microphones on laptop don't work

[pajamabama]

For some reason I can't get the microphones on my HP dv6000z to work. The 'Input' tab of KMix shows the 'Capture' (that's the name) device that ALSA has configured for the mics. There are even two sliders, which I assume is because there are two mics. According to 'amixer' the input gain is full, and it is the selected input device.

One weird thing is that the symbol in KMix for this device looks like it's got a pause symbol. I'm not sure what that means. It's not normal right? Check the attachment.

Any help would be appreciated. Here's some output from amixer:

Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 23
  Front Left: Capture 23 [100%] [on]
  Front Right: Capture 23 [100%] [on]

sean@Oberon ~ $ amixer info Capture
Card default 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xc0000000 irq 50'
  Mixer name    : 'Generic 14f1 ID 5045'
  Components    : 'HDA:14f15045'
  Controls      : 5
  Simple ctrls  : 3

[cayalee]

on that screenshot, theres a little red dot at the bottom, click on that till it goes green and it should enable them. also look on your output settings and make sure your mic sliders are up.
WATCH OUT FOR FEEDBACK!
high mic levels on input and output circle very high pitch noise through and it sounds horrendous!

[pajamabama]

on that screenshot, theres a little red dot at the bottom, click on that till it goes green and it should enable them.

I appreciate the help but I believe that's not actually the case. I think the red dot is supposed to be red, and there are two different shades of red that indicate on or off. Clicking it does switch between them, but neither one actually works.

It turns out that the headphone jack doesn't work either. I'm guessing there's a relationship there. Somehow ALSA doesn't seem to be working properly here.