Trying to Remove SBLive from Win98

[Kov-Ice]

This Creative crap will not come off of a 98se install properly.

I disabled onboard audio and midi in order to install an SBLive Value card (to utilize some old 5.1 speakers for the kids' computer), but I've given up on leaving it in. Something's just not playing nice, and a few of the games they play cause the sound to cease working and the system to lock up on shutdown. So...

I want to get rid of the Creative Software. This package has no Uninstall prompt in the Start Menu, so it needs to be removed via Control Panel / Add/Remove Programs. Following the directions on Creative's site (making sure all Creative programs are closed), I select Sound Blaster Live! Value in that menu first and hit the Add/Remove button. The blue highlight bar (once on Sound Blaster Live! Value) jumps to the top of the list in the Add/Remove Programs Properties window. Scrolling down, the Sound Blaster Live! Value is still there.

I tried the same thing in Safe Mode (since none of the software would auto-start that way), but I still get the same result. The Creative site HERE says to perform a clean boot (described HERE). Is a Clean Boot different from Safe Mode?

Will that bring any different result? Any other ways to safely and correctly uninstall this Creative package?
Thx.

[GaryRouth]

Hi Kov-Ice

The clean boot is similiar to Safe Mode (though I think you'll still have use of your video driver, CD-rom, and other peripherals, unlike Safe Mode). If Creative thinks it has a chance, it won't hurt to try = all the changes they suggest in msconfig are all reversable, so at worst it simply won't help the Creative uninstaller do its thing.

Creative has a so-so record at best for both its installers and uninstallers. If you can't get their uninstaller to work, and Control Panel's Add/Remove doesn't do any better, you can try removing it manually.

If Creative has specific instructions for manual removal posted on their website - use those. Otherwise, so long as your onboard sound isn't also Creative-based, you can try deleting the Creative folders in the C:\Program Files folder, and then using a Registry Cleaner [ I like CCleaner http://www.download.com/CCleaner/300...ml?tag=lst-0-1 ] to clean up the dead links. This often works better than you'd imagine, registry cleaning programs are getting pretty good at checking to make sure links to programs in the Registry are valid = and since your Creative folders would then be absent, the cleaners will usually detect that, and offer to remove the leftover invalid entries.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[chuck4456]

Are you sure that you don't have a sound card installed in there?