i can't record with my new mbox mini

[mx80]

hi everyone.
i just got a new mbox mini today, started editing a session with a few tracks i had previously recorded on DP and everything went fine. then i started a new session, plugged in my ribbon mic in my preamp, the preamp to the interface's input 1, got the signal in my headphones (very bad, distorted signal, by the way), also tried using the attenuation pad. so i record-enabled the mono audio track, set the input correctly, but all i got was noise, a continuous signal, and that was all i could record - not what i could hear in my headphones. finally, i tried to just use the mbox's preamp through the xlr input and i had the same problem.
i checked the I/O setup and everything looked fine, what should i do?

please help. thanks,

silvia

[sky88dd]

Did you by any chance put your Mac to sleep while Pro Tools is open?