Comment 0 for bug 903853

My internal microphone seems very quiet in certain applications. Details below:

1. Sound Recorder works fine; it records sound, and then plays that sound back, at fine volumes.
2. The "audio tests" run as part of "ubuntu-bug audio" recorded and played back sound fine as well
3. Skype records the audio very, very, very quietly indeed
4. Mumble shows the volume of recorded speech as incredibly quiet in the setup audio wizard (same problem as Skype, it looks like)

Alsamixer only shows two items for Capture: "Capture" and "Analog Mic Boost". Capture is set to 100; Analog Mic Boost is set to 10dB. Increasing Analog Mic Boost causes the sound to become very crackly and have a large amount of background noise.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.24+dfsg-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-3.9-generic 3.2.0-rc4
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-3-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
   Subdevices: 0/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: aquarius 1479 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0c: aquarius 1479 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: aquarius 1479 F...m pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7e00000 irq 49'
   Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:14f1506e,17aa5003,00100000 HDA:80862805,17aa5003,00100000'
   Controls : 13
   Simple ctrls : 6
CheckboxSubmission: 4d186c1dd89d3ba4cb89f5ee55713686
CheckboxSystem: bb422ca46d02494cdbc459927a98bc2f
Date: Tue Dec 13 18:20:15 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20111211)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
Symptom: audio
Symptom_AlsaRecordingTest: ALSA recording test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Card: Internal Audio - HDA Intel PCH
Symptom_Jack: Mic, Internal
Symptom_PulseAudioRecordingTest: PulseAudio recording test through plughw:PCH successful
Symptom_Type: High background noise, or volume is too low
Title: [1080, Conexant CX20590, Mic, Internal] Background noise or low volume
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/21/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 56CN38WW
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: U300s
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Lenovo IdeaPad U300s
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr56CN38WW:bd11/21/2011:svnLENOVO:pn1080:pvrLenovoIdeaPadU300s:rvnLENOVO:rnU300s:rvr1.0:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrLenovoIdeaPadU300s:
dmi.product.name: 1080
dmi.product.version: Lenovo IdeaPad U300s
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO