I finally gave up on the Firebox - couldn't find anyone to look at it locally, and it would have cost me shipping, plus parts and $90 per hour to ship it to the vendor in Montreal - hardly worth it. Decided I wanted something new to record through, and I wanted three things - the quality of the Firebox, but purchased locally, so I could take it back for repair, and it had to be USB, as the problem with the firebox was I couldn't figure out whether it was the box or the firewire interface that caused the problem. Anhow, bought an E-MU 0404 USB interface, and it sings. Great sound out of it, so I'll FINALLY be able to do some more recording......