did switch the mic jack from the card to the motherboard, right ?

[Vengaard]

Didn't work. So frustrated right now, but thanks for your help. I will use a second mic now (USB) and use that... Don't know what else to do.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Vengaard:

Didn't work. So frustrated right now, but thanks for your help. I will use a second mic now (USB) and use that... Don't know what else to do.

Sorry it was of no help so far, but there is no way to tell what you mean from "didn't work" here in this reply. I also asked you some more questions that you did not answer.

And I mentioned for you to please clarify as to how you updated your device drivers. You don't seem to have replied to that either.

Also, did you check the link I posted to a search result and maybe try you own search terms also ?

I will also ask if you will post screenshots of all of your installed programs on that computer. It is possible you have something else that was not covered in that list in my first reply. Thanks.

[Vengaard]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Sorry it was of no help so far, but there is no way to tell what you mean from "didn't work" here in this reply. I also asked you some more questions that you did not answer.

I tried most of them, but it didn't fix my problem :( I thank you a lot for your replies!

Originally posted by The Giving One:

And I mentioned for you to please clarify as to how you updated your device drivers. You don't seem to have replied to that either.

Downloaded them from the official sites and installed them.

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Also, did you check the link I posted to a search result and maybe try you own search terms also ?

Checked it and also was looking for fixes 1 whole day before I posted here. I think I am cursed.

Originally posted by The Giving One:

I will also ask if you will post screenshots of all of your installed programs on that computer. It is possible you have something else that was not covered in that list in my first reply. Thanks.

My GF uses the same Antivirus and it works for her. Now I don't want to uninstall every program and see if that works. I will just use my older Mic for steam only and my new mic for everything else. Seems the easiest option for me, although I would have really liked to know why exactly it stopped working.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Vengaard:

My GF uses the same Antivirus and it works for her. Now I don't want to uninstall every program and see if that works. I will just use my older Mic for steam only and my new mic for everything else. Seems the easiest option for me, although I would have really liked to know why exactly it stopped working.

Thanks for the detailed reply, but I am not only talking about antivirus programs ,and I doubt highly that any antivirus program could cause this, but I make no assumptions, or try not to, when troubleshooting.

There could be a process that is conflicting still and perhaps causing this. For example, are you using any software manager programs or drivers maintenance processes with that microphone ?

If you don't mind and would still like to attempt to work on this, please post those screenshots, not just your antivirus program, but each and every program you have on that comuter, please.

I also don't usually suggest this page, but it can help sometimes when a user does not know what else to try, where problematic software may be suspect.......

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8043-EUJN-5239

[Vengaard]

Only processes that start automatically are my Antivirus, Nvidia and Steam.
It can't be something that generally intereferes with steam since my other Mic is working now. I do thank you for your time and help my friend, but I willl continue using a second Mic now. I don't want to spend my time looking for stuff like this, esp. since I tried everything that worked for others. Thank you.