Mic problem.

Ever since I got this new headset(icemat siberias) I seem to be having problems with the mic. The biggest problem is that its to quiet. Its pretty close to my mouth and all the volume on it is as high as it will go but its quiet regardless. I use ventrilo to talk to friends of mine and to my team and all the sound settings for the mic on there are maxed aswell. Also it seems like whenever I want to use the mic I have to do a hardware test so it works. Ive got an onboard Realtek AC97 soundcard. Using the drivers that came with the motherboard cd. Should I switch to different drivers? Or am I just missing something with a setting?

Is the mute button on... I know it seems like a stupid question but one time I muted my headset and forgot and also got irritated.

No its not muted, it wouldnt work at all then. My mic is just quiet and sometimes it just sounds really wierd. Do you think maybe its just a problem with this headset?