I was hoping for help but this is a little weird.  I tried everything to get my toneport ux2 back to normal including buying a new one and trying that.  I keep getting that static/crackle/pop sound even when nothing is plugged in.  It turns out that I hooked up the new box to my laptop and I was getting the sound in my house when I was by my desktop cpu, but not when I was in my kitchen.  When I turned off the desktop cpu, the sound went away on the laptop.  I realized that the cpu power supply/fan was making a sound that was somehow traveling through the air to the toneport/laptop connection even though these two cpu's were not linked and the toneport was plugged usb into the laptop with nothing else plugged into it.  I also get the sound when a live 1/4 inch guitar cord is hooked up to my mackie mixer and not plugged in.  The desktop cpu is making a fan-dying sound, but is it possible that it could be pushing out some kind of electrical signal that is being picked up by the toneport when connected to the laptop in the same room?  A little crazy I know.  Thanks for your help!

            Marc