Is my soundcard stuffed?

[morelia]

Is there any way I can check to see whether my EWX24/96 soundcard is stuffed or whether it is something else? I am not much of a tech.

I have tried plugging into my amp directly with what seems like no problems. When I play any instrument in minihost, FLstudio, Tracktion or even a song with winamp I get crackles. Not the kind that are normally associated with latency being set too low.

Ok. The way it usually goes is there is no sound or very intermittent crackly sound when I first start the host. If I open up a host like Tracktion, FLStudio or Minihost the sound is crackly, dropping in and out, or losing channels but usually after a while it comes good. It seems like the more I play a plugin the better the sound gets. I am going to try re seating the EWX24/96 but I fear it is rooted. Is there any reason why a soundcard would suddenly stop working properly or any way to check if it is indeed the soundcard that is at fault. I had a Soundblaster for years with no problems so I will be dissapointed if this thing goes kaput.