Hi,

Same problem: sound recorder grays out the bar, Skype cannot record, but I could when I was on Windows XP.  I read various reports on alsamixer.  After starting alsamixer, I press Tab once to get to Capture mode.  I used the arrow keys to navigate to Capture, and set the volume to 100.  The Mic column says "CAPTUR".  In Playback mode, Mic's volume is set to 100, and Mic Boost is +20dB.  I tried setting Mic Select to Mic1 or Mic2, to no avail.  I really don't know where to search next.  Any help would be appreciated.

The interesting parts of amixer's output are:
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Left: Capture [on]
  Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
  Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Stereo Mic',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]

Here is the full amixer output:
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 31 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Mono',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 25 [81%] [-9.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Master Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Headphone Jack Sense',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 25 [81%] [3.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Surround',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Surround Jack Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Shared' 'Independent'
  Item0: 'Shared'
Simple mixer control 'Center',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 29 [94%] [-3.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'LFE',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-46.50dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Line Jack Sense',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'CD',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mic',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 31 [100%] [12.00dB] [on]
  Front Left: Capture [on]
  Front Right: Capture [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost (+20dB)',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mic1' 'Mic2'
  Item0: 'Mic1'
Simple mixer control 'Video',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Phone',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off]
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback AC97-SPSA',0
  Capabilities: volume volume-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Capture channels: Mono
  Limits: 0 - 3
  Mono: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Playback Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'AC-Link' 'A/D Converter'
  Item0: 'AC-Link'
Simple mixer control 'PC Speaker',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 15
  Mono: Playback 0 [0%] [-45.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Aux',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 31
  Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
  Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-34.50dB] [off] Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mono Output Select',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Mix' 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mix'
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 15 [100%] [22.50dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Mix',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Mix Mono',0
  Capabilities: cswitch cswitch-exclusive
  Capture exclusive group: 0
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Front Left: Capture [off]
  Front Right: Capture [off]
Simple mixer control 'Channel Mode',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: '2ch' '4ch' '6ch'
  Item0: '2ch'
Simple mixer control 'Downmix',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Off' '6 -> 4' '6 -> 2'
  Item0: 'Off'
Simple mixer control 'Exchange Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Exchange Front/Surround',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'External Amplifier',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'High Pass Filter Enable',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Spread Front to Surround and Center/LFE',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'Stereo Mic',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [off]
Simple mixer control 'V_REFOUT',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'High-Z' '3.7 V' '2.25 V' '0 V'
  Item0: '0 V'