Quite a large number of Forte (and Prelude) owners seem to be having problems similar to this. Myself included. Not sure whether it's hardware or software/driver related. Many believe it to be driver related.
Below are some of the problems I've experienced since getting the card last week:
1) Windows 7 x64 not recognizing the card (fixed by installing/uninstalling drivers numerous times, as well as trying different slots)
2) Random static/popping noises (no solution yet, disabling/re-enabling the card in device manager fixes the issue, sometimes switching modes fixes it)
3) sound disappears, usually preceded by static/popping - (no solution yet, disabling/re-enabling the card in device manager fixes the issue, swithing modes doesn't work here)
The card will lose sound even sitting idling. I usually keep my card in "game mode" and in the morning/after work, I have to disable/re-enable the card. One night I left it in "entertainment mode" and instead of the sound just disappearing like it usually does, I woke up to loud static/popping noises, which leads me to believe that it perhaps is a driver/software issue.