Cannot record; Transport Control is greyed out

Hello, I’ve been struggling for months trying to make Audacity work, unsuccessfully.
My OS is Kubuntu 14.04, Audacity is 2.1.2, which was downloaded from Sourceforge (I think), and just installed today, as I could not make 2.0.5 (from the Ubuntu Software Center) work for any recording function. I can import an audio file and play it, but that’s all.
After much searching and frustration, I was able to (finally) get Audacity to hear from the Line In jack on the built-in audio card, using DHA ATI SB ALC889 Alt Analog (hw:0,2): Line:0). The M/B is gigabyte 990FXA-UD3.
Yet, when I click the Record button on the Transport control, it creates a new Audio Track, and the audio level drops dramatically, the VU Meters go blank, but nothing else happens. If I delete the new Audio Track, the VU Meters nor the audio return. It doesn’t show a progressing recording, or anything else. Some of these items may be unrelated to one another, but I don’t understand what the relationships are between these these items. Can anyone help?

Try resetting Audacity:

  1. Close Audacity
  2. Find the hidden folder ~/.audacity-data/ (where “~/” means your home folder) and delete that folder.

Then reboot, and restart Audacity.
Select the required devices in the device toolbar and make a test recording.