not recording

I’m using Audacity 3.1.0 and windows 10
I’m trying to record music from a cassette player via usb. When I press “record” the monitoring meter lights up and moves. The vertical line moves as if it’s recording but there are no waveforms. I tried playback and found nothing. When I set up to record, I was not able to select a project rate of 44100 Hz. My only choice was 48000 Hz. Is that part of the problem?