I am having a problem with the input ports in my computer (dell). I have spent the entire day trying to find a solution, nearly 90% of the forums that I read only talk about displaying disconnected/disabled devices or updating drivers. I have already updated/re-installed every kind of driver, i have been through every single possible hidden UI route to set the sounds configurations, so I guess my problem is either extremely utter-basic or some deep unaivoidable bug ...
It all started when I tried to use the mic input port in my new computer (by the first time, i.e., same default configs of a brand new one). The device is not a mic itself, but the connector is the same (I guess). It didnt work, and (unless I unlikely burnt some chips) I assumed the problem was lack of windows 8.1 support and didnt bother to go further.
A few weeks later, I tried to use a webcam with inner mic. The connection is made trough a USB port. The webcam works good, but the mic doesnt. I have tested the web (and also the old device from before) in a laptop with windows 8, and they worked fine.
In the sounds configurations, the speakers devices are OK. The problem lies with the input devices. If I disconnect/connect them, the devices are recognized and listed accordingly. The stereo mixer is also always present. However, the stereo mixer can not be enabled, no matter how many ways I try to do that. The mic inputs are automatically set to enabled devices, however none of them really works. all the inputs (and the mixer) has no volume bar. If I try to change the configurations directly, the volume bar always locks to zero.
amongst the many complex solutions I have found, i runned this (sfc /scannow) and fixed manually a problem using the (DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth) command. I dont think this is related, because nothing changed.
So, is there any other suggestion, besides turning on the visibility of disabled devices? I dont know if this is a problem of the SO or the machine itself..