Sound card connection

You problem is probably not with the Scarlett but with Windows. It is not rare for Windows to forget a connected device when it restarts. Sometimes this can be because the device fails to power on from the USB current prior to the time Windows is looking for devices on the USB. If you have an external power supply for the device use it. I think that is not an option for the 2i2, however. You should make sure that Windows is not powering off the USB port. see 
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-fix-annoying-windows-usb-problem.htm
 
If the worst that happens is that you have to unplug and plug in the device to force windows to recognize it, consider yourself lucky.

Great suggestions. I was able to follow the first very clearly detailed message and link by slartabarfast. Unbelievably, the first time I did it, the sound card WAS recognized upon rebooting. However, when I tried it a second time, it was NOT recognized. I will continue to try this in the next few days and let you know. Certainly, this DOES SEEM to be the solution.
PansFolly had reccommend a powered USB hub. That would be easy enough, but I just want to make sure what I would get. I assume it's sort of like an extention cord for USB's, except ?with it's own AC supply. Thus, 1 cord on the USB hub would go into 1 of my existing USB ports on my computer. The sound card would plug into the new hub. AND--there would be, I assume from the term "powered," another cord going from the hub to a wall type AC voltage outlet. (I realize I could also attach it to an AC strip as well, but I want to keep it clear and simple for myself.
Thanks for both of your inputs.
LNovik
 

I had picked out my powered USB hub, but I was just waiting on a few things before I pulled the trigger. Specifically, the people from Focusrite said I should contact Dell directly and tell them how my computer is not responding. While I don't disagree, the fact is that I would think I'd have to pay close to $75 (my guess) to get support for a 3 year old computer which is out of the warranty period. 
However, an even more interesting development is the following. I have been finding in the past few days that when I first just power up my computer, without simultaneously turning on the other strips attached to my approx 5 hardware synths, the sound interface IS recognized right away. No unplugging and plugging! The reason I had never tried this before was that I had my computer connected to a separate power strip, so that when I would shut down the rest of my setup, I wouldn't have to wait for my computer to take the extra 30 seconds or so to finish powering off. However, my monitor was always connected to the power source of the rest of the instruments. Thus, I had no way to see what might happen if I just turned on the computer without turning on everything else.
IN the past week, I have connected the computer's monitor to the same power strip as the computer. I can thus now see that every time I turn on the computer (and monitor) without turning anything else on, the soundcard IS recognized. 
I mainly say all of this just to see if this gives anyone a hint as to why the sound card is NOT recognized when I turn both power sources both on at the same time. Of course, it's not just hardware synths that are attached to a common power strip, but some other units as well, such as some type of vocal effects box. There is probably another computer on that strip as well, which I use for other purposes sometimes. Hmmm.
Thanks for your time.
Larry Novik

I have a Scarlett 2i4 and never had this problem with my Win 7 system.  However, I have a problem in that upon startup, sometimes Windows fails to recognize my internal SATA drive which has all my documents (my C: drive is an SSD).  So Windows boots up, but I can't get to any of my documents.  I've just resorted to putting my PC into sleep instead of shutting it down, and it seems to hang on OK.

Yet another thread about why USB powered interfaces are to be avoided. 
USB was never originally intended to supply power and every system is going to supply it a little differently. USB 3.0 was designed with powering devices in mind, but an audio interface should always have the option of using an AC adapter.