Microphone doesn't work when plugged in

When I plug in my headset (earpieces and microphone), it usually asks me to
select "microphone" as my choice for the plugged in device. Earlier today, I
hit "do not ask me this again" because I thought that it would accept that
the only thing I ever plug into that port (the red part of the red/green
audio section). What I wanted was to not be asked to choose every
time....that I always wanted to select microphone. But now it's not asking
me anything, and the microphone is not working. I've done all the microphone
troubleshooting things...but can't figure out how to get the computer to
start asking me again what device I want to use every time I plug in the
headset. Any ideas?

you have onboard audio or an added card? make sure you ahve the right audio
device selected in the cotnrol panel for both input and output. also make
sure you have the right driver (it soudns like you dont have one installed
for your audio device, thats what that pop up is).. ive never had a prompt
come up on any computer ever when you plug in a 1/8th inch plug to an audio
card... they simply cant detect it, unless some wild new card has come out in
the last 30 days i dont know about.

I have the exact same problem, and it occured also when I checked the box to
tell it (I thought) simply to not prompt me.

Obviously, as you have also discovered not only does this prevent it from
prompting, it also prevents it from working.

I've been unable to find anything documented anywhere about this message
box, or how to re-enable it. My computer thinks everything is configured
correctly, but the mic just doesn't do anything.

This is not the problem. Somewhere internally vista has set itself not to use
the mic. I have the same issue, and it occurred when I made the mistake of
telling it not to prompt me every time I plugged in the mic.

Can someone please help. I need to be able to use a headset for skype, and
if I cannot find a solution I'm going to have to remove vista, and go back to
an older OS.

I managed to fix this on my computer...

It wasn't a vista issue as such, but a SigmaTel Audio problem.

Under control panel, I have an icon "SigmaTel Audio". When I open this it
shows a dialog box with just 1 option "Allow reconfiguration Pop-Ups". When I
re-check this then all is fine again.

This explains why so little information seemed to be available about this.
It probably would be a fairly obscure issue, related to 1 particular audio
card. I had assumed it was a generic vista thing.

Hi all,

I just had the same problem and I`ve solved as Eugene said: Just go to
control panel/Sigma Tel Audio and hit "Allow reconfiguration Pop-Ups". Unplug
the micro and plug again. The micro pop-up will show up and everything works
again.

I am having the same problem with a newly purchased mic (1/8th). However,
whenever I try to open up SigmaTel Audio in Control Panel it gives me an
error box
which says "This program has known compatibility issues" "SigmaTel Audio
Control Panel is incompatible with this version of Windows. For more
information, contact SigmaTel."

You may need to install an updated SigmaTel driver.

Hey.
I'm having issues..
every time i have to go to sigma tel to configure it to accept my line in as
a microphone.
i tried reactivating the prompts, but it doesn't work.
is there a way to configure a the computer to take line volume as mic?
thanks!

This worked for me, but I had to disconnect my microphone, check "Allow
reconfiguration", reconnect my microphone, check "Device connected:
Mic", check "Allow reconfiguration", and then verified that it worked
with Skype.