Audacity Recording Volume Too Low

Long time user of Audacity and currently using an HP Elitedesk desktop.
Overnight my recording volume has dropped to almost zero (almost a flat line). Amplifying the recording volume just distorts the recording, making it unusable. Settings currently are as follows (I have though played around with all the available host/recording devices to try and fix the problem without success, so these are what I think they were before the problem):

  • Host = MME.
  • Recording Device: Microsoft Sound Mapper.
    I get the same result with an alternative audio recording and editing application. As the volume from my media player is excellent, I was thinking that it had to be an internal PC issue, but all the troubleshooting and diagnostics say everything is fine.
    Any suggestions to restore recording volume to normal levels gratefully appreciated.

Make sure Windows “enhancements” are turned OFF. They can mess-up recording in weird ways!

Many thanks DVDdoug for your suggestion. Unfortunately that didn’t work. I’ll keep trying, but I have now got my alternative audio recording and editing application to work, so will use that until I find a solution.