record stops recording afiter about 17 seconds, continues to show blue tracks, but after 17 seconds just static. 
stops recording
Stops recording what and how?
Koz
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Gale
Stops recording from a microphone after 15 or so seconds, as you watch the wave forms you see them go from a spiky type wave form to a flat line type wave forms.
It continues to show the flat line for the rest of the recording.
When the song or recording ends and you play back the recording, where you saw the spike type waveform its fine, but when it gets to the spot where the regular wave form changed to the flat line type waveform its nothing but static sounds for the rest of the song.
There were no interruption in the microphone workings.
What is the make and model number of the microphone and how does it connect to the computer?
If the mic connects via USB cable, cold boot the computer. To do that, hold SHIFT while clicking the Shut Down menu option from the Start Menu, Start Screen or Win + X menu.
If the mic connects via a 1/8 inch plug, try turning off Recording enhancements for the mic in Windows Sound. It is possible a USB mic also has such enhancement settings, but usually they do not.
Gale
3 different microphones brands, that is not the problem. Now running on an output from a CD player, same exact problem except stops recording at different places 12, seconds, 22 seconds…
Tried turning off enhancement in Windows. No difference.
I even tried it with nothing, just hit r and just let it record nothing. Yet you could still see a small spikey signal wave and than once again after about a few seconds of recording you could see the signal wave go to a smooth signal wave.
???
I even uninstalled it, and downloaded audacity 2.1.2. Again from a different website and same thing!???
Just so we know, how exactly do these different microphone brands connect to the computer? And how are you recording from a CD player? Is it using the same physical connection on the computer?
Please only download Audacity from us: http://audacityteam.org/download/windows. Audacity is open source so there are hacked versions out there that are designed to harm your computer or which just don’t work properly.
I recommend you do this - reinstall from http://audacityteam.org/download/windows but look out for the “Select Additional Tasks” screen half way through installation. In that screen, put a check (tick) in the “Reset Preferences” box. Complete the installation. On launching Audacity, a dialogue will appear where you can confirm if you want to reset preferences just this once. Say yes.
Another question. Has Audacity ever worked on this computer, and if not, did you upgrade to Windows 10 over previous Windows? If you upgraded over previous Windows, did you upgrade the drivers for your audio devices to Windows 10 as you should have done? A 1/8 inch input on the computer is the built-in computer sound device that has its own drivers. A USB mic or USB interface is a separate sound device that may or may not need its own special drivers.
Gale