help on mic

[Craig Cassel]

I am new to using ubuntu. I have 8.04 and mostly everything works okay.
I am using a gateway laptop and my mic (plug in is all I have) does not
work. I need it for skype and gizmo.  I also installed virtual box and
Windwos xp and my mic does not work there either. Just before all the
installations I had XP and Mandriva install and my mic worked fine so I
am pretty sure its not a hardware problem. 

Can some one give me extremely simple instructions on how to get it
working?

thank you,

Craig