Laptops are notoriously tweaky when it comes to recording. I abandoned computers for a stand alone solution because of all the issues. (Look at the BOSS units, like the BR series. They were designed for RECORDING and recording alone. They're not running all kinds of unnecessary PC applications that simply get in the way.

So, I'm not all that knowledgable when it comes to computer recording because of all the problems I've had with it in the past. In fact, I haven't run a computer recording program since Windows98!

First I would check the web for information on optimizing your laptop for recording purposes. I would also remove ALL internet programs and NEVER connect it to the web. (I know people who have lost months of work due to some stupid virus contracted from being on the web.) Once optimized, go through all the setup steps. Many laptops do not have a LINE IN, input on the soundcard. The MIC IN will result in poor recordings. Look for a USB or Firewire interface. USB is OK if you're recording two channels or less at a time. Firewire is better for more than two channels as there is less lag.

Wish I could help more than that, but, hopefully, eds... will chime in.

Can't even make a sound?

First stop will be the recording properties on the computer. Make sure you have the line in activated in the recording properties and make sure you are plugged into the line in jack. Slider should be about half to start then adjust for clipping.

Hope that at least gets you some sound.

Get s decent recording soundcard or a USB interface.
Mic In sucks.
Onboard soundcards are designed for games so...

He's got a laptop.... Soundcard is typically built in and not changeable. Have already suggested a USB or Firewire interface. AND we've already told him not to use the MIC IN. You're parroting again... Don't post for the sake of making a post. When all you do is repeat what everyone else has said, it just becomes clutter...

JTC has the first BEST suggestion in lieu of throwing cash at it.

eds...? Are you out there?

well laptops aren't usually the best place for these programs as you are SO limited in the hardware upgrades often necessary to make full use of this program. if you have a regular computer, i would highly suggest loading it up there. this program will allow you to use an assortment of plug-ins via the midi options. your laptop severly limits your ability to use the ever important 1/4 input. a normal PC will allow you to upgrade your soundcard to one that has all the multiple inputs you'll need to take advatage of cakewalk like firewire,rca,1/4 inch,line mic in, spidif,lightpipe,etc. your laptop has maybe one or two 1/8 ins and that's it. so you'll need to go to radio shack and get a 1/8 to 1/4 adaptor in order to use any equipment with a 1/4 out(which covers just about everything out guitar wise for sure)...you'll also have to use the USB for your midi controllers which can work out ok(kind of a drag unplugging printers and scanners from it whenever you need to use that port). and you have to remember that cakewalk uses an absolute ton of resources when it is running. you can't run ANYTHING else when you use it(which means closing any and all virus protection and spam cleaning programs completely). and hopefully you have at least a gig of RAM on your laptop. more if possible.

as for no sound...you will need to open up your volume controls and unmute your line ins and pretty much everything that MIGHT be muted. and check to see that the volume levels are up(at least 65%). also when you go to arm a track, you use the dropdown menu on the individual channel and select the in you are going to use. this tells sonar wher to get a signal from. then arm the track and record....check to make sure you are at least getting a level....if still no sound, open up options at the top and look to see what ports are activated(options>audio>advanced...all shoud be higlighted in blue). using the help option should help you narrow down problems pretty quickly.

again, i would advise using a normal PC for this program but if you can't then try some of the above suggestions....good luck ...hope you can get her up and running......cakewalk is a great program to use..pretty user freindly and very powerful as well....

What are you using for an operating system!?

Most likely your PC al;ready has the only probably input available to you at this time active: the mic input. So I would check your preferences in Cakewalk. I haven't used that one to my knowledge but my guess would be in the settings to select your input device. Again, check to make sure you don't have anything muted in your windows audio mixer.

Do you have firewire? I like M-Audio stuff for inexpensive audio interfaces. The fast track USB is like $130.

Honestly if asked first, I would have suggested buying the interface that suits your needs and running with whatever software comes free with it - for example, just about everything comes free with a copy of ableton live lite these days. If you out grow that, you could buy the full version and still know how to use it.

Also if you are going to be recording, I would suggest making a hardware profile that logs in with only what you need. If you don't know how, you'll be fine just turning off stuff you don't use. If you've left a bunch of crap on that came with the dell, there's a lot of stuff running. Go to your run menu and type in msconfig - under startup items, turn off anything you UNDERSTAND and don't need running all the time. If you don't know what it is, best not mess with it. For example anything that says java, dell, adobe, messenger etc... you don't need those things and when you do go to start them up everything you need will fire up automatically. Dell is notorious for BOATLOADS of USELESS JUNK being loaded all the time.Another thing you can do is again, under run, type in services.msc - turn off junk you won't need, like telephony, messenger, etc. but if you don't know what you are doing, don't play in it. I assume no responsibility.

Another happy side effect is your computer will more than likely boot up faster if you turn off a bunch of crap you didn't even know was loaded. It's also a great way to check for spyware.

I actually wrote an article on tweaking PC's for recording for a website and put the article on the "old" guitar.com. I'll try to dig it up.

One more thing - defrag your computer. If you have two harddrives or partitions, put your software on the same one as windows and the other is where your files get recorded. Two harddrives is preferable. Personally, I have four in a round-robin setup but that's a little overkill. Basically having your coputer readyour OS, recording software, while writing to the same harddrives causes it to choke up causing either hiccups in your recordings or giving you "buffer errors} i.e. too much throughput.

Some advice here,

Many laptops have compatibility issues with firewire due to multiple protocol standards created by patent issues. For example only certain manufactures are able to use the term firewire others call it 1394A I think and there can be differences in protocol which can cause problems when mismatched. Most often its laptops that run into this. so if you decide to get a off board audio interface (highly recomended) than you might want to go with USB instead of firewire (the m box it the most hassle free USB setup as it was designed to work with protools so if you aren't particularily computer friendly then go with it)

If you need to be able to access the net from that computer, you can create a partition on your hard drive and load two copies of the operating system one on each. Then disable your network card in the device manager on the one that you are going to use to record with. unfortunately you will have to reboot to switch operating systems but it is worth it to save your processor all the spy ware and junk picked up while surfing the web. I run one drive with two partitions and two operating systems and a entirely separate drive for recording data.

If he is using a laptop exclusively for recording, then external soundcards, for hi-def recording could be a good ideia, with some software to take on to a live performing. If it is only and only for recording/performing, then just make your adjustments and it'll do it with the Usb's, Firewires or external Soundcards (Like CREATIVE soundcards or anything...)