OS 10.4 - audio input (mic) problem

I have a intel mac mini, 1.83, 10.4.

I seem to have broken the audio in on my mac mini. I installed Ventrilo and it worked fine till I turned on "Universal Access" and a hotkey. Now the system will not recognize any audio from the microphone, not in the system preferences under sound (audio bar that usually moves), ininstalled skype (doesn't work) or in ventrilo. I tried turning off the Universal Access and removing ventrilo, with no effect. I've read that some Mac Minis require an amplified input, but it did work in Vent briefly before I changed settings. All my audio settings appear to be on and nothing muted.

What do you suggest? A few people have suggested I should get a bluetooth headset to fix this problem. Any experience there? Thanks!