New Creative SB drivers for Windows Vista

[metalguy90]

Creative has finally updated their drivers for Windows Vista.

You can download the Soundblaster 2 ZS version from here.

Version is 2.10.0000 and weighs in at 34MB.

[scumdogmillionaire]

nice! right before MS puts out a new build that these won't work with! ;)

hopefully the architecture will settle down here real soon and drivers will begin to work throughout the rest of the vista beta. doubtful, but it would be nice!

[VanChris]

They are new ones out too for the Audigy 4

[metalguy90]

i havent tried them yet but I hope they correct the MCE problem I was having.

[trek]

The installer BSOD's on me. Build 5472. Installed manually and they work fine.

[metalguy90]

i installed the drivers.

it didnt fix the mce issue. but i do get more options for mixing (no longer just 2.1 speaker). I have the options for 2, 2.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 :D

[Symphony]

After installing and setting it to 5.1 it gives BSOD after a few minutes. - Installer was used because the Console was used to set to 5.1.

5472 with Audigy ZS2. Any ideas?

[1Frothy]

Cool (Y) Finally new SB Live Audigy 2 Value Drivers!

I'm celebrating.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Coo, thanks, downloading now. I have (Digital) 2.1 so fingers crossed it all works fine.

edit: worked for me! (Y)

Edited August 15, 2006 by Neobond

[Imaginos]

Bout time someone actually gave some feedback about the driver. For all the trumpeting, noone with a cursed Audigy2 ZS has reported in with good news. I'll give it a whirl too tonight and write up my findings as well.

[metalguy90]

after installing these drivers, I finally get 5.1 through Control Panel in Vista. As mentioned before, this has not fixed the fact that I get no sound through mce or wmp.

a couple of things to note though after installing the drivers:

-there is a slight popping sound everytime at the beginning of every new sound played

-task manager no longer starts (which is really annoying!)

[andyqkw]

It BSOD on me too while installing the driver thru the setup installer.

[TechnoGuru]

Yep, they work but if you try to install them through device manager they install but you get no sound and no BSOD. Looks like you have to run setup and go throught the BSOD once and then the sound works. Too bad the HD Xplosion didn't have drivers that work in x86. Tried to get them to work but no luck. Guess we have to wait until after RC1.

[Steven P. Administrators]

after installing these drivers, I finally get 5.1 through Control Panel in Vista. As mentioned before, this has not fixed the fact that I get no sound through mce or wmp.

a couple of things to note though after installing the drivers:

-there is a slight popping sound everytime at the beginning of every new sound played

-task manager no longer starts (which is really annoying!)

I have mine set at 2.1 digital output only and I don't get the issues you are reporting. It looks like that more people are having trouble with 5.1 (BSOD) in some cases) maybe check how 2 speaker configuration works?

Also its well known that creative drivers do not completely uninstall/overwrite new drivers. You may be left with an older version of a particular component if it wasn't a clean install.

Try this: http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=48573 (Driver Cleaner) if you upgraded those drivers and it wasn't a clean install.

PS: I don't know if this works correctly on Vista, it might be worth doing a roll back to before you installed the original driver (System Restore) although that will take it back to when you first installed Vista :/

[wildduck]

when playing bf2 sometimes the soundsystem stop working....didnt have the problem with beta 1 drivers..

[PGHammer]

I did manage to get the new drivers to install; it is *required* to uninstall the old drivers first for the new ones to *take*. In addition to the Audio Console, you now have access to EAX sound environments within Vista (via the Audio Console), regardless of speaker settings.

[zecold]

I installed the new drivers using the setup. I got no BSOD during the install nor after reboot. I got a few popups saying something like "1 something unreased", I'll complete my post if I get these messages after my next reboot.

In the audio console, I set the speakers config to synchronise with the windows settings, and set 5.1 speakers in the windows audio control panel.

Everything works fine.

Another thing: PGHammer said it is required to uninstall the old drivers. I did that, but then the setup complained about no hardware required found. So I reinstalled the old drivers (the ones for build 5270), rebooted, installed the new ones, the setup went fine, rebooted, then the popups I told a few lignes before, and everything is now fine.

[gadean]

So many people experiencing BSOD with these drivers. So typical of Creative..

[DG55]

I cant believe it, these drivers actually work for me! A miracle!

[Timothy003]

I have a SB Live! card my uncle gave me... It's pretty old, but Windows Update found its drivers immediately... Unfortunately, my microphone isn't giving any sound (but it has an icon in the audio devices and a bar that's called "Microphone," "Creative SB Live! (WDM)") in my Vista build 5384. It works perfectly in XP SP2.

[Lemonzest]

Just a side note, these also work great on XP/2003 there not just for vista.

[trek]

Just a side note, these also work great on XP/2003 there not just for vista.

why would you choose to use beta drivers over fully WHQL certified current drivers for XP?

[Izlude]

Oh speaking of SB drivers for vista... I've got me here an old SB PCI 128. I used the XP drivers since none were available for my model. It was successful, however, in the hardware manager in the WDM properties where it lets you change the wave sets for the midi, I get the message "you do not have admin privileges"

Is anyone else getting that? Or is it only because the XP drivers arn't fully compatible? I'm in the admins account too.

[zecold]

I installed the new drivers using the setup. I got no BSOD during the install nor after reboot. I got a few popups saying something like "1 something unreased", I'll complete my post if I get these messages after my next reboot.

In the audio console, I set the speakers config to synchronise with the windows settings, and set 5.1 speakers in the windows audio control panel.

Everything works fine.

Another thing: PGHammer said it is required to uninstall the old drivers. I did that, but then the setup complained about no hardware required found. So I reinstalled the old drivers (the ones for build 5270), rebooted, installed the new ones, the setup went fine, rebooted, then the popups I told a few lignes before, and everything is now fine.

Here are the popup messages I got

They appear in a window which title is "Busted App":

There were 1 unreleased IDrvAdapterMgr interfaces

There were 1 unreleased IDrvDevice interfaces

There were 2 unreleased IDrvBMixer interfaces

There were 1 unreleased IDrvBMixerLine interfaces

[Lemonzest]

why would you choose to use beta drivers over fully WHQL certified current drivers for XP?

Well for one, they support OpenAL 1.1 on Audigys :)