Audacity Forum

my toolbar is greyed out and im running xp. i have an intregrated sound from a xfx 680i mobo it came with a realtek hd audio manager. in audacity when i go to edit>prefrences> in the playback area i have 2 options microsoft sound mapper and realtek hd output. for recording i have 3 options microsoft sound mapper input, realtek hd audio input , and realtek hd digital input. i mixed a couple of these options and none seem to work . in control panel > sound devices section for sound recordoing i can chose from realtek hd audio or digital input. appreciate all the help

The mixer toolbar selector is only a convenience and depends on the state of the Realtek drivers. Have you actually tried setting your source (mic or whatever) in Control Panel and then simply recording? Try updating the drivers as well:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... bar_Issues

still no dice and i followed the whole wiki guide. this is gonna be a pain to figure out. if anyone has any other tips please post.

Have you updated the Realtek drivers? It's important you do, in case that's the problem. You don't have to use the mixer toolbar selector - choose your source e.g. microphone in the Windows control panel, make the recording device in Audacity to be "SoundMapper" then it should just work. Many other recorder programs just use the Windows default device and don't have a way to choose input device or source. For example, try recording with Windows SoundRecorder (Start > Run > sndrec32). Choose your input source at Edit > Audio Properties which goes to the Windows Control Panel. If SoundRecorder can't record, then Audacity won't either.

If you need more help please be clear what it is you want to record.