BobF, thanks.  Wow - this is going to involve some major surgery!  I get your point - eliminate add ons and 'outside devices' step by step until we get SONAR running properly, then work back and see if we can find out the culprit!  I was really hoping it would not get to this point!
 
Wonder if anyone else has these issues?  Only few comments from other forum members - so I would think this is pretty unique!
 
BobF, I will likely get down to complete what you are suggesting - but not immediately!  Thanks for the help.

In the meantime, I am also going to wait and see of Bob Bone has some other work arounds, he has been a great help this far as well.
 
Bob Bone?  Don't let me down!
 
Thanks all of you, really appreciate your assistance!

I haven't seen many folks that have problems this deep and difficult to isolate.  Of the few, I think some of them have been Win7 upgrades to Win10 that would never behave properly on Win10 no matter what was done.
 
The above sounds pretty major, but it's easy stuff to do that's easily put back to the way it is now.
 
I sure hope you get it worked out soon. 

BobF, you make a point.  I did disable the Firewire port that connects to the M-Audio AI.  The default audio card on my system is the Creative SoundBlaster SFXi Titanium, and I had upgraded these drivers to the latest versions as we
 
Just a hunch. But is this a PCI card? I had to totally remove my Soundblaster PCI card to get my computer to work with Sonar.. A few others have had this same issue.The Creative drivers are very invasive to your system and they take over. Not usually a blue screen , but causing Sonar to crash or rejecting your proper interface. Just disabling the driver was not enough in my case,I had to physically remove the card and ALL traces of Creative. 
 
The other well known issue - it is said you should always use a TI chipset for your firewire, most others are problematic. 
 
 

monusharun
In the meantime, I am also going to wait and see of Bob Bone has some other work arounds, he has been a great help this far as well.
 
Bob Bone?  Don't let me down!
 
Thanks all of you, really appreciate your assistance!

 
WOW - no pressure :)
 
I JUST got home from spending the past 8 hours helping to drive my roommate to the emergency room for a broken ankle - LONG day, so I will jump back into this first thing tomorrow morning.  
 
The landlord was working under the house in the crawl space, and the hatch to get down to it sits in the kitchen, DIRECTLY in front of the door leading to the laundry room.
 
My roommate did not know the guy was down in there, and walked through the door carrying bags of groceries, and stepped right into nothingness and fell straight down a good 4 or 5 FEET.  I had to help pull him out of the hole (with my multiple herniated discs in my back and neck), and then after bandaging up the bloody parts of his elbow that needed stitches, ran him over to the ER and all that. 
 
OK - so I DO promise I will try to further assist first thing tomorrow, as I am not likely to leave my chair or bed through the entire day, and happy to help :)
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks Bob Bone. 

Was just thinking about these hardware conflicts.  Not meaning to sound totally negative, would the SONAR folks have not tested their s/ware for all these?  I mean, the Creative PCI card is a common one on a lot of machines, or so I think!  There is no mention anywhere, I believe, of possible issues like this when SONAR specifies system specifics for running the s/ware! I am now just at the rant stage - not having had any luck whatsoever - until, as I am being advised, I go in and perform major surgery on my system!  Woe is me!!  Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions.

No I don't think they would have tested it with a Soundblaster
 
Have you actually tried using a dedicated interface?

Thanks Bristol_Jonesey.  Hmmm, interesting!  By dedicated interface, would my MAudio Profire 610 classify as one?  This is firewire connected.

Yes definitely.
 
The only caveat is that most Firewire devices will only run properly when the relevant chipset in your computer is of the TI (Texas Instruments) variety.
 
Make sure this is the case with yours