External sound card for ripping

[tapeman666]

I hope this is right place for this question.

I need to rip tapes to my laptop but my laptops soundcard apparently cannot handle it because after 10 - 30 seconds of recording whatever tape I am trying to record it turns into silence. Due to the fact that the cable I am using otherwise works fine, the tape recorder has no problems in it, I figured it has to be the soundcard and thus, that I need external one. I tried to look through reviews and google recommendations but none talked at all about ripping music from anything to computer so I decided to try and ask from here. Is there cheap external soundcard that will rip with good sound quality? Please, nothing over 100 dollars due to my unemployment and living on welfare.

Edit: put more information.

 

[Grador]

This sounds like it's far more likely to be a software or driver issue than a hardware one. Make sure you've got the latest driver and/or try a different piece of software.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

^^ what Grador said. Also check recording quality - anything more than 44khz/16bit would be waste especially for tape recording.

 

[tapeman666]

http://i.imgur.com/ReZSEh0.png

heres an image of what happens. My software is audacity, I checked the recording settings, my drivers are up to date, everything should be a ok. I have no idea what other software I could use or what other free recording software there is, so is there any recommendations for that?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Realtek drivers might be at fault - try to update these
Also - I notice you are recording from Microphone port - If available I think you should use Line-In port instead.

On the subject of cheap external interface I think this is good choice:
Amazon.com: Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface: Musical Instruments

 

[tapeman666]

Realtek drivers might be at fault - try to update these
Also - I notice you are recording from Microphone port - If available I think you should use Line-In port instead.

On the subject of cheap external interface I think this is good choice:
Amazon.com: Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface: Musical Instruments

Even if there is nothing wrong with my comps own soundcard, i might buy that. It seems like something that might solve my problem. Yes, I use microphone input and I don't know if my laptop even has line-in so I feel like that is the best bet for me.