Microphone through laptop to speakers?

[Gritz]

I have a microphone, a laptop and a killer sound 2.1 speaker setup. I was asked if this can be used as a PA system, but the how to and setup escapes me (if it's possible). I know I can record to the hard drive and then play back .... but can the microphone voice be directly outputted to the speaker system? I must be missing something??

[Marty2003]

When your recording program is open it should output the sound through the speakers as song as the microphone playback isn't muted in windows.
In the windows volume control go to Options>Properties then make sure microphone is checked then close the dialog and make sure the microphone volume is not muted.

[Gritz]

Unfortunately my Dell laptop did not come with any recording program and the 2 free ones I tried did not function (LiveInCode and FreeRecorder). LiveInCode was Ogg only and FreeRecorder only worked if you were online. My desktop system works fine without using any recording software (just goes straight through with the Creative Labs sound card) but neither of the 2 laptops I tried worked at all (even with the mike output cranked up). Thanks for your input .... I was hoping for something simple. Maybe a karoke box ... or something similar, but the laptop would be simpler if I could make it work.

[Marty2003]

Did you check the mic input as well as the output?
in windows volume control go to Options>Properties

click the "recording" radio button, make sure the microphone is checked then click ok. Now it should show the input devices Make sure the microphone is the one with a check mark and the volume is up.

Just to test if it plays back through the speakers you can use the windows sound recorder under Start>All Programs>accessories>Entertainment>sound recorder. You can only record for a few seconds so you might want to find a better progran if you're going to use it for a longer time. Just hit record and say something into the mic and it should play through the speakers.

[Gritz]

Marty2003,
Ok, I went back and recheck everything and I got it to work, but it's really crappy sound with the basic sound recorder. It works great with my desktops ... but it appears that the laptops with it's integrated sound it marginal at best. I have wavelab lite ... so that'll be the next test. Thans for the comeback ... I appreciate.