Frustrating Low Microphone Input Issue - Advice Welcome

[Scotsworth]

Hi all!

So I'm having a problem right now where I just can't seem to get my microphone to pick up good sound...everything is extremely quiet (like I can barely hear my voice when I play it back) and the soundwave is pretty much a straight line.

What I'm using:

-I'm using an AudioBox USB as my interface
-I'm using a Samson C01 Studio Condenser, connected to the audio interface via an XLR cable.
-I'm using Garageband

Things I've checked/tried:

-I'm sure to click on the 48V phantom power, and the Samson mic's blue light does come on.
-I've tried turning the gain up like crazy...unfortunately when it's at max level (60db) the input levels are still crazy low and then there's a really high pitched interference.
-I've confirmed that in garageBand and on my operating system that "Audiobox USB" is selected as the input source

Really baffled as to what's going on here. Any advice?

Update, switched from input #1 to input #2 and it works fine. I guess input 1 on my interface is busted. What a hunk of junk.

 

[gecko zzed]

Update, switched from input #1 to input #2 and it works fine. I guess input 1 on my interface is busted. What a hunk of junk.

It might be ok.

It depends on how Garageband is configured. The track you are recording on may have been set to Input 2