Microphone not being recognized

yes, i was sure to check, double-check, then triple-check that it was plugged in correctly and the microphone itself is not set to "mute". i am legendary for making those types of mistakes.... :)

there is a game "repair" function, which i did run, but everything came up clean. i ran through every possible in-game problem with blizz tech support, but everything was set up properly. tech support had me navigate to my sound recorder (windows menu, all programs-accessories-entertainment-sound recorder) and they had me attempt to make a short recording using the microphone. it failed to make a recording there, which apparently indicates that my computer is not recognizing that my microphone even exists.i'm pretty comfortable with that assessment...i just need to figure out *what* is going wrong.

yes, it is plugged into the appropriate hole, and just for giggles i did switch it around to make sure nothing was backwards. didn't work that way either (which is good i guess!)