[AG-TECH] Windows XP audio feedback

[Don Morton]

This isn't specifically an AG/rat question, but
it's quite applicable and I have to think that 
others have run into this.

Using a Windows XP laptop, when I plug in a 
microphone, the sound going into the mic
comes out instantly on the speakers, naturally
resulting in horrible feedback.  This occurs
with no application such as rat running, and
obviously, when I "do" run rat, it makes speaker
usage impossible, forcing me to headsets.

I'm wondering if this is due to a cheap audio card
in the laptop - best I can tell from system information
is that it's "SoundMAX Digital Audio" on a Sony laptop.

Has anybody else encountered and resolved such an issue?
I've played with every possible volume control provided
by XP, but don't seem to be able to stop my mic audio
from feeding through directly to the speakers (unless,
of course, I turn down the speaker or mic levels, which
defeats the purpose!).
--

**************************************************************
   Don Morton                      http://www.cs.umt.edu/~morton/
   Department of Computer Science       The University of Montana
   Missoula, MT 59812 | Voice (406) 243-4975 | Fax (406) 243-5139

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the
most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
-Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)