Getting ready to throw this live value out the window, please help

[jfall]

I have been struggling with this card since I got it over a year ago in regards to all of my speakers working at once. I have XP PRO and am using the SB Live Value on an Abit KT-7 Raid board. I have un-installed/re-installed the sb live drivers and software many many times over the past year and the same problem always happens. I have an Altec Lansing 4 speaker set with a sub, sometimes I get sound out of all 4 speakers, and other times I only get it out of two. It seems to mess up mainly when users are logging in and out of their profiles on my computer. I have tried all the new drivers released by SB and they all do the same. When I notice that sound is not coming out of all 4 speakers if I try to launch Audio HQ it will tell me `Cannot Initialize Audio Driver. Re-install audio driver`. If I run the creative diagnostics it says that the MIXER DRIVER, SOUNDFONT SETTING and MIXER SETTINGS CHECK failed the test, everything else passed. If I try to do the repair it says to reinstall the software... but that never helps. Sometimes when I start my computer I will get 4 speakers, Audio HQ will load up fine without telling me to reinstall the audio driver and when I run the diagnostics it says everything passed.

Can anyone help me out? I know it must have something to do with the MIXER DRIVER, SOUNDFONT SETTING and MIXER SETTINGS.. but I don't know what it could be as it works sometimes and not others.

Thanks

 

[kind-of-blue]

If its merely a speaker issue, I would first check the speaker arraingement in AudioHQ and verify that its set to 4 Speakers on all profiles. Use the "Test" button in that ustility to verify you are receiving sound out of all 4 speakers.

As for your other issues, its sounds (hah! what a Pun) like you may have some leftover file fragments from one of your uninstalls.

If you feel up to it, download the latest XP drivers from
Creative's website and uninstall the old drivers, utility, and anything associated with Creative Sound using add/remove programs. Then delete any residual Creative Sound directories. Reboot and when XP prompts for the new device drivers point it to the newly downloaded SBLive drivers. Make sure you reinstall AudioHQ as it is the only way I know that you'll be able to get all 4 speakers plus sub working right.

Once you get things working with your profile check other to see if they work as well. Good Luck

 

[jfall]

Thanks for the reply, I will definitely give it a try. I have however uninstalled all the creative software many times, and when I reinstalled it I used a new directory so the files wouldn't go into the same place and there would be all new registry strings pointing to the new directory. One problem I think I might have whit what your suggesting is that when my XP starts up it automatically will install the drivers without prompting me, I can see the add new hardware wizard down in the systray installing the drivers but I cannot do anything to stop it.

I haven't thought of trying to go into each profile and setting 4 speakers on each one, I thought it would do that by default so that may cause problems.

Is there a way that I can turn off the auto hardware wizard? Also, the sb drivers come in a package.. and EXE file.. so audio hq and the other software are combined with the drivers, so i'm not sure how I would point windows to the new drivers to install if they are packaged in the exe.

 

[jfall]

Well I did everything you said and still no go. I uninstalled all the creative software, restarted installed the new drivers and the audio hq software, set it to 4 speakers during the install.. rebooted, tried to load audio hq and it said the same thing. Ran the diagnostics and those three items are still failing.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: jfall
Getting ready to throw this live value out the window, please help

Make sure you plant your feet carefully. The throwing motiong should come from your shoulders.


I had a similar problem when I upgraded to the newest drivers. It took 3 re-installs to finally get them to work correctly. It's a driver issue, not a speaker issue. The card takes no input from the speakers.

 

[kind-of-blue]

Well things are sure getting messy.
Try to reinstall drivers for the SBLive through the Device manager in WinXP, ie.e, upgrade drivers. And point the new drivers to the dloaded ones.

If that doesn't help maybe you should try uninstalling for the nth time, pulling the card, restarting, shutting down completely, eating a snack somewhere other than in front of your PC, reinstall SBLive in a different PCI slot, (Note: stay away from PCI slot 1 or whatever slot shares IRQs with your AGP slot--check Mobo manual for info; typically I install from the bottom up) and see if XP finds the same drivers. If no then choose your driver location and pray.

The snack probably isn't necessary but it may make you feel better. Better luck to you.

 

[Wolfsraider]

a suggestion

if you have the sblivevaluecard like i do you may find that the only drivers that work without glitches come from the german website

the only problem is my main computer is out of state and it has the links to the site

i'll ask my friends if they can remember the site name(we burned them to a cd)

tryhere

hope this helps

 

[jfall]

I think I may just have to try completely removig everything and installing the card in another slot. I have tried to just update the drivers from the device manager but had no luck. I sent an e-mail to sb tech support but I doubt that will yeild much help. Question though, where can I get the drivers that aren't packaged in the EXE file? the only ones I can find are the ones packaged with audiohq and the other software in the exe, making it so I cannot point to the drivers, I have to actually run the exe and it installs them for me. I have also tried updating them through windows update to no avail. I know it's gotta be something with the mixer, I know audio hq must have to be loaded to be able to get 4 speaker support, wish the damn thing would just load ... I had the same problems in w2k as well.

 

[kind-of-blue]

If you happen to have the Creative model number handy (there are several flavors of SBLive value) you can serch the creative website for drivers that fit your particular model. I got a SVLive Digital from NewEgg a few months back that uses a different dload page that regualar SBValue Live driver downloads.

Also, check the install path for the exe if any, and try and pull the driver from there.

 

[The Wildcard]

Have you tried emailing creative? Their tech support actually answers and they might have a solution to your problem......but be forewarned....their "solution" might be "oh, just reinstall the drivers" with which you will then send back a VERY, VERY ANGRY email saying that you have tried that "solution" about 10000 times.

After which I recommend not throwing away the SB Live but rather pass it on to somebody else to deal with, haha. Sell it on the internet! Then get yourself a new sound card, lol.

 

[Budman]

Install the latest bios for your board,then get the latest drivers from creative (new ones just came out).

 

[zephyrprime]

Don't kill yourself over this. It's obviously not working despite your many attempts. I have the same card you do and I've never had problems except or the static during startup problem. You've tried many drivers so I would suspect some sort of hardware problem. It may be that your card itself is defective. Try to get and exchange or just buy a different card.

 

[jfall]

I sent them a pretty detailed e-mail explaining everything that I have tried up to this point.. so I hope they don't send me an e-mail back like that .

I have the latest bios revison for my board, and I have the latest sb drivers, as well as tried all the other previous drivers.

I'm not convinced yet that it is a hardware problem, I remember it use to work fine when I was running Windows 98.. it just seems to be an issue with 2000/xp.

The card wouldn't be worth selling on the internet, probably get them for pretty darn cheap these days.

I'll try a few more things and wait paitently for sb tech support to write back.. if no solution I might go with a new card.. santa cruze or something.

thanks for all the suggestions

 

[Wolfsraider]

i too had problems with xp and audio hq as did a friend,
i solved mine by only loading the drivers from the german website he on the other hand loaded all the software
it still works for him but it was a mess at first
i found that life was simpler without audio hq

when loading the software/drivers it gives you the option to add only what you need

like media ring/audio hq/etc i just unchecked all of the boxes except the drivers and headache/problems disappeared

nope i didn't fix it but sanity was restored

 

[Legendary]

AMDMB.com Forums for Abit

You'll find many people who have problems with Creative hardware and Abit boards here. Why? Because Abit uses VIA, and VIA + Creative = problems for many. Your best bet is to toss your creative and get a GTXP, which is what I had to do for my friend.

 

[Skibby9]

I know you do NOT need to install AudioHQ to make all 4 channels work in XP, and IIRC the same for win2k.

In WinXP:
start---->control panel---->sounds and audio devices---->speaker settings (advanced)---->quad speakers---->apply as necessary

From time to time winxp resets it to stereo, and it did again while going through the steps just now, although it didn't shut down my real channels... Maybe stereo is the default that pops up when accessing that setting...

BTW I have my SBLive value in the 4th pci slot (below AGP). I have heard many talk of the via/sblive conflict and do not doubt its existance. However I have never, ever noticed any problems with it on my Asus A7V133.

Here is my current loadout:
agp: radeon 8500
pci1: ethernet card (generic from Korea Telecom, came with dsl service)
pci2,3: empty
pci4: sblive
pci5: empty
anr(?): empty

I prob still have the default 4 in 1 drivers that came with XPpro, and used the default sound drivers until the newest came out from creative.

Go to the Creative drivers page, and download the first ~25mb file and execute it. When prompted, select "advanced install" if available, and then opt to install the drivers only. It cuts the install down to ~10-12Mb, and also you wont have any additional creative garbage on your pc.

Good Luck!