Recording with audacity-stopping when recording with a mic

[rapattack1]

Hi i am having some trouble with recording with my usb Samson mic and audacity. Its stops a second or so into it. Track one is a music track and two is the first vocal track which i am trying to record with the mic. I am not on the net or have anything else open/running and it is a new session. I check the audio/sound settings and even though the meter next to the mic listed there is not moving far i know the mic is working in the system generally. I use it with skype and other things i don't remember now. I haven't done any recording since this install of ubuntustudio so still getting to know it. I did a screen capture but have to convert that from an #.ogg before i can post it/upload it. Not sure what else to try. Suggestions please? Thanks :0)

[rapattack1]

Anyone?
This was a video of whats happening the other day
http://youtu.be/vfdnG00GhGI
and this is today
http://youtu.be/sNX1OG6Mf5w
Would really appreciate the help

[rapattack1]

OK so looked around some more and tried Ardour tonight with the same situation. I was able to get it to look like it was recording from the mic but there was no sound from that track. There is a space for want of a better word but nothing is there. Flatline...maybe thats a gud expression. I looked at the audio settings and the meter in it does not move. So i downloaded Sound Recorder. Got nothing from that at all. Looked like it was recording but totally mute. There i went back to audacity and still the same problem. Then i opened skype and noticed that the meter in the sound settings moved for the mic. Why? So skype forces the mic to work and nothing else? I chose the mic in the settings in audacity but with ardour i cant find a way to choose the mic. Also in sound recorder i cant find it either. Please is there anyone out there that can help????