my bios is at the latest and unpublished level from ASUS. My controller drivers are also up to date.


I am not having as many crackles and pops since the Prepare setting was changed. I may be able to live with this, but I find it highly suspect that X3 is causing me these issues when I have not seen them in prior releases. 

So back to the general advice now...
 
* Run windows update
* Run http://forum.cakewalk.com/Driver-Boost-m2928792.aspx and double check all your drivers are up to date.
* Run chkdsk
* Defrag
 
Cheers...

CakeAlexS
So back to the general advice now...
 
* Run windows update
* Run http://forum.cakewalk.com/Driver-Boost-m2928792.aspx and double check all your drivers are up to date.
* Run chkdsk
* Defrag
 
Cheers...

update runs automagically, chkdsk was run and I have defragged. Checking the boost stuff now.

Wow, that Boost utility is sweet. I had 12 drivers out of date. The ASUS utility said all of my drivers were up to date. Now I am going to restart the puter. I might be back... ;)

If there are so many drivers please backup and update each driver one by one. You might want to double check what it is saying with the actual websites that distribute these drivers... cheers..

man, I almost had a meltdown. Evidently one of the drivers for the USB port was not the correct one. After updating the drivers, I restarted and the RME would not initialize or install. I also noticed that all of my restore points were gone. I almost had a heart attack.

After rolling back the drivers for the controllers and restarting, I was able to reinstall the RME and I am back in business. No real X3 performance issues yet other than pops when I press the stop button. I have only had a few minutes on it though. I need to make sure everything else is working fine and I don't have to reauthorize all my plugins and such.  Then I will set a restore point. I don't have a clue why they are not there. I know that some viruses will delete all restore points.
 
Thanks for the help so far guys I will report back later with my progress.
 

Yeah I was getting a little frightened about what you said there #45
There's no virus in the software you just gotta install it correctly (see my original post). And this sort of software can occasionally comes up with false positives. Worked well for me so far touch wood. I generally use it as a reference to check, often I prefer to go to the direct websites.

Psssst...don't tell Alex, but that Driver Boost program screwed my system, made mistakes in reporting that some of my drivers were out of date, and generally acted like a virus on my system.  Once I got rid of it, all functions works properly.  Beware of any  free program that tells you your system is screwed up because, often/usually they're just trying to get you to pay for their "professional" version.

yeah, I restored a few of the drivers and I am back to where I was before. A novel concept, but I think I will keep doing it manually. :)

I unfroze the EZkeys and B4. No issues until I unfroze the B4. I got noticeable pops and froze it again with better results.
 
So I am basically where I was, but more sure I have the latest and greatest installed. Have I mentioned everything was fine before X3? ;) 

To be fair, the Driver Boost program did give me a usable list of drivers that I often forget about.  I copied that list for future reference, but as Alex has suggested in the past, I go to the manufacturer's site to get the latest patches and download them myself.  My experience with Driver Boost may have been an anomaly to my system.  No disrespect, Alex.  You're still the sheriff.