Ok, I managed to somewhat fix this problem by reading https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Aspire1830T
First of all, I blacklisted acer_wmi (for other need actually - to fix NetworkManager behaviour) Then I started Skype with environment variable PULSE_SERVER=127.0.0.1 Then I only had to guess what sliders to move in alsamixer : they are 'Capture' and 'Digital'. Both should be moved somewhere to medium position (40..50%). By default I had 'Digital' at 0, and this level was too low to record anything from the mic. 'Mic Boost' and 'Internal Mic Boost' should be lowered to 0, they do not impact recording volume. In Skype, there is an option to automatically adjust volume level. When it is enabled, Skype (through PulseAudio, I assume) raises 'Mic Boost' up to 100 without any effect. In alsamixer, Mic.Boost can have values only 0,20,50 and 100 so it is probably the wrong slider for Skype to move . So I suppose ALSA and PulseAudio configs should be adequately hardcoded with proper definitions of sound controls on such type of hardware. Hope to have mic&Skype working from official Natty release or update without such tweaks -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/753892 Title: Internal mic does not work in Acer 1830T (hda_codec: ALC271X) -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs