Are you saying she paid $5000 for it?
Even if she did, that doesn't guarantee it has a microphone.

Not QUITE $5000, but more like $3000. Price is not important. I think only Razer is going to be able to answer Hagatha's questions.

In the meantime, an exterior microphone will be quite cheap, although the USB conference microphones are pretty cool.

Exterior Conference Microphone

Agreed, go straight to the source. If there is a built in webcam, there's going to be a microphone - that's just the way they do it, because it sets you up for skype, zoom or the multitude of other virtual communications that exist today. Even sub-$1k HP's have a webcam and mic built in. Heck, my Samsung tablet that I paid under $400.00 for several years ago has a webcam and built in mic.

Exactly, Trail. What would be the point of a webcam without an internal microphone? I found multiple posts about the mic not operating on these high end gaming laptops at the Razer Insider page.

Actually, in Canadian dollars it was well over $5,000 for this laptop. So far completely worth it, and it was a LOT cheaper than the Alienware I initially ordered, by thousands of dollars.

It's not a huge deal. It was just annoying to realize I had no sound during a virtual medical appointment. Fortunately we were able to use a phone instead. I would like to be able to use Zoom for calls with my mother, though. She's 89 and lives on her own across the country and it would be fun to do a virtual Christmas party. I can dig out my old laptop in the meantime.

I'll open a ticket over at Razer.

Thanks, everybody.

I forgot about it being in Canadian dollars. Well, keep us posted please! As I posted above, in the meantime you could get an exterior mic fairly cheaply.

I also read over at the Razer forum to go into the Device manager ..sound. And roll back the driver

Hagatha, just wondering if you did the Windows 10 20H2 update??

Yes, I think everything is updated now on my machine. I've got it all set up to do the Windows updates on a weekly basis, and the last update was only four or five days ago.

Hagatha, any response from Razer?

I doubt she will hear anything for a few days. I had an issue with my Razer Firefly mousepad and it took almost a week to hear back from them.

Basically Razer Support had me run through exactly the steps you guys mentioned above.

I still have no functional microphone. Not sure what the next step is, but if it involves sending my computer back to them I'll have to refuse, since it's my only computer (I gave my old Alienware to a friend)

Wow... Can't say I blame you if you don't want to send it back. If they just can't get it running something like this will work quite nicely.

USB Computer Microphone

I heard from them again this morning, and they want me to do a factory reset, which is a total pain. I might try it, but I get a bit nervous going nuclear on my computer.

I might just go with the external mic instead.

I don't blame you! Especially if there is a cheap fix...

You might want to do backups, whether you send it back or not.

If you do a full backup of everything-- including the OS and configuration -- you can very quickly restore the laptop to the way it was before. Look up how to do it if you don't know how. Restoring from this type of backup takes very little time. Sometimes only 10 minutes.

You can also do a backup of folders that contain your personal stuff -- stuff that you could add back to a completely new installation of Windows.

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Both these types of backups have their uses, whether you return the laptop or not.
Making the backups while booted into the default settings saves time later.

Backups are ALWAYS a good idea.

Back up is great but I have a question. In this case could a full backup put the problem back onto the computer. Wouldn’t the backup of her documents and personal stuff a safer way to go?

You are absolutely correct, Winfrey! I think Jenny was talking more about having one just case something went wrong with the factory reset. That's one of the reasons using System Restore was not always such a good idea... you may just be restoring the original issue.

Ah, I understand now

I've ordered a nice little external microphone.

Say, speaking of backups, what does everyone use? I have nothing on my computer but games, so the only data I have are saves.

You can get good backup software and do backups to an exterior drive. I like Macrium Reflect, but there are lot of others.

Good article here by Leo Notenboom.. https://askleo.com/what_backup_program_should_i_use/

I use the free version of Macrium

First read your owner manual. If your laptop has a microphone, it will surely mention it.

If its supposed to have a microphone but its not showing up in device manager, click on the monitor looking icon at the top of device manager to “scan for hardware changes” so you can reinstall it.

If that doesn't do it, you probably have a hardware problem. There's a good chance you'll get better sound with your external microphone.

I use Acronis True Image to backup to an external hard drive. You install it on your hard drive and can do a full backup from Windows. From there can can also create rescue media (DVD or USB flash drive, flash drive works best) in case your hard drive crashes.

Albert

Some good information on backups thanks, everyone. I got spoiled with my last computer because it had its own backup software, so I never had to think about it.

Yes, I think the external mic will do just fine.