Minimal audio capability on Lenovo T61

I have just got a Lenovo T61 running XP (downgrade from Vista). It has SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio driver 5.10.1.5370, which is latest official Lenovo offering (excluding a couple of fixes for bugs I don't have). The audio works OK, but it only offers 'microphone' as a source - there's no 'what you hear' input. Is there an aftermarket driver which can offer this?

I also have an ART USB dual microphone preamplifier. Windows recognises it as various new USB devices, including 'Line Input Devices' - but I still don't get a new sound source (in Audacity, for example). Is this a driver problem too?

Any pointers appreciated!

 

Greetings, peterjim.

Have you tried another driver version? Seems odd to me that, although the Lenovo site calls the 5.10.1.5370 the 'latest' driver for the T61, there are other versions listed with higher numbers, which is the normal naming convention for newer versions. Strange. :confused

You might try uninstalling the current drivers, and installing the 5.10.1.5520 package.

 

I haven't (yet) upgraded from 5.10.1.5370 to 5.10.1.5520, because the release notes say that there are no new features in that upgrade. I believe the "what-U-hear" input has been omitted as a sop to DRM (it's too easy to record "protected" audio) so I don't expect Lenovo to support it anyway. But maybe someone else does...?

Meanwhile I have discovered that Audacity DOES see my ART preamp - but you have to select it in Preferences, not in the front-panel dropdown (as in other Audacity-version/OS combinations I have used). So at leat I have a partial solution, and can record live sounds...

Meanwhile, thanks for your (gentle) suggestion!

 

Copy - that could very well be the dilemma here.

Interesting problem - keep us posted. :major

 

Well, I finally fixed my problem - I bought a StarTech "USB audio adapter" (sound card) for about £12. It comes with a driver disk. If you
1) use the driver provided by StarTech, and
2) have the device plugged in, and
3) fiddle around a bit with default sound devices etc
- you can "hear" what the computer is doing, in another application (in stereo). I found this tip on the web (of course) but I've lost the link - hat tip to whoever posted it, thanks!