any words of wisdom for usb noise problems?

i thought usb connections would be trouble-free after placing waveterminal u24 between my desktop pc and the dac in my panasonic reciever (office system). itunes runs dead quiet there. i am trying to implement a pc feed into my levinson preamp in main system. when the usb cable makes contact between my laptop pc and the u24 running into the preamp i get substantial noise, which is substantially worse when a usb hard drive is also attached.i googled "usb noise" and saw references to some midi users' and photo printer issues and some filter products (argh!- hope to avoid this step). also mention of computer screens as possible culprits any suggestions or similar experiences?