Quicktime Player won't screen record

I have Quicktime Player 10.0 (but it doesn't show a "Q" icon - see my other post about this), and Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8).

When I launch Quicktime Player, I have a selection under "File" for "New Screen Recording", but when I select it, nothing happens. From what I've reasearched, I'm supposed to get another screen (black, with a red button to start recording), but nothing happens on my screen. The "New Screen Recording" is now greyed out, but I don't see that it's recording anywhere.

help?