Let's try a couple things before getting you a replacement.
Do you have the TV or lights on while recording. Flirc is so sensitive, it could be picking up a bunch of noise.
Make sure you on firmware version 3.6, head to the Flirc GUI, go to advanced, and do a force upgrade.
When you see the bootloader version as it upgrades, can you let me know what it is? Should be 2.0 or 2.1.
Once the upgrade is complete, do a file->clear configuration. Then start over.
You should not have to reinstall drivers for this to work correctly. It shows up as a USB keyboard, so it's not necessary at all. Let me know if the latest firmware helps. I'll get it worked out, shouldn't be this painful.