Microphone "trouble"

[bassguyz]

ok, so I have this problem that may seem backwards to many, but let me explain.

I want my microphone to be always on, as in, when you use it without recording you can hear what is going through it. My computer used to do this until I recently downloaded all the updates for XP. And no matter what I do I haven't been able to get it back.

Right now, I never hear whats going through the mic. The only reason I know its working is because when I record it records.

I want to be able to always hear whats going through my mic, through my speakers, regardless if Im recording I not.

The reason is I play my bass through my computer, essentially using my computer as an amplifier/pre-amp.

Im using built in AC97 sound.

Can anyone help?

[Geekgirl]

[bassguyz]

yes I have
you see, what I think happened maybe was that they "updated" various drivers and things, but in doing so they decided on a different way of doing it.

Like I said, everything works, just not the way I need it to.