I cant seem to get my microphone to work I have a store bought mic that I have hooked up to a 1/4 to 1/8 reducer plugged into my 1/8 mic port and it wont seem to work

What OS are you running , it might be the reducer if you are running xp if dont plug it in directly then xp will not recignize it a plug and play deivice

I actually had this problem before and for some reason by default my computer decided to mute the microphone. Just click on the little speaker icon in the lower left corner and just check that. From there it's just trial and error. Check sound drivers, check to see if another mic works in it.

A simple mistake that I have made in the past is that the mic is turned off. Is there a switch on the mic, and if so, make sure it's on. :)

After that, check in your mixer (Usually a speaker icon in your system tray) and make sure the mic isn't muted, and the volume is up. Also, if you have a mic boost, enable it. Try screaming at the mic, sometimes it's working, but really quiet.