flashgordon
gotta say some things.
these days ones choice of computer is critical for a daw.
if you peruse the net on various forums youll see people
haveing lots of issues in particular with laptops.
which is why some people buy laptops specifically built for daw
work. eg (and i got nothing to do with them..)
www.adkproaudio.com
which is the kind of stuff used by touring acts etc etc.
but its more expensive of course.

now in your case it might be a rb problem.
but ive fixed many systems for friends where they swore up
and down at the daw software , and once i looked at the situation it
turned out to be the computer itself wasnt set up properly.
or the sound device.

i'm not useing a laptop myself cos i'm finding all sorts of probs with em.
ive tested a ton of consumer laptops myself.
so i stay desktop. but "some people" do get things working.
if your patient we might be able to resolve the issue.
first thing is it must be set up correctly.
firstly runthe following and report back.
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
also please post a pic of both xp task manager showing ram and
cpu useage n processes, as well as a pic of rb preferences>>audio tab.

please state what sound device your useing.
and i'll try n help best i can.
or pm me.

ps , on some laptops you must disable wifi/the net while recording
cos it interferes with the recording process.

god bless.

retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE !
"what is the black art of audio engineering ?"
my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning
see my tips in the tips section.