Fast Track Ultra dropping connection

[watari banzai]

Good day! My Fast Track Ultra is exhibiting the commonly reported behavior of dropping the connection periodically and not powering up via USB (need to plug in the adapter to get it to work).

I have already Googled for a solution to the problem and found that it has something to do with units that have 'F' as the sixth character in the serial string, which my unit unfortunately does have. I did find this:

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IRQ Troubleshooting (Windows)

If the 6th digital is the letter "F", there is a chance your device may be affected by this malfunction. Since the symptoms of this issue are identical to common system configuration issues; below are some troubleshooting steps you can try to eliminate any irregularities you may be experiencing. If you continue to experience this loss of connection or require assistance in determining the cause, please contact M-Audio Tech Support.
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but as most users with the same problem are aware of, the links to the troubleshooting steps is now dead. I bought this unit second hand and I will probably not be willing/able to send it to an authorized repair center, even if there is one in my region (Southeast Asia), which I doubt.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can proceed from here or even a copy paste of the trouble shooting steps? Possibly some suggestions on addressing power supply issues that I can pass on to a local tech?

I am using the device on an HP Elitebook laptop, win7x64.

Thanks for any help.