un/re install Creative Audigy MP3 Sound Card

We've all got to test the waters some time BillyBob.

If I just stuck to Windows ME (The operating system I'm running) I'd be bored silly. There's so little that goes wrong with this O/S

Daizy

 

We join our hero only to find that he is hanging off the side of a cliff with his hat in one hand and the other wrapped around the trunk of a small shrub that somehow grew on the almost verticle rock wall. Just a few feet below his flailing feet in a gravel covered arena are the Pygmies. Hundreds of them and they are all waiting for our hero to lose his grip and.... well we all know what would happen. Our hero, on the other hand is thanking his lucky stars because if the natives were any other tribe they would be tall enough to get him.

I myself was wondering why one pygme doesn't just get on the sholders of another and put the hero out of his misery. Which is what I should do to my computer.... put her out of her misery and me out of mine

It seems like I'm after a moving target and me thinks moving targets are not a good sign. Here is the latest on this ongoing saga.

NO SOUND. When I try to play a sound I get a message saying my "sound card is in use." Of course the message does not say what is using it. Prior to this I kept getting a message saying the card was not properly installed but I would remove the card and plug it back in and it worked OK, then I got that message again and just wiggled the card and so far haven't received that message again.

I've checked the IRQ's and didn't find any conflicts and the status was "OK" on all IRQ's....

Have considered that maybe there is a hardware problem with the sound card but I would expect to recieve the same errors and not a moving target with a hardware problem. Also considered that maybe I did something to the registry when I was there but when I restored my system that should have been fixed.

Kinda running out of things to try except strarting from scratch but hate to do that.

Daizy.... BillyBob.... any ideas?

 

Ideas yes. Solution ???????

Again, XP is the OS here. But in Win95 thru Windows ME that would mean absolutely nothing. There were times when there actually would be an IRQ conflict which most of the time was created by a WinModem type Internal Modem.

But STILL NOT SHOW in the DM

But this story ( from where I sit ) reads Very much like an IRQ conflict.

Also did the Original setup have Onbaord sound. If this is true and a pluggin card is now trying to be used, is the Onboard completely disabled in the BIOS ?

My MB has built in audio and I found four ( 4 ) places in the BIOS that had to be disabled before the pugin card would even begin to work properly.

BilllyBob

 

I have plenty of ideas! None of them concerning your problem however.

My guess too, was going to be that you somehow have onboad sound that's not been disabled in your bios?

Daizy

 

Hi BillyBob, welcome to the good ship minnow!

My MB does have onboard sound but I have never used it. It was disabled when I assembled this beast and the Audigy Sound Card has been installed since first power up. The onboard sound is disabled via a pin setting and it is set to the disabled position and I have not changed any pins settings lately..... pretty sure that is not an issue.

IRQ's.... When I check the IRQ's I see that IRQ 17 is shared by "Creative SB Audigy" and "VIA USB enhanced host controller" which I'm not surprised because the sound card has 2 USB ports as part of its game package. I also checked the properties of the sound card in device manager and it reports "no conflicts." Should I be looking someplace else?

I'm thinking I should uninstall software again. Uninstall hardware again. Start over.... again.

 

Jim - can you attribute the death of the card to a specific event? For example, have you been listening to Lenny Kravitz MP3's? Or maybe installed one of Uncle Bill's product updates? Or possibly added some new hardware?

 

Hi Brett.... The problem started while I was playing "Grand Theft Auto 3 ", the system froze and I had to power off and on to get the puter going. That's when I started getting the errors about the Creative Task Bar. My efforts to fix that error, which I don't get anymore, has resulted in no sound and a moving target of error messages.

BTW, I uninstalled the software and tried re-installing and now get the error that my sound card is not installed but if I look at the device mgr it is there AND it says it is working properly NOT!!!

I'm now reviewing the creative support page for ideas.

 

Restart in Safe Mode. Remove the card using the Device Manager. Reboot (normally) into Windows and see what happens.

 

Removed the sound card using device mgr while in safe mode. When I rebooted the card was found and installed. I checked the device mgr and it says there are no confllicts and it is working properly.

When I booted the machine I received 2 error messages. They are both the same but from 2 different programs. These 2 programs are the ones that were giving me errors in the beginning (see the first post) the programs are CTLTRAY and Creative Taskbar or CTLTASK. The error reads:

"The sound card in the system is not properly installed. Reinstall the sound card and try again." OK

Some new news: I opened a demo file for the sound card and it played music!!!! I haven't been able to play any system sounds, wave file, CD's but had a moment of wild enthusiasm.... WOW. Any way I also found that I could make sounds from the little piano that is part of sound blaster audigy program. So she ain't dead just confused maybe.

I have checked the volume controls to insure nothing is muted

Now I'm thinking this has to be a software problem....

 

Knowing the problem at hand the only difference I would have added to the above by brett would be to do a complete power off shutdown and then let it boot into Windows.

Sometimes these audio problems may not clear completely with a warm restart. Audio drivers humg up in RAM are TOUGH to get rid of.

I have one program that if the audio does hang up it requires a COLD boot to fix.

Especially if it were an IRQ conflict.

BilllyBob

 

Two relevant(ish) articles from Creative:

and

Sorry, I can't link directly to the articles but you'll be able to track 'em down here.

Whilst the first article references a different mobo, the fix may well prove to be the same.

HTH.

 

What the first part of the reply by brett is saying is;

There may be an IRQ conflict between a COM port ( Modem ? ) and the Audio card. That is nothing new for a Internal Modem and Win95 and up.

If this were my problem ( which of course it s not ) the first thing I would do it to dump the Internal Modem, Install an External and then place my money on the square that says " problem solved "

But of course I would never build a machine with an Internal Modem anyway.

Also a thought.

In the BIOS is there a setting to select a PnP OS installed ( yes or no ) I have had MUCH better luck with that set to NO.

BillyBob

 

Thanks Brett, I'll work on those suggestions and report back.

BillyBob, I took your advise and redid the uninstall (in safe mode) and powered off after. No changes....

Y'all know this is probably really a simple thing and when it finally gets figured out we'll be saying sum'n like... "Why didn't I think of that? "

Ever onward (IBM Theme song uno)

 

Heck no! We'll be saying, "Daizy's a frelling genius! "
Let's get the rules straight right now. Any solution, I'm taking full and complete credit for.

Hey Jim? Did ya notice we have a handy dandy messenger thingy on this board? Might want to take a look at yours?



Daizy

 

It's FIXED!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramp, crosseyed mosquito's and bowlegged ants. I've come to present to you something I know nothing about, so pull up a chair and sit on the floor, the admission is free so pay at the door........

The way I see it there were 2 basic problems.
1. The uninstall of the software was incomplete.
2. Because of the software uninstall problem the registry was... shall we say, in disarray.

Here are the steps I took to fix the problem:

1. Manually deleted the folder (and sub folders) C:\program files\creative. This was a two pass process because some of the DLL's would not delete so I deleted what I could and then renamed the folder, rebooted and then deleted the renamed folder.
2. Dowloaded Regclean and installed it on my system
3. Ran Regclean and deleted all items with an author of "Creative Tech "
4. Used Regclean to delete the reference to SB Audigy in the Add/Remove programs list
5. Rebooted
6. Loaded the software from the CD
7. Loaded updates and patches from Creative Labs
8. Rebooted and the sucker didn't work!!!!
9. Opened Control Panel > Sounds and Devices and clicked on the Audio Tab and set the Default Device to SB Audigy (DUH!)
   [/list=1]
   And now all is well on North Padre Island.
   
   Many thanks to BillyBob, Brett and of course Miss Daizy (driving me crazy?)
   
   BTW, RegClean seems to be a very very nice program, you can get it here.
   
   Again, many thanks to y'all, without you guys I would be with the men in white coats by now

 

Daizy's a frelling genius! (Apparently YOU missed the memo)

That's fabulous news Jim. Thanks so much for taking the time to post back with your solution. Wasn't that fun?

Daizy

 

Spiffing

BTW - Power Tools (from the same site) is even better!

 

Glad to read that all is well again.

As a suggestion for future use. Use or no use. your call.

I believe you are using XP. If so I believe it has the capability to make restore points. the same as ME.

When you get ready to add new hardware/software MAKE YOUR OWN restore point ( if that is available ) JUST BEFORE installing anything new.

And name it something such as " B4 Audigy " then if things do not go right just use that restore point and BINGO ! U R back where you were before. ( or should be anyway )

I do that with Win98 but of course I only work with the Registry. But believe me I have bailed my own butt out of trouble more than once.

BillyBob

 

Creative sound cards can be very difficult
in winme, 2000 and xp when they *****
up. Often you just have to install XP
again and start from scratch! The game
it appears has defiled some files.
You might try using Tweak to fix
your registry. Then use regedit to
get rid of all the creative items. Then
do a re-install of the Creative software.
This worked for me but most times the
tough one is the one that works!