Have I fried my chip?

Suddenly the audio inputs on my Acer 3000 laptop no longer work. The cd drive still plays cds ok and wav files still play ok off the hard drive but the mic and line inputs are both dead. If I switch the volume control on the task bar on or off or move the volume slider I get a cracking type sound. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very pleased to hear them. Thanks in advance.
Regards.

Is your cable ok? Or maybe the plug is damaged?

I also have an Acer 3000, and losing the sound just happens every now and then. Normaly the system stuff says that a sound chip isnt there. Then after a couple of restarts it comes back.

I've tried different cables and plugs - the headphone socket isn't affected so I have sound out - just no sound in - which is annoying as I'm trying to do some recording at the moment.
Thanks anyway.
Regards.

You have checked the line-in volume hasn't been turned down somehow, right?

None of the controls have been changed - shame as that would be a nice cheap solution! :)
Regards

Heh. I just thought I'd ask on the off chance. I've had some of my volume controls mysteriously change, before. :)

big10p
I did appreciate the advice - I didn't mean to come aross quite so abruptly - sorry about that. Actually always checking the obvious is one of the most valuable lessons I've learnt as I've got older. I remember doing almost a complete service on my dad's car before discovering that the reason the car wouldn't go was that it had run out of petrol - pity he hadn't told me that the petrol gauge used to stick on 1/4 full!!! :)

Regards.

Nothing to say sorry for, mate. You didn't come across as being abrupt to me, at all. :)

OMG! :P But yeah, checking the obvious first is always a good idea. ;)

Suggestions:

for crackles:
-loose connection to the speakers/sound module, sounds like it if headphones ok

for mic:
-is it a real driver or XP supplied
-Check if mic hardware has a ! in HWP
-Check mic isnt muted in advanced controls
-try using mic boost & alt plug in mic, does built in one work

Acer + Sound problems seems to be a quite regular one.

I know the phantom "device not found" error that tends to end with stuck sound streams and the like before it "blows itself" till you restarted the notebook several times.
Seems to be quite spread problem on the Acer Aspire series (have a 2012 WLMi, which I use as server and digital tv recorder now)

The internal mic works fine which means it's the input sockets or the connections from them to the sound module apparently. I suppose I (or someone who knows what they're doing that I can persuade to) will have to take the laptop apart at some time. Thanks for all the advice guys.
Regards.