Track input signal Randomly Vanishes

[Wavelength]

Hi All,

I observed an anomaly in Reaper that I was able to fix without re-booting Reaper (as I did in the past). When I create a new project or working on an existing project, my dry input signal for that armed-track will randomly vanish (not every time but every now and then). To fix this issue, I go into:

Options > Preferences > Audio > Device

Once there, I simply click "OK" at the bottom of the preferences window (I did not change anything). Please see photo of Preference window below. For whatever reason my Focusrite ASIO drivers either crash or become disabled and I have to re-launch them by performing the just mentioned fix. I was using VLC media player simultaneously while I had a track armed in Reaper. Could this be causing my Focusrite ASIO drivers to crash? Not sure this was the cause as I've done this before. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Gear:
Dell Latitude E-6530 Laptop
Windows 7 Professional – Service Pack 1
64-bit Operating System
RAM: 16 GB
Processor: Intel Core i5-3360M CPU @ 2.80 GHz / 2.80GHz
Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
Drivers: Focusrite ASIO
DAW: Reaper by Cockos
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul with Classic 57 pickups.
Guitar Cable: 12 foot Prolink Monster Standard 100