Using professional mic on new computer

I have always used a professional mic with an XLR connector into my old computer. I made a patch cord with an XLR female on one end and a 1/8 inch plug on the other. The 1/8 inch had just a tip and ground on it. this worked fine, ya I only was recording one channel audio but that was fine as I mix down to mono anyhow. Well. I bought a new computer and when I plug this patch cord into it nothing happens no audio from my external mic however, the internal mike remains on. After fooling around I tried a headset/mic combo with one of those 1/8 inch plugs: tip, 2 rings and ground and it worked. Problem is the headset/mic doesn't sound as good as a professional mic. I cut off the cord from the headset/mic combo and tried using two of the wires to connect to an XLR plugged into my professional mic. I got a USB to 1/8 mic and 1/8 earphone combo from Radio Shack this didn't work either and the internal mic stays on.
All I want to do is be able to plug a good old fashioned professional mike with an XLR into the computer. Anybody got any Ideas how to configure this without having to buy a whole outboard piece of equipment?

I know you're not wanting to purchase an outboard piece of gear but I'm thinking that is going to be the easiest (and best quality) route to travel. By the time you go through trial-and-error, time spent on said excursion and supplies to execute that endeavor, this may very well save you some headaches.

Alesis has a small-footprint mixer (MultiMix 4 USB) that sounds good, has on-board phantom power (for condenser mics) and includes Cubase recording software for <$100. I have one and really like it. Of course, there are other brands (Mackie is a good one; Behringer, not so much) out there but the Alesis recommendation is a personal one.

I have an answer to my own question which others may be interested if they want to link an professional mike to one of the new 1/8 inch tip-ring-ring-ground plugs. KV Connection makes a short cord with the above mentioned plug on one end and an female XLR on the other. They call it an " Android XLR microphone adaptor 3.5 mm 4 conductor TRRS male to 3-pin XLR female ". This is the first time I've heard it called an Android connector let alone a TRRS . Maybe I haven't been paying attention. It's abit pricy around 40 bucks but appears to have the extra circuitry inside the XLR. It works fine into my laptop and my cell phone mike jacks

Thank you for posting your solution ! I just recently purchased a Behringer XENYX1002FX Mixer and would like to use a decent mic with it, one that has an XLR connector. I was hoping perhaps you may be able to recommend a reasonably priced microphone of this type. I am on a limited budget and don't expect top of the line for cheap. I am simply looking to purchase something half decent with an XLR connector affixed..

Thank you very much ! Mark.. e-mail: [email protected]

Look at some of the mics from MXL. They have some decent stuff. Of course, there are lots of good mics out there from the usual suspects like Shure, Audio Technica, Sennheiser, etc. Even Behringer has some mics that sound pretty good. There is no "best' mic out there. It just depends on what you want to do with it, what you want to spend, and how you sound when using it. The best tool for figuring this out is your ears.