ableton lite akai apc 40 upgrade to lite 8

[lee1]

where do i start,
i made the switch from cdjs to ableton thinking it would open up a can of creativeness.only thing it has opened is my soul to the devil.
i had the demo of ableton first on the 30 day period,worked absolutely fine.no problems whatsoever. after the demo run out i went and purchased the akai apc 40, with the purchase you get the ableton lite version!
i installed the lite version as it said, it then said there was a update of lite. so i installed the update too.
now i cant access my external harddrive from my desktop. i have to find it from the all volumes tab in the browser.then when i opened up my folders there was nothing inside them, just names no mp3 files?
after turning the computer back on and off again the files became visible.
the problem now lies with my soundcard,
after about two minutes of sound all sound drops out and the no sound icon appears at the top left, i then go to preferences and the audio input and output devices still there but with exclamation marks at the side of them saying choose audio driver?
but for some reason there is a conflict between my soundcard and the new installed version of ableton lite.
macbook pro 2.4ghz - snow leapord -
2gb
m audio fast track pro.

[lee1]

i have worked out the problem to sound dropping out from my soundcard,
i am using a poor usb extension into my macbook,
i have my apc40 and soundcard running into the usb extension.
since just running my soundcard straight into the macbook i have had no problems.
but i cant use the controller at the same time as the other usb port is getting used by my external hard drive.
any ideas on a exceptional usb extension device which will allow both to run.


As you can see iam the new boy!! go easy- or take pity.