Hi, I’m new to Audacity and this forum. I’ve installed Audacity but have a problem I can’t get round. When I unmute the USB mic via control panel on XP it automatically slides the mic slider on Audacity down to nothing. When I push the mic slider back up to the top on Audacity, it will automatially insert a tick in the mute box on the USB mic on control panel. I’m totally confused and wondered if anyone could help? Best wishes, Carolyn
Which USB microphone? Many USB mics arrive as a generic “USB Audio Device” and tend to be very well behaved, but some have extra talents and require drivers or additional software.
Koz
I was the same problem with my OS on pc. It`s fault drivers.
is this mute box on the Recording side of Windows Sounds and Audio Devices? Does this mute box actually stop you recording?
Gale
Hi everyone, thanks for your replies, much appreciated. 
Further information: the microphone is a Behringer and plugged into a Blue Icicle then to the laptop (running Windows XP) via USB.
Both Audacity and the Laptop have the Blue Icicle set as the default mic. The Blue Icicle should be plug and play and I followed the instructions when I plugged in.
The mute box on the recording tab in Microsoft Control Panel automatically ticks if I try to turn the mic volume up on Audacity and if the mic volume is up on Audacity and I untick the mute box on Control Panel, it slides the mic down to nothing! I can record but get a flat waveform and so no audio picked up.
Best wishes, Carolyn
Try recording with Windows Sound Recorder and Blue as the default Windows recording device. Can you then untick the mute box in Windows and record? If no, you ought to be getting on to Blue about it.
If it records in Windows Sound Recorder, try this latest development version of Audacity:
http://gaclrecords.org.uk/win-nightly/download.php?fname=./audacity-win-r12599-2.0.5-alpha-24-sep-13.zip .
In Device Toolbar, try all three audio hosts in the first “Audio host” box. Obviously, choose the USB audio CODEC in the third “input” box (or whatever the Blue codec is called).
Gale
Hi Gale and everyone, thanks for all your input. I got an IT person to visit earlier today and the problem’s been narrowed down to the Blue Icicle which was playing up. I had it connected directly to the mic which didn’t help as via an XLR cable would be better but, the Blue Icicle itself ended up being the source of the problem so it’s being swapped over for a new one. Best wishes, Carolyn