I record alot of music on my computer, and one day when I was plugging in my guitar through the mic input on my pc sparks starting shooting out. First reaction I thought dang, I have blown up my sound card and now my mic is useless. I opened up my recording program and pressed record, at the same time I played a song through Windows Media Player and the program recorded the song, so my pc can still record sounds that play through my sound card, does this mean my mic still works as well? Help! Thanks guys, been coming here for help for years now.

You have indeed, welcome back

I'll pm this to another member with knowledge of this type of thing....

Welcome back idigfoo9,

if you sound card is still recording then i dont see a problem. the next thing to would be to plug in a mic and talk see if it works.

I plugged in the mic and nothing recorded. Is it possible that my mic input alone might be busted?

Try uninstall the sound card from device manager and reboot.Let new hardware wizard pick it up and install it.

Or also uninstall drivers and reinstall fresh ones.It may work?

hi there,

are you using a PC mic or a proper mic for vocals/instruments? if the latter, then plug your mic into an amplifier and give it the ol' "check check" test.

how much recording do you do, do you do any mixing/mastering? if so i recommend a small to medium mixing console and this sound card.

M-AUDIO - Delta 1010LT - 10-In/10-Out PCI Virtual Studio

though i don't recommend buying it directly from m-audio, you could find it for less elsewhere. i have one of these and it's a beast though be warned, no headphone styled inputs or outputs, all RCA and XLR (and MIDI, SPDIF).

Another question also, do you have one of those mics that has a battery with a built in preamp? I've had one of those and it used to shock our lips when we used it in preamp mode...ditch it and grab yourself, at the very least, an SM57 for vocals and instruments and if you feel like treating yourself a bit an SM58, although you can also get yourself a really nice condenser mic also but we're starting to talk serious cash there.

If recording is your thing you are going to really want to get away from onboard and standard fare sound interfaces, just because it says 24-bit doesn't mean it can record worth a lick.

I'm willing to bet that it's your sound card's mic/line-in (depending on which one you were using) that's blown...flying sparks don't indicate a good thing.

If you were just using a cheap PC mic then just grab another one and plug it in and try it, it's the cheapest test you can try.

Alrighty, sorry guys for the lack of replies, things got busy. But I tested both the mic and plugged a guitar through the mic inputs, nothing, but nothing with my sound card drivers seem to be a problem, my pc can still record audio that runs through my sound card like i mentioned before, but I did notice that mt SCSI/RAID Controller drivers arent functioning now, what are those? And would it have anything to do with my recording problem?