Problems with recording

[umbrascitor]

When recording, the input volume is extremely low. You can barely see the waveform and a sample must be amplified to +40 just to be heard properly on playback. After probing for the cause, I found that whenever I make a recording on Audacity the mic input level on my system's audio control gets set to 5. I turn the input level back up to 100, and everything is fine until I make another recording, at which point it mysteriously sets to 5 again.

I just got through formatting my computer and reinstalling the OS, etc. Before I did this, I had no problems with Audacity. But now every time I make a recording my mic volume gets turned down to almost nothing. This doesn't happen when I record with Windows Sound Recorder, only with Audacity.

At first I thought the drivers for my Realtek audio device were to blame (since the fresh install of my OS didn't include the driver), and so I installed a new driver. Before I installed the driver, an Audacity recording would bump the mic down to 7. It was after I installed drivers that it started going down to 5.

All of this has me rather confused and very frustrated, as I'm working on a multimedia project and the ability to record voice with good quality is crucial. Why is Audacity changing the mic settings on my system? How do I make it stop and do what it's supposed to do? If anyone has some suggestions I would appreciate it very much.

[jimboystar]

*Bump* same problem with mine too. Please help out. Also, it seems the recordings that do happen seem choppy and drops every once in awhile.