Audigy 2 issues (I think?)

[messiah1]

So I've been searching the web for a solution to my problem and I've been browsing forums like crazy. I finally decided to post, as I have yet to find an actual solution. I must say that my computer crashes with finesse and prestigious timing. I play Day of Defeat and other Half Life mods among other relatively stressful games. Whenever playing a game that involves extensive sound processing my system crashes. The last sound byte before the crash plays continuously in a loop, the video freeze frames and all input is nonresponsive. I have to hard restart it before the system boots properly again. My system consists of the following:

Motherboard: Asus A7v8x
Video: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Sound: Soundblaster Audigy 2
Direct X: 9c
OS: XP Pro
Memory: 1024 Ram
Disk Space 60gig (approx 16gig free)
No heat issues, no power issues

What I've narrowed it down to is my multimedia device. It is the only device that isn't installed properly that windows can find and I believe it to be related to my Audigy 2. I don't have the original driver CD for the Audigy so I can't update drivers for it (trust me you can't just go to the creative site because they are evil), but I'm not sure if it's the same issue. I am clueless as to how to fix this problem and the 30 plus hours of troubleshooting has gotten me nothing. Please, to those more knowledgeable than I, what can I do?
Thank you

 

[hewybo]

Creative

I don't like going to Creative, either (I have Audigy2 ZS), because their "support" rivals M$, but- I assume the drivers from the CD are the ones you have installed now? I don't game, but they list 2-3 downloads specifically for gamers, at least for the ZS. One thing I have found, though, 2-4 reboots after downloading updates, they disappear, and have to be re-downloaded. Maybe, if you don't try to deal directly with them, but just go to their download page, you might find something that will help. Just a suggestion- good luck.

 

[messiah1]

I don't actually have the original drivers. The last time I wiped the drive was last November, but I get sound from somewhere and the wierd thing is in my Hardware Manager it recognizes the Audigy 2 and dxdiag recognizes it, but apparently I don't have any drivers installed so I can't update. I'm not sure if this is related to my multimedia device issue, but I can't believe that not updating is good. I just don't know enough about the multimedia controler to figure out how to fix it. As far as updates disappearing, I don't think it's ever happened to me but I wouldn't put it past creative to do something amazing like that. Thank you for your help. Still tinkering :dead:

 

[hewybo]

Try Wizard?

You probably already have, but just in case: have you tried going to the driver update wizrd? When it asks if you have a CD, just choose the other option, and see what it can find? Also, have you tried the "rollback drivers" option? That might at least get you back to the originals. (if they remained on your HDD) :knock:

 

[messiah1]

It doesn't have a rollback option with the drivers, the options I have for drivers for the multimedia device are:

CH Products Game Ports-Gamecard 3
ESS Technology, Inc.-Game pot for ESS
ThrustMaster-ACM (first port)
ACM (second port)
VIA Technologies, Inc.-VIA AC'97 Audio Controller (WDM)

None of these make it work and it doesn't find anything else. I don't know what else to do.

Anything else anyone can think of?

 

[Sharkfood]

The unknown/unconfigured multimedia device likely has nothing to do with your Audigy2, but instead on-board audio on your mainboard you never bothered to install the drivers for. I would hunt in the BIOS for an option to disable on-board audio and see if the device goes away.

HL2 and other Source engine games crash the way you have described- they freeze up and the last sound repeats in a loop from the crash. It can be related to audio, video, memory, etc.etc..

There are a number of issues with HL2 and Audigy2 soundcards fixed in newer drivers. There are also a number of issues with 5.1 audio (if you have 5.1 speakers and use EAX + 5.1). You will need to hit Creative's site and update the drives if you wish to isolate if this is indeed your problem as the CD drivers are most definately old.

The direct link (which I hope works without any cookies from me here) to get the latest full-release Audigy2 drivers would be:
http://us.creative.com/support/down...=8675&Product_Name=Audigy+2&OSName=Windows+XP

Just hit "Agree" in order for the download to commence. There are also some firmware and utility updates which you may be interested in.

My experience has been that most lock-up/freezes with looping sound are not caused by the soundcard (although it's quite possible).. these are usually caused by configuration (mem timing/speed), temp, chipset/agp or videocard issues. I'd say the soundcard is a very safe place to start though as you really SHOULD get those crusty CD drivers off your system.