Yamaha amp stops all audio playback on computer

[Sajia]

First let me apologize for my total ignorance of all things audio.
After a lifetime of listening to cheap PC speakers, I recently I bought my first real audio gear: a Yamaha A-S801 amp and KE Q150 speakers (all this stuff happened to be on sale). I'm attaching these to my laptop via USB to play FLACs, ALACs, and other kinds of music.

The problem is, every time I play audio on my computer it eventually stops and then no other audio will work on the computer when the amp + speakers is the selected output. Foobar 2000 usually stops after less than a minute and then sometimes gives an error message (but not always the same one). Streaming from bandcamp.com lasts a couple of minutes. Streaming from mixcloud.com lasts more than 30 minutes. Once the sound stops, no more audio will play on the computer while the external speakers are selected until I restart the computer. This is a Dell XPS 13 running Windows 10. I tried a different Windows 10 laptop with the same setup and it works fine, so it's something about this computer.

I'm guessing that something in Windows isn't working with the DAC in the Yamaha amp. But I have no idea how to start diagnosing or fixing the problem. Any suggestions on where to start?

 

[gladiator335]

First: did you downloaded and installed Yamaha DAC driver?
You can get them here:

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/a-s801/downloads.html

And (I'm not pretending to be an expert) are you playing audio formats that 100% compatible with your amplifier?
I guess your best bet would be to ask Yamaha directly or post your problem on Yamaha's forum somewhere.

 

[gladiator335]

Oh...and as always Google is your friend.
For example:

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41899

 

[Sajia]

Thanks for looking into this. I installed the driver from the Yamaha web site following the guide exactly, but still exactly the same problem. None of the various suggestions on Canuckaudiomart is addressing the same issue. Basically, the problem is that all audio playback software crashes when the amp is attached, with the length of time before crash depending on the software, and maybe crashing faster with high definition audio. Once one program crashes, no other audio software will play--it refuses to play, or gives an error message. I've Googled for hours and not found anyone with the same problem.

 

[KingBubba]

Have you tried an analog output from the headphone output from the computer instead of usb?

 

[Sajia]

As a last resort I might try figuring out how to do that (I assume it would connect to the amp's coax port using an adapter?).
But since this seems to be a software problem I'm looking first for a software fix...