Can`t record audio through labtop?!

I have a dell inspiron 1521 labtop, it has vista on it. With another older computer, I could record audio from hardware through labtop using ableton SUPER EASY. When I try now, I don`t hear anything from my hardware, I just hear my voice through the labtop.

I highlighted this issue here in this 50 sec youtube video:
http://youtu.be/RvW02BmXfN8

And I don`t see any line in button anywhere thats muted or something, can`t find it/don`t see it as you can see here:

http://youtu.be/lOLawmjiWf0

Please help, this has me insanely frustrated.

 

Any ideas on this?

 

http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2007/01/15/how-to-enable-wave-out-recording-in-vista/

 

In addition to the information provided by the site plodr linked you to, you may have to adjust the levels of the Stereo mix as it defaults to minimum (see attached).

 

What hardware are you talking about? Are you trying to record from an external hardware device, such as a tape deck? To do that, you need a "Line in" jack/port on your computer. Line in is separate from the mic port.

I have converted old cassette tapes to digital format by connecting the tape player to the Line in port on a desktop PC. I also tried doing this with my old Compaq laptop and connected the cable from the tape player to the mic port on the laptop since the laptop had no separate Line In port. That was a mistake; I believe it damaged the laptop. So, if your computer does not have a Line In port and you want to use an external media player and in input source, I suggest you not do this until your computer has a dedicated Line In port.