Problems with SB61G2

Problem 1
=======
I'm trying to connect to my portable MD recorder using the SPDIF OUT
on my SB61G2. All I get is a "hissing" noise when I switch on the
SPDIF OUT. I'm using Win2K SP4. I've tried the following:
- Checked that the optical cable isn't faulty
- Got light on the end of the cable which plugs into the MD
- Checked the cable plugging from the SPDIF ports onto the
motherboard
- Checked DirectX - have 9.0b installed
- Updated to latest Realtek drivers (5.10.0.5440)
Does anyone know what's wrong or advise me on what I can do?

Problem 2
=======
I'm using a 160Gb Maxtor D'Max Plus 9 SATA HDD. This seems to get very
hot! Also I don't think it's preforming properly, seems sluggish when
compared to my 80Gb Wester Digital WD800JB running on a PIII.

Has anyone else experieced problems with this Maxtor HDD or running
SATA with SB61B2? How do I monitor the temp of the HDD and CPU in
Windows? Are they any utils to do this?

TIA.