Logitec ClearChat Stereo Headset Mic not working

English Hardware
1

I just bought a ClearChat Stereo and trying to use it on Skype but no luck. Sound is working fine but not the microphone. I just can’t get the microphone to work even without the headset. Everything in Kmix is turned up to max and nothing is muted.

I deleted Pulse Audia and am using ALSA because I thought that that was the problem but that still doesn’t help. I have an ASUS Notebook but my brother is having the same problem with with an older Thinkpad.
Using KDE 4.3 on openSuse 11.2.
Can somebody help please?
It would be much appreciated.

I have tried all the devices within Skype (microphone) but none of them works.

2

Note many of us do not have a ClearChat headset. What mic are you talking about? Are you talking about a ClearChat mic? Are you talking about an external mic plugged into the PC’s mic jack in addition to talking about a ClearChat headset mic? Or are you talking about an integrated mic in the laptop, in addition to talking about a ClearChat headset mic?

I’m certain this is clear to you, but it is not to me.

I have never removed Pulse Audio, and I have no idea as to what effect that may have on the mic. For all I know it could make it better. Or it could make it impossible to get it working. IMHO if you did not know in advance, then doing something as drastic as removing Pulse is not a good approach, unless you are confident you can restore it.

Anyway, please in addition to providing an explanation as to what mics you are trying to use, also, with your mixer set exactly how you think it need to be set for each of your mic’s to work, provide the information recommended to be provided from the second half of our multimedia stickie: Welcome to multimedia sub-area - openSUSE Forums

Please run alsa-info.sh diagnostic script per that stickie multiple times, ie for each mic configuration that you are trying (and have setup your mixer) run that diagnostic script, and provide here the URL. The reason for running the script multiple times (for each mic setting) is the script provides me your mixer settings, and of course the mixer settings MUST be set different for each mic.

Also, when testing for each mic, please advise as to which audio device is selected as your primary audio device in YaST > Hardware > Sound.

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Is this a USB headset?

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The problem has little to do with the headset itself but more with the microphone input on the Laptop. Like I said, sound (output) is working but for some reason the input (microphone input) isn’t.
I got it to work on one system by downloading the driver from the manufacturer’s website, compiled it and deleted Pulse Audio but there must be another way to fix it. I removed pulse Audio because of a lot of sound problems that I had using it. Nothing was working properly, Since I removed it I don’t have any problem with sound but the microphone INPUT is still not working.
What#s funny is that my brother has a much older laptop (Thinkpad R50e) and is having the same problem running openSuse 11.2 and KDE 4.3. I have an ASUS Pro72. Both laptops have onboard sound cards.
I just tried to see if the microphone input is working on a PC that I have - no chance. Sound fine but mic no. Kmixer has mic turned up full and nothing is muted.
The same devices work on Windows on the same PCs and Laptops and without a problem.
I have been using Suse for 5 years so I know how to get around but this one is beating me.

I will do the script thing later. Why is it so complicate to set up a simple microphone input. Things that simple should jut work. I have a friend using Mandriva and he can#t report such problems - everything works.

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No, it’s a normal headset.

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Its not complicated. Typically the problems are users with more Windows than Linux experience who can not lever their Windows knowledge to Linux.

90% of the time a Linux mic problem is because of users configuring their mic wrong in the mixer or sound card priority (if more than one device).

The 10% of the time I find alsa is configured wrong, which means raising a bug report and applying a work around where feasible.

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I have Windows installed but i rarely use Windows. I just got it with the Laptop. It’s only in a case like this that I boot in Windows just to see if it works there.
Like I said, a friend of mine has Mandriva and he didn#t have to configure a mic, it just worked.
Why should a mic in this day and age need to be configured?
So how do i confire the microphone and Alsa properly?

8

Its really all about the philosophy of Linux. Linux is about choice. So rather than force a user to use one Mic configuration, Linux provides user a choice on how to configure. This totally confuses many users. But that IS a basic Linux philosophy.

Also, Linux can not guess whether you wish to use the internal integrated, or an external mic. So you need to tell it.

As I noted above, with your mixer set exactly how you think it need to be set for each of your mic’s to work, provide the information recommended to be provided from the second half of our multimedia stickie: Welcome to multimedia sub-area - openSUSE Forums

Please run alsa-info.sh diagnostic script per that stickie multiple times, ie for each mic configuration that you are trying (and have setup your mixer) run that diagnostic script, and provide here the URL. The reason for running the script multiple times (for each mic setting) is the script provides me your mixer settings, and of course the mixer settings MUST be set different for each mic.

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I don’t really think so because if it works with some distros and not with others then it doesn’t have much to do with Linux I think but the particular distro. I mena, open Suse is one of the best distros that I ever used but these little things nerve sometimes. it#s time consuming.
I didn’t need a mic in the past so maybe that’s why I haven’t had the problem.
I also don’t think it makes a difference as to whether one uses the internal or external mic because the external is plugged into where the internal is so the input is actually the same.

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Thanks for the help. I will try to configure it properly but how do I help my brother to do this in a simple way. he is 10,0000 Km away and just started to use Linux. I convinced him to use openSuse so how do I explain this all to him?

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My view is if other distro’s do not provide the choice then they have lost their way. From 1998 when I first started using Linux, it has always been about the freedom of choice to share software. To not be forced down one particular path.

If other distributions restrict what you can do, then IMHO they have lost their way, and one is missing the Linux experience by following them, and missing possibly the biggest advantage of Linux (and ultimately perhaps the main philosophical factor that keeps Linux alive against incredibly good competition from the proprietary operating system supplier Microsoft).

Now that does not mean configuring a mic should be difficult. In truth, it is not. One opens up one’s mixer, selects the mic, moves up the caputure, applies the boost, and the mic just works. But 90% of the users with Mic problems do not do that.

They plug in the mic and start talking. duhhhh … how is the opertaing system to know what recording level ? How to know if boost is necessary? How to know if internal or external mic? In MS-Windows one HAS TO CONFIGURE the mic and select those items. I know that, because I have watched my wife do this dozens of times. …

Why apply a double standard to Linux ?

I honestly do not believe “other” distributions are superior here, because when I last checked out Fedora, Sidux, Kanotix, Knoppix, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu, they were no easier than openSUSE when it came to setting up a mic. The EXACT same steps applied.

… anyway. … if you want support from me, please provide the information I requested. … I need that to see what is happening on your PC.

Otherwise, someone OTHER than myself will need help.

… it does not really matter, as I am leaving on vacation out of town tomorrow for almost a week, and so I won’t be able to reply much when away on vacation.

I do not think you understand what is involved here, as that makes no sense to me.

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You mean the choice that something works or not? That has nothing to do with choice. Hardware SHOULD work and work the way that people expect. Choice is something else. What if I boot and only see black because the graphic driver gives me the choice as to whether I get a console or get a real GUI. Is that choice or is it limiting me?

If that’s the meaning of choice than Linux won’t get far on the Desktop, believe me. People will spend time to learn but not to configure things that should just work. Linux distros have to make it possible for things to just work and then they will make inroads.
Like I said, when I plug a mic then I expect it to work like when I plug a camera because it’s hardware and should work! That’s what 90% of users expect. Choice of software is another thing but my operating system is there to make my hardware work only Todos. Plug and play not pray.

What you said about Windows is not true. I have Windows install and after the drivers were installedg I didn’t configure anythnig. I hate Windows and rarely use it but I am fair.
We need to get out of the nutshell.
I did not say that other distros are superior becasue I tried a lot and stuck to openSuse nonetheless. What I said is that it works with some and not others.
I will figure it out. just don’t have the time now.

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We are not talking about that. We are talking about you have to go into the mixer and configure it. This is not different from MS windows where one has to configure the mic.

You missed the point.

My PCs “just work” under Linux. And the reason is before buying them, I knew I planned to use Linux, so I researched 1st to see if they were supported, with EASY Linux setup before I bought. Note the emphasis on EASY.

Yet so many users completely ignore the importance of that, and grab any old piece of hardware, do next to no research, and then RANT that Linux does not work and it is not ready for prime time…

Well, something is not ready for prime time in that case, but it is not Linux. It is the lazy person who did no checking first.

You show me a Mac user who does not first check for Mac compatibility, and I will show you an unhappy Mac user.

Well, if you refuse to configure the mic, it won’t work. It will never work and I do not care what operating system you use and I do not care what linux distribution you use. It will not work.

Everything I have read above suggests to me you have refused to configure it.

Well, guess what … it won’t work.

And I don’t care what OS you go to. If you don’t configure, it won’t work.

Let me give you an example of “just works” … on my Dell Studio-1537 laptop I set up the webcam and mixer. Now when ever I switch on the laptop, I simply press 2 keys at the same time, and it will record everything on both Mic and Webcam. It JUST WORKS !! That is with openSUSE-11.1 Linux. But you also know what ?? I had to configure the mic !

Now my wife and I installed winXP on this laptop last week. The mic works with WinXP on this laptop, but you know what ? … to get the mic to work on winXP we had to install a couple of drivers, install an application, and then go into some winXP control panel setting and mess around for an hour to get the mic to work. Thats winXP. And Vista? Oh … the mic did not work under Vista.

When the laptop was brand new and just arrived I had the external mic jack working in less than 2 minutes in Linux. Contrast that to Vista and XP.

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I mean work without Todos.

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I configured the mic as you said, capture, mic etc. All turned up and nothing muted but it still doesn’t work. I have been beating my head with this for 2 weeks now. Whenever anything is wrong with my sound Kmix is the first thing that I open but it doesn’t help this time.
Yes I will run the script but I have to have time for that.

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It takes 2 minutes to run the script.

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/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh

select UPLOAD/SHARE and post here the URL it provides. 2 minutes.

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Your saying that I refused to configure the mic is not true. I have been trying a bag of things and googling for 2 weeks now without results. The Forum is always my last choice
And I have Vista installed, got it with the Laptop and you know what? I configured nothing after the OS and drivers were installed. The mic just worked after the drivers were installed.I am using Linux for more than 5 years now and I am not Lazy. I assemble my PCs myself and install my own operating system so it’s really unfair what you are saying.
I reffered to what the most users expect I didn’t say that I expect that otherwise I wouldn’t be using Linux.

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Thats nice. The mic never worked well on our laptop under Vista. I lost count of the number of hours my wife spent trying to sort it. The wireless also would not connect to the internet with Vista on our laptop. But with openSUSE “it just worked”.

There is an expression YMMV (your mileage may vary).

Another point, in the length of time it has taken you to type and read the above, you could have long since run the script, and run the other commands from that stickie, but you prefer to waste time typing and debate the philosophy of Linux. And thats ok, if that is what you want. Its not my mic that is not working. From the stickie …

please post in this … providing in your post the following information:

  • provide the URLs (of a summary webpage) that are created by running the diagnostic script noted here:
    SDB:AudioTroubleshooting - openSUSE - Script to run to obtain detailed information. On openSUSE-11.1 and newer that will ask you to run the script /usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh and after the script finishes it will give you a URL to pass to the support personnel. Please post here the output URL. Just the URL. You may need to run that script twice (the first time with root permissions to update in the /usr/sbin directory, and the second time to get the URL).
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘alsa’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -qa ‘pulse’ #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: rpm -q libasound2 #and post output here
  • in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: uname -a #and post output here
  • for openSUSE-11.1 or earlier, in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound #and post output here
  • for openSUSE-11.2 or later, in a terminal, or xterm, or konsole, type: cat /etc/modprobe.d/50-sound.conf #and post output here
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I just posted it but it’s not showing up.
Can I upload the file somehow. Copy and paste doesn’t seem to be working.