Spotty USB recognition for new Vengeance 1500

I purchased the 1500 series 7.1 headphones over a week ago. They work with my laptop, but with my gaming desktop (see specs), they almost always show up as an unknown device (USB recognition fails). On the rare occasions they are recognized, I install the 1.1 drivers and all is well. But they they always stop being recognized within 20 min. The Corsair settings manager mysteriously closes, asking me to re-plug in my headphones. For instance, I noticed an audible pop in Skyrim before I lost all sound. I've tried shutdowns, reinstalling usb drivers using device management and updating them, but nothing seems to work... is there anything else I can try without an RMA? I think that might prove very expensive here in Japan.