Microphone won't fully work.

I am using a Plantronics Gamecom 367 headset via a 3.5mm jack.

Going through control panel, sound seems to be picked up as the green bars correspond with what I say. I can also use sound recorder perfectly, so the mic seems to be in working order.

But for some reason I can't get this to work with Steam chat or Windows Speech Recognition, neither of them pick up any sound from the headset.

So far I have tried updating the sound cards driver and simply checking and double checking that its in the right port.

Just wondered if anyone had any tips as to how to get this to work?

Try going to Start and searching for Sound Recorder. See if that does anything; you'll have to record something, save the file, and then open it and see if it has your recording in it. If it does have sound, then it's likely a problem with the programs you're using. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it

In my (limited) experience, microphones are tricky, and usually it's some weird option deep in control panel (or whatever program you're using) that causes issues. Do you have a different microphone you can try with your computer? Can you try your microphone in a different computer and see if it works there?

It works fine with sound recorder, I can hear back what I said and in a normal volume when I open the file.

I'm afraid I don't have another microphone but will try on another computer to see if its just a problem with my system. I also have a PC-XBox 360 adapter to use my headset for the Xbox and it works fine for that too.

Ok since it works in Sound Recorder, we know that your microphone and microphone jack are all working properly, and that your computer recognizes it properly.

I know some programs only recognize specific types of headsets, and some only recognize certain brands/models (usually to force you to buy their product so they get more money from you). I suspect this may be the case with Steam chat. I'd recommend you contact Steam for help with it, since they'll be able to tell you what the problem is, and whether your headset type is supported or if there's an option you need to check somewhere.

As for Windows Speech recognition, have you set it up already, or are having trouble setting it up?

P.S. sorry for telling you to try Sound Recorder again, I missed that part where you said you tried that

I will contact steam also on this, as there is nothing in their knowledgebase about it.

For the speech recognition it doesn't let me set it up. It gets onto the screen where it asks me to read a certain sentence out loud but just doesn't pick it up at all.

As for the sound recorder thing, you have no need to apologise, you're the one helping me :P

Ok does it show the green bar moving at all? The one that indicates it's getting sound? This one:

The green bar should bounce up and down a lot with the sound of your voice

That one doesn't at all, but the vertical one in 'Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Sound -> Recording Tab' does.

Hey this might be helpful.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1206-WUOH-3314

And OR

1) Try to disable the onboard sound device in device manager (In case you are using a sound card)

2) In windows sound options under the "communication" tab it set it to "do nothing"

Hope it helps !

Try the above suggestion. If it doesn't work, let me know and we'll try some other things.

So far I've gone through all of the things on the steam webpage and the onboard sound device, but it still doesn't work. As for the second option, I haven't been able to find the communications tab at all.

Sorry if this is a silly question but could you be ultra specific as to where it is? :D

I'm not sure where it is, but often different versions of windows have different options. So it's entirely possible that you don't have a communication tab. But just to be sure, check that your View in control panel is Classic View, not...the other one haha. I forget what the other one is.