Windows 7 Microphone Not Releasing

[Reverend Jim]

I use Skype frequently for voip. After I reboot, and for an indefinite time after, everything works fine. But eventually my microphone (Dell built-in) stops working. The party at the other end no longer hears me. It's not just Skype. Windows Sound Recorder doesn't pick up anything. Neither does Audacity. My thinking is that some app is grabbing the device and not releasing it. Is there any way of determining if this is the case? If so, is there a way to determine what app is responsible?

[rubberman]

You may be right Jim. If you were running Linux, I could help you PDQ. I think there are Windows tools and management applications that can tell you what applications are using what devices, but I don't remember offhand. Sorry! :-(

[tobyITguy]

When that happens what do your sound settings in control panel show? Does it still recognize that the device is installed?

[Reverend Jim]

Device manager shows the device as working properly. All the control panel settings are unchanged from when the microphone is working.

[tobyITguy]

I saw this post which might help.

http://superuser.com/questions/335116/finding-out-which-app-is-using-the-webcam

[Reverend Jim]

Lots of good stuff there. I wasn't aware I could do that. Unfortunately, the only exe associated with that handle was the RealTekAudio exe. I wouldn't mind if Skype grabbed the mic because that's the one app I want to use it with.