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Are there any issues with SB live!ware and Win2k Pro?

M

mariner

Golden Member
I'm trying to upgrade my drivers from the default 2k drivers to the cl versions. I can't get the lw3drv.exe executable to work and read on soundblaster.com that there were some issues with 2k. Anyone had a bad experience?
 
Not personally, but I've been looking for a new sound card (darn mx300) to go with my A7V. I've heard several complaints about instability and sound problems with multiple versions of creatives liveware
 
I installed the liveware with my first system, NT/95b and had no problems. But I have been using the default 2k drivers for a couple of months. I kinda wanted to try just the drivers from CL instead of the complete liveware package.

You have problems with the mx300? I almost got 1 last year but went with the live value instead.
 
My Sound Blaster Live Gamer never has worked properly in Win2k. I tried the latest and greatest drivers but they didn't help. Wish Creative would get their head outa their four corner contact and write better drivers. The SB Live will be my last Creative purchase.

Bozo 😀
 
Bozo, that's what I was afraid would happen if I loaded the full liveware package. So I wanted to install only the new drivers, but had no luck with the lw3drv.exe file. I emailed Creative this morn so maybe they'll get back to me before I upgrade my entire system😀
 
I think the Liveware drivers for Win2k come in multiple files. It will not work unless you have all the files downloading.

As for functionality, they are more stable, but EAX is not stable.
 
paulip88, do you know if the drivers-only option consists of more than 1 file? I only found the 1 file at soundblaster.com - lw3drv.exe.
 
I've installed both the drivers-only package and Live!Ware on my Win2k box. They both install, but cause the computer to hang for about 20 seconds when the taskbar/system tray initializes. I couldn't stand it so I went back to the default Win2k drivers. I've never found a solution for this. I'm thinking about ditching the SoundBlaster for a Philips card...
 
Never had any problem installing Liveware in any of the Live! cards running in my Win2K machines. (3x Value,2x Gold,1x Platinum) If you have any problems, I would double check that you have downloaded the complete portions of the Liveware and also that your hardwares and other softwares aren't the cause of those problems to begin with. Even though some would swear by their system stability, I've seen many roots of such problems traced back to system instabilities.
 
mariner,

I used the .exe, yes. My system is perfectly stable otherwise, and it's actually stable with the the SB drivers as well...just slower to boot.
 
I have had no problems. I used the files from creative's site, and installed/rebooted.

lw3w2k.exe
lw3w2k.w02
lw3w2k.w03
lw3w2k.w04
 
please forgive a seemingly ssimple-minded question, but I'm fairly new to 2K. What should the correct procedure be for reinstalling the Win2K default drivers, I'm tired of LW3 instabilities too.
 
I have been using SB Live for about 5 months on Server and Prof 2000 with no problems. I am not really into great sound or should I say I do notuse my PC for sound most of the time. I did load the drivers from the web and I have not had one problem other than the cheap add on software that always wanted to open my cd's when I put them in. I did solve that with a little difficulty. As far as the sound of the card it is great and no problems.
 
Works fine for me. I used to have a MX300 and loved it, but unfortunately it didn't like my KT7 Raid (KT133 chipset) board. I bought a X-Gamer Live! and it works great.
 
Is there any known reason or fix for the long pause while the taskbar initializes? It's definitely a Liveware issue.
 
I have no problem with my T-Bird AMD system.

For a more stable system under WIn2K. Don't use PCI 1 for your sound card. Put your sound card in PCI 2 or PCI 3 (3 is the best with no IRQ sharing). Only install lw3w2k files. Thats all you need.
Let me know if you need more help.

My system:
T-Bird 1G
Asus A7V BIOS 1005c
SBLive! x-gamer
 
I have never had any problems with the SB Live and Win2K. I have set up several systems using it.
 
I have yet to try the full live!ware package. It states on the soundblaster.com site that 2k may present some problems; so I haven't tried it.

My problem was that I couldn't get the driver-only executable lw3drv to work on my 2k setup. I couldn't even get winzip to unpack the archive - said it wasn't a standard type. Evidently some folks have been able to get this file to run successfully on a 2k sys.

Does anyone know if the file system makes a difference? I am using FAT32. Maybe FAT16 or NTFS is better?
 
No, I haven't looked into it all that much. It is annoying, though. I've searched for all kinds of "delay" type entries in the registry and a few other things, with no results. I remember when it first came out, lots of people mentioned the problem. I'll let you know if I find anything.
 
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