DethBringa
Thought you were talking about external.
I have mouse and keyboard plugged into 1 pair.
Tascam plugged into pair 2 (was with HDD cable)
pair 3 empty (was webcam and phone charger)
 
Opened prefs, check devices listed, check master. both options have tascam in it this time. close it off, go FILE, NEW, get this popup:

That's a SONAR internal routing thing.
 
It's just saying that your Master Bus is not routed to an external hardware output. Click OK and then in the Console View click the Output dropdown for the Master Bus to see what hardware ouputs are available. If there aren't any then something else has gone screwy (like there are no Outputs selected for the Audio Device in Preferences)

back to blank list again

just for giggles try running SONAR as admin if you aren't already

DethBringa
Cheers beepster. Sometimes the simple stuff can easily be overlooked and after several hours of facesmashing desk it ends in severe facepalming due to something exactly like that.
You're right but unfortunately I was already following that rule of thumb. Even mice can have hissy fits when plugged into a different usb port.
 
Its more that the devices are there at the start but disappear if I try to make a new file or open and close the prefs.
 

That's actually starting to sound like a bad cable/connection.
 
OR possibly you have processes running on your computer in the background (like an Anti Virus program running in realtime) that are interfering with the device drivers essentially knocking them out sporadically... kind of like a bad cable but with drivers being the cable and some setting/program being the cable jiggler.
 
If that makes sense... lol.
 
The samrter doods would have to help with that second bit but yeah... if possible I'd try another USB cable and or another port if the current port seems sketchy.
 
Good luck.

The run as admin gets chucked around a lot. Its like the have you tried rebooting thing. Its worth a shot I guess but tbh I've never seen it fix anything on an admin account (tried it anyways cause best to be safe XD).
 
Tried different cable, went for my trusty heavy duty one instead of the cheapo that comes with the unit.
Still getting the missing audio outputs error. 

Definitely sounds like the ASIO driver just isn't loading in Windows for whatever reason. Try downloading the free CEntrance ASIO Latency Tester, and see if it detects the driver:
 
      http://centrance.com/downloads/ltu/
 
 

DethBringa
The run as admin gets chucked around a lot. Its like the have you tried rebooting thing. Its worth a shot I guess but tbh I've never seen it fix anything on an admin account (tried it anyways cause best to be safe XD).
 
Tried different cable, went for my trusty heavy duty one instead of the cheapo that comes with the unit.
Still getting the missing audio outputs error. 

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned upthread but perhaps check your Windows audio device panel? Maybe the onboard sound is booting the Tascam offline?
 
Do you happen to have Windows Sounds still enabled and or do you have any other audio tasks going on (like a browser with youtube vids or Win Media Player or anything like that)?
 
Could just be the onboard sound is fighting for priority in which case I would disable the onboard soundcard drivers and make the Tascam the default device for the system. You can change it back and forth whenever you want so if you use the system for other stuff.
 
There are most definitely ways to have both the onboard sound and an external interface live harmoniously on a system but I do all my audio work on a dedicated desktop system so have never even bothered. All audio goes through my Focusrite Scarlett.
 
Just some more random blathering to poke at.
 
 

Kinda odd that I needed to register my name/address and phone number for a free download.
Not 100% sure if I just click the top one in the list and hit measure? it comes up and says ASIO driver failed to allocate buffers.

I would try some of the other USB ports on the back of the machine to see if there is any change.  
 
If you have access to another computer you could try installing everything on that to see if you have the same issue.  

The Tascam USB 2X2 is USB 2.0 ONLY !!!  I believe trying to connect it to a USB 3.0 Port is the the problem.
 
The specs sheet for the Tascam US-2X2 refers to it as a USB 2.0 device only, see the SPECS SHEET
Compatible computers Windows-compatible computer with a USB 2.0 port
 
Windows
 OSWindows 7(32-bit SP1, 64-bit SP1), Windows 8.0(32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 8.1(32-bit, 64-bit)

* For further information of the latest OS version, please click here.Compatible computersWindows-compatible computer with a USB 2.0 port  CPU type/speedDual core/2 GHz or faster (x86)Memory2GB or moreDRIVERASIO2.0, WDM(MME)