Creative Vista SB Audigy 2 ZS Drivers Set to Expire


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It took me a long time to get the Creative drivers to work for my SB Audigy 2 ZS and now that they are working, I am getting a ridiculous message saying that they will expire Jan 12. Not only is it annoying each time I log in now that it tells me that they will expire in a week, it is even more annoying that Creative does not have updated drivers for this card (seeing as the drivers expire in a week).

has anyone else experienced this yet?

anyone find a way to extend these drivers (dated Oct 11, 2006)?

I have been using my Vista machine for a months now and use sound quite often (for movies and tv) and I would be really upset that a single hardware device would take out a lot of what I use. Whose bird-brain decision was it to make these drivers expire? I think in spite i'll be switching to TurtleBeach. ;)

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Their Vista drivers are horrible! I have the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA for my laptop. Ever since I upgraded to Vista back in November, I've been using the integrated sound rather than the Audigy. I mean, I paid $50 to get a sound card...I expect it to sound better than the integrated.

The same thing went for the XP x64 drivers. They first released buggy beta drivers back in late 2005. Their next driver release was on Oct. 9th of this year! Over a year for a new driver release!! Come on! I must say that the XP x64 drivers they released back in Oct. work much better than the older one did. I can take the card out if I take my laptop somewhere and plug it back in whenever I need it without having to go through an elaborate process of making sure I shut down the computer, plugging the card back in, and praying that I didn't have to reinstall the drivers for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was late March or April before they even get any RTM drivers out the door...you know what? Scratch that...they'll release some buggy RTM drivers that don't half work this month, and then they'll release some decent working ones in December.

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wow was about to ask about the same thing.... so... if creative is unable to release the drive on time... will switching the bios clock back a month delay the expire time?

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LoL surely they will have something out by then - maybe even the same driver, with newer number and newer expiration date

Yeah it sux that the games can't even be set to EAX 2/3 due to the driver

It madded me more that they are fixing issues with XiFi and haven't even mentioned about Audigy users..

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Yeah it sux that the games can't even be set to EAX 2/3 due to the driver

It madded me more that they are fixing issues with XiFi and haven't even mentioned about Audigy users..

I've read somewhere that the problem with EAX is a hardware limitation and that the Audigy users ( like myself ) are out of luck.

The X-Fi will work,.. but creative is having to use a strange work-around to get it done

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err so if we want EAX in Vista, we have to buy X-Fi and throw our Audigy 2 away?

Quite possibly. Creative has not stated if they will release an EAX to OpenAL wrapper for any Audigy line of cards, just only the X-Fi right away. AKA Creative just found a new way to make money.

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you guys are all fools.. these drivers have an expiry date because they're released as beta. it's just like how microsoft says that their beta products expire at a certain time. it's not like the creative drivers are just going to stop working on that date, they are notifying users of the driver that it will be time to safely uninstall and update when the drivers expire (assuming a newer version can be released at that time). so keep your skirts on and stop whining for the sake of whining!

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you guys are all fools.. these drivers have an expiry date because they're released as beta. it's just like how microsoft says that their beta products expire at a certain time. it's not like the creative drivers are just going to stop working on that date, they are notifying users of the driver that it will be time to safely uninstall and update when the drivers expire (assuming a newer version can be released at that time). so keep your skirts on and stop whining for the sake of whining!

Your point might be valid if it were not for the assumption that you are making, that the newer version will be released in time...

The current drivers are due to expire next week and the warnings are appearing and creative have still not released a new one. They also changed the release date from december to january and people are concerned that cretive may not manage to release it in time.

Maybe it's not the end of the world but it's not good PR to put in a lame expiry date(into a driver FFS!) and then deliver the next version late. At least when MS include an expiry date they release the next version BEFORE the last one has expired.

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who cares, vista betas expire too. Once the RTM is released it shouldn't even matter. Creative will take down that driver and deny it ever existed.

In case you hadn't heard Vista RTM was released in November 2006...

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who cares, vista betas expire too. Once the RTM is released it shouldn't even matter. Creative will take down that driver and deny it ever existed.

In case you hadn't heard Vista RTM was released in November 2006...

Incase you haven't heard, I shouldn't Legally have Vista Gold until January 30th anyway

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****ing wake up Creative. You wont make me buy a new XFI. No ****ing way. However dont panic with the times. I reinstalled vista today and the drivers will expire on the 28th.

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****ing wake up Creative. You wont make me buy a new XFI. No ****ing way. However dont panic with the times. I reinstalled vista today and the drivers will expire on the 28th.

that is good to know.

Sucks that I am forced to format and reinstall Vista to extend the driver life. :/

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****ing wake up Creative. You wont make me buy a new XFI. No ****ing way. However dont panic with the times. I reinstalled vista today and the drivers will expire on the 28th.

I don't know about you guys but my Audigy 2 drivers always said they would expire on the 28th... I never figured that one out...

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