Dongle not recognized

I bought Ver 7 DesignerPlus Sept 2013. Been using it for months, no problems. Last Sat eve the program could not recognize the dongle (red) was inserted. Security Error: Waiting until Sentinel LDK Run-Time Environment is available. 300 seconds countdown. THEN Security Device not found. Attach your dongle and restart software. (H0007).
(I do this, again). Still not recognizing my dongle. so I insert program disc to "Repair", wait until told to "insert dongle". Same msg: Dongle not found. THEN I used the bernina install HASPUserSetup.exe and after download, I restarted computer. Now, still the software is not recognizing my red ver7 dongle.

IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE I CAN DO TO OPEN THE SOFTWARE?
PLEASE ADVISE.
Thank you,
bev Salisbury