Hi
My pc was on its last legs so i decided to format the hd and reinstall ME. This went without a problem. I installed my broadband modem, printer and odd bits of software with no problems at all.

But, when i installed my Creative Soundblaster Live soundcard things went wrong (card never physically removed and worked fine previously).

Could only start windows in safe mode. I initially thought it may be a corrupt disc (original cd) and removed the programs in control panel. then i used system restore (set restore point after installing windows) to ensure all traces of the driver had gone.

Windows started perfectly. I reinstalled my broadband and went to the creative web site to download the drivers from there. After installing them i had the same problem.

Onboard sound is and always has been disabled in bios.

Can anybody offer any assistance on what to try next, should i do a complete windows update first?.

Also does system restore remove all traces of installed software?

many thanks
Dave

Try right-clicking My Computer, selecting Properties and going into Device Manager. Double-click the sound card entry and, under the Resources tab, check that there's no IRQ conflict with any other hardware.

Thanks for the reply DJN.
Currently under the device manager tab i have a question mark and exclamation mark for the following
PCI Communication Device
PCI Ethernet Controller
PCI Multimedia Device
There were no conflict messages under the resources tab

The drivers for the soundcard are not currently installed as i did a system restore back to 'windows only' then reinstalled my web software only.

Any suggestions on what to do next would be appreciated
Dave

Sound cards are installed into Windows as 4 or 5 different components in Device Manager normally. Sounds to me as though all of the minor bits have installed correctly (they've probably just picked up the generic drivers from Windows) but the main component, showing as PCI Multimedia Device, isn't getting set up properly with the correct Creative Labs drivers.

The PCI Communications Device is a modem and the PCI Ethernet Controller is a network card. Both of these have problems (probably missing drivers) that are not related to the sound card.

In this situation, I would delete the PCI Multimedia Device entry from Device Manager, as well as the other entries under the 'Sound, Video and Game Controllers' section.

Have another look on the Creative Labs web site (or on the original driver CD if you have it) to check that there is no other applications to be installed in order for the drivers to be detected properly. Most network cards, for instance, need a pre-install program to be run BEFORE Windows tries to detect the drivers, in order for them to be installed successfully. If this is the case with your SoundBlaster card, it may be best to switch off and then physically remove the SoundBlaster card from the PC after you've deleted the entries in Device Manager. Then run the Creative Labs software installer before shutting down and fitting the card back into the PC.

Let us know how you get on

HI Dj
Ive been on the Creative web site and read up on my soundcard. There is no pre install requirements. I removed the card and re-fitted to rule out bad connections and i still have the same problems. I have managed to install the minimal drivers required to get sound from the device. I did this using the windows add new hardware wizard. As soon as i try to install any other software i cant startup and have to remove everything.

Im thinking my system is generally unstable now as im having more startup problems even without the driver installed.

Any more advice would be greatfully recieved.
Dave

What version of Windows are you running Dave?

Its windows ME 4.90.3000 straigh from original disc with no upgrades installed.

Dave

Ps if you recall i posted a kvm swith problem, me and my dad swopped switches and they work perfectly ???!

In that case, you should be able to go to the Start Menu > Run and type msconfig. Find the tab that shows startup entries. See if there's anything that looks like it's left over from a failed Creative Labs installation (their file names often start in ct). Try un-ticking them to stop them loading when your PC starts up. Save those changes and reboot the PC.

See if that makes any difference

P.S. Good to hear about the KVM switch - sometimes, these things don't warrant an explanation and we just need to be happy that they work, lol

Startup problems have cured themselves after a couple of good starts. There was nothing on msconfig relating to creative.

I have sound and thats better than nothing. The soundcard has a lot of features which i cannot use due to lack of software and drivers but its not important so im giving up for now. Im going to invest in XP soon and hopefully that will sort the problem. (have checked system requirements and all ok)

Thanks for all the advice DJ
Dave