Are my audio drivers being re-installed at every boot?  

Device Manager keeps a log file of device install/uninstall events. It might have some insight to your problem.

• Delete C:\Windows\inf\setup.dev.log
• Reboot. (This should re-create the problem, right?)
• After the error message pops-up, wait 2 minutes then note the time.
• Open the error message. YOu see the problem? Wait two minutes again. note the time
• Close the error message. Things now look OK again? Note the time
• Zip and upload a copy of your C:\Windows\inf\setup.dev.log file

Also tell me the 3 times you noted above (so i can correlate those times to events in the log)

Thanks Computergeek,
That sounds promising. I'll try it this evening when I get home.

I don't have a 'C:\Windows\inf\setup.dev.log' file.

Additionally, I wouldn't be able to time the alert without clicking on it because the error notification goes away by itself within seconds (then everything works normally).

Sorry, my BAD! My typo

Do you see C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev or C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log? (Windows may have the .log extension hidden)

If not,
Open an elevated command prompt window, type regedit navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
> If there's a subkey LogPath delete it
> Is there a subkey named LogLevel? If it exists, it should have value 0

Code:

LogLevel    REG_DWORD    0x00000000

No subkey LogPath

LogLevel = 2000ff00
Should I change this to "0"?

InstallationSources =
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore
E:\DRIVERS SYSTEM\HARDWARE\ROCKETU 1144B USB 3.0 PORT\PLE8609_WIN_6.5.0.0\X64
E:\DRIVERS SYSTEM\HARDWARE\ROCKETU 1144B USB 3.0 PORT\PLE8609_WIN_6.5.0.0
E:\DRIVERS SYSTEM\HARDWARE\ROCKETU 1144B USB 3.0 PORT\ASM104XV1162WHQL
E:\DRIVERS SYSTEM\HARDWARE\DELL S2230MX MONITOR
INSTALLATION SOURCES

(RocketU is an internal USB 3.0 interface (internal) card

Yes! I do see C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev and also setupapi.dev.20131212_073557.log
I would have already tried your first solution again, except that, as far as timing everything, The alert windows goes away by itself after a few seconds. (I'm guessing it goes away when everything gets fixed)

Download DriverTuner? - download DriverTuner? to Update your pc drivers - DriverTuner ?

you can download Driver Tuner, and check for any missing drivers, hope i helped.

@skits559
I saw bad reviews on Driver Tuner plus it costs money. I appreciate the nice people here that are trying to help me. Thanks for the tip, though.

I deleted C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev, changed LogLevel to 0, then restarted W7.
No luck yet.

My sister-in-law got scammed by Driver Tuner 2 years ago. blah blah blah. Sorry if I sounded like jerk regarding them but I didn't want to go into all that. skitts599, I apologize to you. I'm sure you don't work for the company or have anything to do with them. Thank you for trying to help me.

LogLevel = 2000ff00
Should I change this to "0"?

That's interesting.....

The default value is "0".

LogLevel can be set to other values to change the verbosity of the trace level. Yours is set to the most verbose trace level possible. Curious: Was someone debugging device issues for you in the near past? It appears a copy of the log was created Dec 12, 2013?

Don't know if current verbosity might overwhelm me, but let's give it a shot as is (we'll forget about any timing for now)

fyi.. Personally i HATE that Vista and higher hides file extensions by default. I think it makes it easier to miss and/or confuse things. CtlPanl->Folder Options->View tab. Uncheck option to Hide extenstions for known file types. Click OK

> Get ready to repeat the problem sequence
> Delete Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log
> Go through the steps to recreate the error (windows will create a new setupapi.dev.log file)

Zip up the setupapi.dev.log file and tell me the sequence of things/messages you saw on the screen. I'll try to correlate to the sequence of events in the log file