My G4 doesn't hear a mike

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VIZA

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I bumped into trouble attempting use of the microfone with my Power Mac G4. Every setting looks ok but the machine doesn't hear mike at all - neither internal nor external. What can be wrong?
 
check to see if your G4 has a microphone slot. My G5 certainly doesn't have one, it has a dedicated line in - requiring a powered source - but no microphone socket.

the solution is probably buying a USB mic.
 
What are you recording with? Does the bar register in System Preferences when you select the internal microphone, and slide the input volume bar all the way up?

If you tell us the exact model of your G4, we can see if hardware could be an issue.
 
You cannot connect a standard miniature phone plug microphone (mic, not 'mike') into the G4's mic jack.

See this picture for an example of the miniature phone plug required.

An alternative is to use an iMic, of which you can then use the standard miniature phone plug microphone with.
 
Are you saying that the regular microphone from Staples for $ 10 and with the plug very much like that on your picture, is NOT going to work with G4?

I tested several at no avail. My Mac is Power Mac G4. I tried every option in its system and need solution.
Why on Earth such a simple thing is an issue?
 
'Are you saying that the regular microphone from Staples for $ 10 ... is NOT going to work with G4?' - there is no such thing as a 'regular' microphone. You have either purchased a microphone with a standard miniature phone plug or with a unique miniature phone plug designed such as to be compatible with the PowerMac G4 (and other Mac models).

'I tested several at no avail. My Mac is Power Mac G4. I tried every option in its system and need solution.' - I am quite familiar with PowerPC PowerMacs. They use the unique miniature phone plug for the microphone connection.

'Why on Earth such a simple thing is an issue?' - there is no issue. Use a microphone with the correct plug or use an 'iMic' or equivalent.

Below is a scan of a standard miniature phone microphone plug and the Apple microphone plug.
 

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It is an issue because audio professionals banded together and petitioned Apple to change to noisy Mic-in to the cleaner Audio-in plug. Look up on Google the difference between those two different ports. The Mac's manuel clearly states what this port is.

So as cheap run of the mill microphone will not work directly into an audio-in port. Your best bet is getting a USB microphone or a third party device to make the microphone into a USB microphone like Griffin's iMic.
 
I'm glad that someone has posted this problem as I'm having the same trouble with my G4!

I've also bought a headset with mic to use on Skype (phono jacks) but it doesn't work, so I bought a USB head and mic set and this doesn't work either LOL!!!
 
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