Microphone volume too low

Just installed the release candidate of Windows 7.
Was previously running Vista.
I use Skype a lot, and my microphone volume level is much lower now than it ever was.
People are telling me they can hardly hear me when I call them.
I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop- the mic is built-in.
I've looked at all the obvious settings both within Skype and also within Windows, but not managed to fix this yet.
Any suggestions?

Welcome to the site Steven!

When you say you've tried most of the Windows options, did that include going in to control panel and boosting the mic volume levels? (I guess so, but thought I'd mention it just in case )

What does work for some people is changing the default format of recording in W7 (under advanced in microphone properties). To test it, try setting the default format to "Tape Recorder" quality instead of the current one (or one of the lower settings if that one doesn't appear). I know it sounds strange, but it's worked for a few other people

Hi
Yes I had already tried the boosting thing, although it's only giving me that option in one of the microphones showing there, not the one that works unfortunately.
I heard about the tape recorder setting, but it's already set to the lowest level (which in this case is CD quality) so that's not really an option.

Getting increasingly frustrated but appreciate your help!

As per HERE:

"This is unfortunately a known bug in the Windows 7 RC, and should be resolved in a later release."

Maybe grab yourself a copy of 7264 or 7600.

Interesting, this would explain a few issues I've been running into with my own microphone. I do not have most of these settings to try, but I have a few that I'll be testing out to see if that works.

This didn't cause me a problem with windows 7 RC, but the finished product seems to have all sorts of issues that the RC didn't have. I am trying to get a narrative onto a documentary video, but nothing I do will get a decent volume from the any one of several microphones. I tried a sound card instead of the onboard audio.....no improvement. Looking around the internet, masses of people seem to be having the same problem but no-one has been able to post a remedy that generally works. The first posts about the problem appeared some months ago.....One would have thought Microsoft would have found a fix by now.

If there is a fix I'd more then love to hear it (no pun intended).