Windows 7: Audio Kontrol 1 crackle and pop problem

I am having issues with both my laptop and desktop with the Audio Kontrol 1 (which is funny to me because it has worked fine on both computers previously!!!)

I have switched from XP pro to Windows 7 (32 bit) and now the crackle and pops are back accompanied by dropout and subsequent tempo changes!! I am ready to sell the damn kontrol 1 as I have been struggling with this for months..
On my Desktop (win 7 32 bit)
when I install from the cd I got with the purchase, the crackles are very heavy...
when I use driver 1.6.7 there are still audible crackle and dropout, but not as much..
then when i try and install the 2010 driver, my audio kontrol 1 stops working and it shows up under devices and printers as an unknown device..!!!!

previously on XP pro the 2010 driver has made the crackle stopped, and its worked on my desktop, but i still have weird issues on my laptop!!

PLEASE HELP!!!! I THOUGHT NI WAS QUALITY!!

I have Sonar (8.5) DAW and some NI add ons. What recording program are you using? There have been a lot of posts, here and on other forums, abouit noise, crackling, popping in audio - even just the basic PC audio. There are many possibilities for the problems, including drivers (as you went from XP to Win 7 you need new sound drivers as the XP drivers are not compatible), video cards causing sound problems, wireless devices, etc.