Help with quiet microphone

[lfnfan]

Hi

I recently reinstalled windows XP SP3 and noticed a yellow '?' under 'Other Devices\Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus' location 65535. Under 'Sound' I have 'Realtek High Definition Audio' also location 65535. I am using the latest Realtek drivers from their website, after using the latest ASUS driver failed to get rid of the yellow '?'. I can't remember if I had this same problem with my previous install as I never used the mic at that time.

Thing is, my audio out (stereo speakers) works fine. But my audio in (microphone) is pathetically quiet - I have to yell for anything to register. The mic does get recognised by the system when it's plugged in but it is basically useless as the system can't pick up any sound from the mic.

In my Windows Recording Control and in the ASUS/Realtek Audio Manager, I cannot get to change the mic volume or other input volumes - they are greyed out.

I have seen lots of this problem from forum posts through google searches, but no sensible solutions. So I am turning to PCMech!

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Specs per my sig.