I am having some major issues now with input monitoring. not only the monitored instrument, but the entire playback is getting distorted. I have to stop IM and the turn it back on. Then playback and instrument monitoring okays clear again.

I'm not having any issues with it.

Can you clarify in what circumstance you're encountering it?

What are the specs of your card?
 
Only thing I can think of is that maybe it's trying to play back at the wrong sample rate, or (of course) something is overloaded. Is the project sample rate set at the same sample rate as your sound interface software?
 
Maybe completely turn off sound in Windows (Control Panel -> Sound) to start off with and just try your DAW.
Make sure you aren't sharing drivers with other programs in Sonar.
 
Ta
 

yes, I have a project with IM enabled during playback and tracking a guitar. about 2.5 mins into the playback, I start getting distorted playback and monitoring. I never use it, but tried to use it for jamming with what I had recorded  to come up with some lead ideas.
 
The guitar track had GTR as an FX. All updates are in with the Waves products.
 
I also let the project, IM on with all 14 tracks,  sit open for about 20 mins and playback went silent after that when pressing play. I had to bounce SONAR to get sound back I thought. I just figured out if I turn IM off and back on, I get the sound back. I think there might be an issue with IM and my install of X3.
 
 

I have not had any windows sound devices active since creating this machine. I have 32 and 24 bit audio in this project. Everything works ok until I try to use IM and leave it on for more than 15 mins it seems. I never use IM, but when I need it to work, it has gone south. 

Just converted all audio to 24 bit. letting it sit without IM active to see if it goes south or not. Then I will turn IM back on and see if it gets hosed again..

I just uninstalled the RME and refreshed the components. I got the UFX reinstalled with the latest driver 1.038. I think the RME may have gotten out of sync with the updated USB drivers. I did a reboot after the USB driver update too before this started happening. Still losing the UFX device.
 
I am going to reset all drivers back to the latest from ASUS And report back.
 
Man, I hate computers...

ok, I will NOT be using that driver check program again. I am back in sync. No IM noise or UFX gone missing issue.

Now to set another system restore point!

That program does seem to have caused a lot of problems, but glad you're sorted.

Perhaps change title to reflect this? "Driver Boost program screwed my system", perhaps? :-)