The character does not respond to my voice input.

This symptom may be caused by a number of problems. Try the following to isolate the problem:

• Verify that your microphone is correctly plugged in. It is a good idea to test it with another sound input application to ensure that it works properly.
• Verify that a compatible speech engine is installed. When running a Microsoft Agent sample page, right-click the Microsoft Agent icon in the taskbar (near the clock display) and choose Microsoft Agent Properties. If the Speech Input page is disabled, a compatible speech engine is not installed. You can install the Microsoft Command and Control speech recognition engine from the Microsoft Agent site at http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/prog/agent/agentdl.htm.
• Verify that your sound card is compatible with Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT.

  The best way to do this is to run the Sound Recorder application that comes with Windows. It can usually be found on the Start menu. Click the Start button, then Programs, then Accessories, then Multimedia, and then Sound Recorder. When the Sound Recorder window displays, click the Record button and talk into your microphone. The line in the window should animate in response to your voice input.

  If the Sound Recorder application doesn't work on your system, contact the sound card manufacturer's technical support department for assistance. Your sound card may not be compatible with Windows or there may be a problem with the software drivers for your sound card.

• Verify that your sound input for speech input is set properly.

1.    Load a page scripted for Microsoft Agent. When the icon appears, right-click it and choose Microsoft Agent Properties from the pop-up menu.

2.    When the property sheet displays, select the Speech Input page.

3.    Choose the Adjust Microphone button. If this button appears disabled, a compatible speech engine is not installed or the speech engine you installed may not support automatic adjustment.

• Verify that no other application is currently using the audio output device.
• Verify that Microsoft Agent's use of MIDI is not blocking the audio channel (see "Applications that play MIDI have no audio output when Microsoft Agent is running" in the Output Problems section).
• If you followed the steps above but still have problems with speech input, verify that your sound card and driver software is compatible with the speech engine you are using. Check with the technical support for your sound card and your speech engine manufacturer. If you installed the Microsoft Command and Control speech recognition engine, check the troubleshooting information at http://www.research.microsoft.com/stg/sndcard.htm.