Tascam m312 question

[hungovermorning]

Hi, I'm new here but all teh analog love made me join so here goes.
I recently picked up a beautiful M312 off ebay to run into my Teac 80-8 1/2" reel to reel. On the Tascam, everything seems to work except I can't seem to get the meters to work when runnin ghte mics in. Switched it to talkback mode and all the meters work fine. Any operating tips would be totally appreciated especially as I read the manual a few times and I'm just clueless at this point. Thanks!

[The Ghost of FM]

The group of 4 meters are designed to read the 1 - 4 program busses or the 1 - 8 Tape returns and last two meters on the right side of the mixer can be switched to read a multitude of signal paths, switchable through the pushbutton matrix just in front of them on the board.

If you wish to see the signal for a plugged in microphone or line input on any of the 12 mixing strips, assign it via it's 1 - 4 or stereo pushbuttons on the channel in usage, ensure that the master 1 - 4 & Stereo faders are up in the shaded area of the fader and the meters will show signal so long as you've done it correctly and everything is healthy on the mixer.

As you say you are a newbie in analog recording, read the signal flow chart from the manual and become familiar with it because in it's two page diagram, it shows you where all the various signals can flow to and at what levels all the connectors are looking for.

Cheers!

[hungovermorning]

Alright, I get off work, come home, unplug everything that I have, just plug in a cable and suddenly everything works! Crazy...