Fussy PC won't recognize audio input - help please!

Hi Folks! :) Let's get the specs out of the way first thing:

I use Windows XP
AMD Athlon 64 Processor
3200+
2.20 GHz, 1.00 GB RAM
SB Live! 24 soundcard
MC4

OK, here is what has been going on: my pc is doesn't seem to always recognize that there is something plugged into the soundcard input! I have gotten it to work on occasion, after changing every setting I could find, restarting MC4, restarting my audio devices (I use both an Ensoniq VFX-sd and a Roland D-50.....yes I'm old school hahaha,) and sometimes even restarting Windows. Then, every once in a while, the sound will miraculously appear! I know MC4 works (and when it does I love it!) I know SB is working - I run the driver diagnostics and they are fine, and I can hear previously recorded material. My cords are brand new and connected correctly. I have read and reread the manuals for everything to no avail. This is so frustrating not to know exactly which settings are right....I'm losing valuable recording/writing time because it takes me an hour or more (if I last that long) of fiddling with everything just to get a simple signal coming in :/ Anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong? Could it be the physical connection, like the little input jack is bad? I greatly appreciate any and all help you can give! :)

hello, dleone,
you've got some confusion to clear up first,
there's no recognition of anything being plugged into the input - there's only inputs avaialable by the soundcard via windows drivers picked up by MC.
also, the Ensoniq VFX-sd and a Roland D-50 are both synths, resetting them has nothing to do with MC picking them up as inputs on the soundcard.

so I'm guessing that you're having problems with your soundcard input on an audio track and that sometimes there's nothing there to select. if this is an incorrect assumption, you'll need to provide more detail on what you're problem is.

on that assumption, since you're using a SB soundcard, and I assume you've not changed your driver mode from the default (WDM), then I'd suggest first to change to ASIO driver mode and see if that works. OPTIONS>AUDIO>ADVANCED>DRIVER MODE = ASIO
then close and restart MC

if that doesn't solve the problem, then download and install ASIO4ALL (google it). then restart MC again, then go toOPTIONS>AUDIO>DRIVERS and change the INPUT and OUTPUT drivers to the ASIO4ALL SB drivers. if that doesn't help, please provide more detail on exactly what you're doing and what the problem is.

i just gave one away yesterday,heh

Hey sound blaster will work, ya just gotta set them up right.

start a new project, import an mp3 or wave file - any will do. press play and see if it plays correctly.

I don't know anything about the wave driver for SB. but I suspect you may have a bad input jack or something wrong with the SB card.