Sound got messed up and I can't fix it

[fustercluck]

Yesterday my audio started to sound all weird/echoey/different so I started looking around at any settings that might have changed but couldn't find anything. Then I tried to update audio drivers for my soundcard (audigy 2 zs) because the sound was all echoey-like. After a clean uninstall of the old drivers and updating the new ones, the sound still isn't right. Hard to explain but it just doesn't sound right at all. I've looked through all the audio options I could find but couldn't fix it or figure out what to change. I'm thinking my soundcard might be on it's last leg, I have had it for a very long time.

But I really think there's just some setting messed up somewhere that I can't find. I've looked everywhere though, which is kind of how the problem started in the first place, you see, I was checking my sound options to see if my Mic was working, I ended up not changing anything at all but my audio got screwed up anyways. Kinda like when I open Logitech setpoint and my mouse is suddenly much more sensitive without changing anything 😛

 

[CKent]

When I had that card I used to get that echoey sound sometimes, usually if a game crashed. Rebooting would usually fix it. I'll assume you've tried that, so I'd say pick up Driver Sweeper, follow their instructions to completely uninstall the card and all its drivers and software (then go in with windows explorer and manually make sure it's all gone). Reinstall from the install CD. The Audigy 2 series must be installed from the CD, yet the CD is not downloadable via Creative's site... but if don't have it you can find it on the usual BT sites. There are driver updates you can download from Creative, but in my experience they broke more than they fixed. Your mileage may vary.

I would highly recommend using any other sound card or even onboard sound if your mobo has it. Creative's cards are overpriced, have inferior sound quality to almost every alternative out there, and their drivers & software are among the most bloated and buggy I've ever encountered in my life - and I've seen some computers completely infested with ad/spy ware and viruses for comparison.