Mic stopped working about a month ago

Question

Mic stopped working about a month ago

Aerrin Longheart 20

About a month ago, my mic stopped working. When I look at the driver date, it says 9/25/2025, which is about the time I noticed the mic stop working.

I can see:

SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd. - USB - 2.21.0.0

Successfully installed on ‎2025-‎09-‎25

I can also see in the device manager that the USB Root Hub driver got installed on 10/10/2025.

Driver Provider: Microsoft

Driver Version: 10.0.26100.6899

Driver signer Microsoft Windows

This again is about a month ago, right around where my Insignia USB mic stopped working properly.

I don't see a way to remove these drivers. When I uninstall my Insignia mic, and unplug it, it installs these drivers as soon as I plug them in, and the mic doesn't work properly.

How can I rollback this driver to see if my USB mic starts working again?

The insignia USB mic can not detect my voice, but it can detect when I rub my thumb across where the microphone is located if Microsoft voice clarity is turned off. No matter how loudly I speak, the microphone can't detect my voice.

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3 additional answers

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Answer 1

Hi Aerrin,

Sorry to hear nothing worked for you. Let's get another approach on how to fix this problem.

A. You don't have an extra USB mic that you can use, do your have other PC, like your sibling's, parent's, or friend's PC that you can test your USB microphone? I just wanna isolate a hardware issue, and make sure that we are fixing only on software side of the microphone.

C. Just choose USB drivers named with Samsung only (or any related to your USB mic). Incase your keyboard and mouse affects by the removing of your driver. You can just make a manual shutdown on your PC by pressing and HOLDING the power button until the PC completely shuts down. Then restart this and let windows automatically install the USB drivers again. But before your proceed with this procedure, let's try a drifferent approach first.

Lets try to use the troubleshooting feature of Windows. 1.a) On taskbar search bar type "Trouble shoot settings"
1.b.) Click "Other troubleshooters"
1.c.) Click the "Run" Button of Audio.
1.d.) Let the troubleshooter do its Job.
1.e.) Test mic if it worked.
Let windows reinstall again the default driver.
2.a.) Open Device Manager
2.b.) Expand both "Sound, video and game controllers" and "Audio inputs and outputs"
2.c.) Right-click the audio device that matches your hardware.
2.d.) Choose Uninstall device
2.e.) Before restarting enable your Windows Update again.
2.f.) Restart PC and wait for a few moment, then test your mic again.
Confirm the device being used. (Mic must be plugged)
3.a.) Press Win+R
3.b.) type mmsys.cpl
3.c.) Click Recording Tab. You will see a list of devices
3.d.) Speak on your microphone or rather rub and see on which on the devices will react its bar.

3.e.) If only “Stereo Mix” or “What U Hear” moves, right-click your actual microphone > Set as Default Device and Set as Default Communication Device. If your microphone is still listed as a “Software device” and not under “Audio inputs and outputs”, that’s not normal — it means Windows isn’t loading a real hardware audio driver for it.

Try to find the exact driver based on your chipset. (Ill show a screen shot of my screen for the procedure as example).
4.a) On search bar type: dxdiag
4.b) On system tab look for the system model: mine is B650 AORUS ELITE AX V2

4.c) Try to google the model and brand together with keywords chipset driver.
User's image

4.d.) Since your mic is plugged through USB download the chipset section and download it.
User's image

4.e.) To be sure lets download also the audio drivers.
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4.d.) navigate the downloaded folder on your PC and install. (this is option-1)
4.e.) Go to device manager. right click the device and choose Update driver, and choose Browse my computer for drivers, navigate to the downloaded driver. (This is option-2)
User's image

4.f.) Restart Pc and test again.

Update me what will be the progress.

Regards,

Jhun

Aerrin Longheart 20 Reputation points

2025-11-03T07:15:12.67+00:00

A) No, I only have 1 microphone, and only 1 computer. I do have a smartphone, but it has a USB C input, and this microphone has a USB A output. I do have USB A to USB C, but I don't know if the phone has a driver for this microphone.

C) 1) I ran the audio troubleshooter. It tested the speaker output which worked. It couldn't find an audio problem since this only seems to be audio output testing. The mic was tested afterwards, and it still didn't work.

Uninstalled the microphone through device manager again. Restarted the computer. The mic reinstalled its driver. No difference.

Tried listening to the device, and shouting into it. The levels did not move.

Just before I uninstalled the device driver though, I did shout into the microphone, and could barely hear my voice. I think the problem is the input volume is at 100% but the volume is at stuck at 1%.

Thank you, I found a new chipset driver. I downloaded it, and the file is corrupt. So I downloaded it 4 more times, and the file was the same size and corrupt each time. Oh well.

Right now, the microphone is worse than before. Rubbing it produces no sound now, and shouting into it also does nothing (Whereas before I could barely hear myself). I used to see the volume go to 30% or so when I rubbed it, but now the volume stays at 1%.

Answer 2

Aerrin Longheart 20

After fooling around with the microphone, I found a power switch on the microphone in the off position. After turning the switch on, the microphone works perfectly.

Answer 3

Jhun Buala 1,780 Independent Advisor

Hi Aerrin Longheart,

Good Day. I hope everything is fine. I'm Jhun an independent advisor. Let's try some steps and see what will fix the problem.

A. Before we proceed, have you tried to use other microphone to isolate the issue on the hardware? If not, give it a try.

B. You say you want to roll-back the driver, this is actually a good idea to test the driver issue. To do this:

Open Device Manager
Expand the "Sound, Video and game controllers.
Look for Insignia USB Mic. Right-click the name for options > Properties.
A window will appear > click the Driver Tab.
Look for the Roll Back Driver button.
If it is clickable this means the previous version was more stable.
Close everything. Restart the PC.
Test the mic again.

C. Uninstall the driver and Windows from reinstalling it again.

Unplug the Mic.
Go to Device Manager > Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
Look for and Right click USB Root Hub (USB3.0) or any Samsung electronics Co. Ltd - USB device added around September > Properties > Driver Tab > Uninstall Device.
Check "Attempt to remove the driver for this device" see if it's available.
uninstall the Insignia USB Mic under Sound, video and game controllers.
Reboot PC
Dont plug the mic yet
Go to Settings > Windows Update > Advance options > Optional updates > Driver updates > make sure no Samsung / Usb driver update is pending.
Block Windows from auto reinstalling drivers temporarily. Press Win+R > type sysdm.cpl. > Hardware > Device installation settings > No (your device might not work as expected) Save.
Proceed to Step D.

D. Install a different USB Audio Driver

Plug in your Insignia mic back in
Windows will install it. Go to Device Manager > Mic > Properties > Driver > Update Driver > Browse my computer > Let me pick from a list > Choos USB Audio Device (Microsoft) instead of Samsung or other branded driver.
Apply and restart PC.

E. Test the Microphone

Go to Settings > System > Sound > Input > Test your microphone.
Speak normally and watch if the bar moves now.

F. If the mic still reacts only to rubbing from your hand check Voice enhancements and clarity.

Open your Control Panel > Sound > Recording Tab > Select the mic > Properties > Enhancement Tab.
Disable Microsoft Voice clarity, Noise Suppression and Acoustic Echo Cancellation.
Test the mic again.

I hope these steps will fix the issue.

Regards,
Jhun

Aerrin Longheart 20 Reputation points

2025-11-02T16:11:26.0133333+00:00

A) No. I have only one microphone.

B) Roll Back driver is greyed out and can not be clicked. Sorry I didn't mention this exactly.

C) I was really worried about removing this particular driver because my mouse and keyboard are USB, and if I remove them, and they don't reinstall, I can't do anything at all. Are you sure I should do this?

D) I tried to install a different driver. It's not letting me pick a driver. I can only pick between:

Audio Endpoint

and

Generic Software Device

I changed it from Audio Endpoint to Generic Software Device, and it changed the mic location from "Audio inputs and outputs" to "Software devices". Rollback is now available. Nothing else changed - the mic still doesn't transfer my voice, but if I rub the mic, the rubbing sound still reaches the computer if Microsoft voice clarity is turned off.

E) The bar doesn't move at all when I speak. With Microsoft voice clarity off, I can hear background noise, and rubbing the microphone makes noise when I rub the microphone. Also, the input volume is set at 100%, but the volume says 4%. If I rub the microphone, this jumps up to 38%, or sometimes 60%, but only when I rub the microphone.

F) Microsoft Voice Clarity is the only option I can turn on or off. It allows me to hear the rubbing of the microphone, but not my voice at all.
Aerrin Longheart 20 Reputation points

2025-11-02T16:17:13.78+00:00

Generic Software Device:

Device settings for SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial or ambiguous device match.

Last Device Instance ID: SWD\RADIO\Bluetooth_a8595f964352

Class GUID: {62f9c741-b25a-46ce-b54c-9bccce08b6f2}

Location Path:

Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFC000F120

Present: false

Status: 0xC0000719

Device SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} was configured.

Driver Name: c_swdevice.inf

Driver Package ID: c_swdevice.inf_amd64_845d51425d14f98b

Class GUID: {62f9c741-b25a-46ce-b54c-9bccce08b6f2}

Driver Date: 06/21/2006

Driver Version: 10.0.26100.1

Driver Provider: Microsoft

Driver Section: SoftwareDevice

Driver Rank: 0xFF3001

Matching Device ID: SWD\GenericRaw

Outranked Drivers: audioendpoint.inf:MMDEVAPI\AudioEndpoints:00FF0000

Device Updated: true

Parent Device: USB\VID_A014&PID_B014&MI_00\7&315b4da3&0&0000

Device SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} was started.

Driver Name: c_swdevice.inf

Class GUID: {62f9c741-b25a-46ce-b54c-9bccce08b6f2}

Service:

Lower Filters:

Upper Filters:

Audio Endpoint:

Device settings for SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial or ambiguous device match.

Last Device Instance ID: SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.0.00000000}.{3999960e-4912-4774-883a-c071bf752f2e}

Class GUID: {c166523c-fe0c-4a94-a586-f1a80cfbbf3e}

Location Path:

Migration Rank: 0xF00000000000F120

Present: false

Status: 0xC0000719

Device SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} was configured.

Driver Name: audioendpoint.inf

Driver Package ID: audioendpoint.inf_amd64_271c4d03bad18da8

Class GUID: {c166523c-fe0c-4a94-a586-f1a80cfbbf3e}

Driver Date: 03/31/2024

Driver Version: 10.0.26100.1

Driver Provider: Microsoft

Driver Section: NO_DRV

Driver Rank: 0xFF0000

Matching Device ID: MMDEVAPI\AudioEndpoints

Outranked Drivers: c_swdevice.inf:SWD\GenericRaw:00FF3001

Device Updated: true

Parent Device: USB\VID_A014&PID_B014&MI_00\7&315b4da3&0&0000

Device SWD\MMDEVAPI{0.0.1.00000000}.{fee1bc8f-e2f3-481f-88b2-b1108d0388b4} was started.

Driver Name: audioendpoint.inf

Class GUID: {c166523c-fe0c-4a94-a586-f1a80cfbbf3e}

Service:

Lower Filters:

Upper Filters:

Answer 4

Jhun Buala 1,780 Independent Advisor

Hi Aerrin,

It seems the old driver SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd. - USB - 2.21.0.0 is the perfect fit as your mic's driver. You can just roll it back to it again thru device manager. Just right-click the device and just choose Update driver and choose "Search automatically for drivers" as an option. Make sure the windows update is on again (since we turned this off before).

After this restart the pc and try to look at the input volume on the sound settings (since you said that you hear a bit of your voice captured by your mic before).

Right click on the sound button on your task bar and choose Sound Settings.
On the input section click the microphone (it also shows the name of your device, check if it is correct)
Try to set the "Set as default sound device" to "Also use as default for communications" (and vice versa) and the input volume to 100.

If you'll have a chance to test your mic on a different PC or test a different mic on your PC is much better so we can really sort the problem. For the meantime try to use a microphone with a 3.5mm jack rather than a usb plug while try to find the correct fix for your microphone.

Regards,

Jhun

Aerrin Longheart 20 Reputation points

2025-11-03T13:18:04.7266667+00:00

When I try to update the driver, this is the screen I see. I can't pick any other options. I can't roll back the driver. When I say search for updated drivers on windows update, it takes me to windows update, and I can't roll back the drivers there.

The problem is this volume control right here at 1%. I can't raise it higher than 1% no matter what I do.

I note the driver date of 10/24/2025 on the screen where I see volume 1% stuck there. The mic stopped working quite some time ago, and I'd like to roll back the patch to before 9/25/2025 to see if that'll fix the problem. I also note the driver of 2024/3/31, which confuses me since it disagrees with the other driver date. The mic problem happened well after 2024 though, so that can't be the issue.
Aerrin Longheart 20 Reputation points

2025-11-03T14:10:43.4133333+00:00

I decided to ask AI since I'm quite certain the problem is this 1% I'm seeing. AI says that's what the microphone is hearing, and that it's likely a hardware problem. IT could be driver issues, but I don't know how to rollback the driver.

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what-does-this-volume-1-mean-t-2Tr9VxCnRE.fVxYbiXJi1Q#0

Answer 5

Aerrin Longheart 20

I'll assume my microphone is broken now, and the driver updates are constant. I can't prove this in any way, but it's the most likely scenario.

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Mic stopped working about a month ago

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