No audio is coming from my microphone

Last Modified on 06/30/2021 3:50 pm PDT

If your microphone is not working correctly during a LockDown Browser session, the following steps may help resolve the problem:

1. First, make sure you are using the latest version of LockDown Browser. You can check your version and upgrade by using the steps in this article. 

2. Once you're running the latest version of LockDown Browser, restart your computer. Once restarted, close down all other applications on your computer other than LockDown Browser. It's essential that you ensure that no applications that may use a microphone (such as Skype, Facetime, Google+ and various utilities that may come with the webcam) are running.

3.  Turn your computer's volume up all the way.

4. Make sure that your computer's operating system hasn't muted LockDown Browser.

5. Mac users should also ensure they've granted the necessary permissions for the camera and mic to be used by LockDown Browser. See this article.

6. Open LockDown Browser, log in to your institution's learning management system, and navigate to a course.  Then click on the "Help Center" icon in the upper toolbar.

toolbar for LockDown Browser

7. Click on the button titled "Run Webcam Check."  If your camera and microphone are detected and work properly in this check, then they should also work in the pre-exam webcam check.

8. If you still don't hear your recording, then click "it's not working" and follow the steps in the troubleshooter.

9. If problems persist, we recommend you hook up an external microphone to your computer and try the above steps again. Most external USB webcams come with a built-in microphone, so using one of these is a good troubleshooting step. A USB headset with built-in mic is also worth trying.

*Special note for Lenovo computers, please also check the Microphone is turned on by opening Lenovo (or Lenovo Vantage) > My Device Settings > Audio > and setting Microphone ON

If these troubleshooting steps do not succeed, you may have to use another computer for your exams.