Creative Recon3D Fatal1ty no longer working on Windows 7

When building my Digital Audio Workstation three years ago, I chose a Creative Recon3D Fatal1ty sound card. It's worked just fine until the past few months, during which time it has begun having problems.

I've researched the heck out of it over the past month, to little avail: Creative lists it as a legacy product, so there's no help from that quarter. I've updated firmware and drivers, reinstalled drivers, and kept it working for awhile.

The issues started to happen on a reboot after Windows Updates, which is what I suspect is the issue. I've read that there are problems (with workarounds) on Windows 10, but this machine is running the same Windows 7 x64 version it was originally built with, and nothing else has changed on the machine.

The symptoms are that the front panel lights no longer come on, and the system says that no sound device is installed. Device Manager now shows nothing where the Fatal1ty used to be listed.

Any input or a workaround would be greatly appreciated: this thing cost $400, and I'd hate to think that I'll never be able to trust Creative again.

Thanks in advance.

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