can't get sound card working properly

[bhome83]

noticed that my audio works but sounds really bad, so went into device manager in winxp pro and it shows this for multimedia audio controller (please see attachments). i have no idea what to do. i have a sounblaster live audio card and not sure if i need drivers or what. if i do need the original drivers im not sure where the drivers cd is. tried finding them on the web but it seemed all they had were updated drives which needed the original drives in the first place. please help. thanks.

[ogrerocks]

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?centric=4857&dlcentric=1926&ProductName=Sound+Blaster+Live!&OS=10&OSName=Windows+XP

That is the driver you need if you have a normal Soundblaster Live!. If you have a Live! 5.1, Platinum, etc., go here:
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
And choose your soundcard. The Live!s are listed under the Soundblaster -> 16-Bit. Download the Unipack for whatever card you have.
The Unipack is what you need if you have no drivers installed.

[bhome83]

i have a soundlbaster live 5.1 and when i went to find the driver on that site, it just had a driver update for this card called Sound Blaster Live! - LiveDrvUni-Pack (English). take a look for yourself please, and tell me if im doing something wrong. says "This package upgrades the Sound Blaster Live! driver"

Requirements:

For Windows 2000 and Windows XP users ONLY.
Creative SB Live! Series Audio card installed.

says i need the series audio card installed.

[ogrerocks]

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?centric=50&dlcentric=1926&ProductName=Sound+Blaster+Live!+5.1&OS=10&OSName=Windows+XP

Ther is a direct link to the Soundblaster Live! 5.1 for Win XP.

[bhome83]

well i tried to install this pack didn't work. i even uninstalled the multimedia audio controller and when the computer restarted it gave me the prompt that it would search for drivers for the device, multimedia audio controller' it didn't find any drivers, not sure what to do now. i really think that that unipack is only to UPDATE my audio card, not the original drivers i need to get the audio working right.

[ogrerocks]

I'm surprised that the drivers for it aren't built into Windows XP. I have a Soundblaster Live! Value in my 2nd PC and I've never installed the Creative Labs drivers. Have you tried using built in drivers? Is the PC connected to the internet so it can try to grab them offline?

[bhome83]

yes pc is connected to the internet. nothing works :( i thought the same thing that the drivers were built into xp. even uninstalled the multimedia audio card and when i restarted computer it gave me the prompt that it would look for drivers for the device but didn't find them. even put in xp cd to see if the drivers were on the cd, but didnt work.

[Panama Red]

What happens when you run Windows Update? Does it show drivers available? I just did a build and used a Creative SB Live! 5.1 card and didn't even have to install any drivers. XP Home just picked it up. Is your XP completely up to date?

[bhome83]

i run windows update and it doesn't say i need any drivers installed for my audio card. i can update several things but none that are "critical updates' or any that pertain to my sound card. if i took my soundcard out of the PCI slot and then reinserted it do you think that would help find the drivers? im lost what to do next.

[ogrerocks]

If you're gonna take it out, uninstall it from device manager first. Then switch which pci slot it's in. If the drivers still don't fix it, then the only thing I can think of is that it's defective.

[oryx]

Be sure to remove any sound devices (if any) from the sound, video, and game controllers section below the other devices tab as well.

[bhome83]

i took out the audio card and inserted in another pci slot nothing happened. whenever i uninstall the multimedia audio controller and restart computer it prompts me to find drivers but can't find them. this card was working fine a few days ago. when i took the audio card out i looked at it and all it said was 'soundblaster live 5.1' and model: sb0100.

[Panama Red]

Just checked the specs on your motherboard and noticed it has onboard audio. Do you have the onboard disabled in bios? If not, that may be causing the conflict.