Problem with SPDIF input thriu USB sound box

I have a StarTech 7.1 USB Sound Card - External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio. I want to get the input from the SPDIF connector. I had this working perfectly a few months ago, but perhaps some windows update or the like screwed things up.

Everything within Windows looks perfect. The default input device is set to SPDIF, Windows sound troubleshooter finds no problem, the Xear software is perfectly correct. I've tried uninstalling everything, including the driver, and re-installing, but that didn't help.

Here are the symptoms: Various sound applications that I try simply show no input. But the amazing Audacity at least reports the following error msg: "Error opening recording device. Error code: ‐9999 Unanticipated host error"

Do any of you have any suggestions on what I should try? Thanks!

I'm running 64-bit Windows 10 Pro, Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.592)

Hardware: ASUS Z97-A/3.1, onboard RealTek display and sound, along with nVidia display and sound


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Significant progress has been made! I looked up the issue on the Audacity site and they emphasized that you need to change your Privacy settings to allow Windows access to your microphone. Once I did that, suddenly I could get audio through the SPDIF input!

Unfortunately, all that's coming in is mono noise and crackling. So my question remains active...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duh! The problem was one of the most mundane issues possible in this realm: The optical cable failed. Replacing it completely solved the problem!