Problems while installing an Audigy

[Febtober]

So I bought myself a nice new Audigy 2 ZS off of Newegg a short while ago. It got to my dorm and I was happy as could be. I tossed it in a PCI slot, and began to install the drivers. Towards the end of installing the drivers, my computer crashed (restarted itself). That was sort of odd, but nothing heartbreaking; I figured I'd just reinstall the drivers.

However, when I got back into XP, I had all sorts of problems. First of all, I could not get into My Computer or Control Panel. When clicked on, an error along the lines of "Windows could not find the file ("null"), make sure you typed it correctly blah blah blah." The only program I could get to load was Trillian. Eventually I tried disabling onboard sound (which I had been using, AC97) in the BIOS, and that fixed it. However, any attempts to install the drivers for my new sound card were met with the computer crashing.
I tried uninstalling all the drivers and the hardware and going back to onboard sound, but as soon as I reenabled onboard sound, the same problems started happening again. Now whenever I try to install the drivers, it tells me that it cannot detect the sound card and I can't go any further. I went up to Fry's today and bought another Audigy 2 ZS on the off chance it was a bad card, but I get the same error. I know that it's in there nice and tight; I've reseated it a dozen times. Even if it would detect it, I have a feeling it would still crash while trying to install the drivers.

So right now I have no audio. Basically I can't move forward or back: I cannot reenable onboard sound without my computer ****ting itself, and I cannot install the necessary drivers for my new sound card.

Basic Specs:

XP Pro SP1 (anyone think SP2 would make a difference, or reinstalling XP for that matter?)
P4 2.66ghz
ECS L4VXA2 mobo
1 gig of memory (512 of 2700, 512 of 3200)
GeForce 4 Ti-4200 128mb
60 gig IBM Deskstar
200 gig IBM Deskstar
120 gig Western Digital
500 Watt RaidMax PSU

[confus-ed]

So welcome to the WD forums Febtober .

So we want the onboard turned off in bios also turn off an Midi or game port in case that conflicts also,, remove the Audigy, remove any software we can from add remove programmes to do with these sound cards or by running any uninstall routines. check in safe mode for any items in device manager to do with sound & remove. Restart.

Then open the audigy driver file & inside hopefully there's a little utility called ctzap.exe, run that to remove all traces of any audigy drivers. Add back the audigy, windows should find it .. hopefully !;)

[Febtober]

So welcome to the WD forums Febtober .

So we want the onboard turned off in bios also turn off an Midi or game port in case that conflicts also,, remove the Audigy, remove any software we can from add remove programmes to do with these sound cards or by running any uninstall routines. check in safe mode for any items in device manager to do with sound & remove. Restart.

Then open the audigy driver file & inside hopefully there's a little utility called ctzap.exe, run that to remove all traces of any audigy drivers. Add back the audigy, windows should find it .. hopefully !;)


That helped a bit. I was able to get the drivers to detect the audigy (windows itself has always detected it, it pops up with the "found new hardware" every time), but it locked up again while installing the drivers. I rebooted and the creative diagnositc program detected the hardware for the first time, but gave me a failure on everything else and I was still unable to play any audio. I rebooted to try again, and now I'm back to the drivers not detecting the sound card at all.

I know the Audigy is there. Windows says so. I can't figure out why the driver install program seems to disagree.

I sent an e-mail to Creative and a woman there gave me similar advice, except she said to choose the install, not uninstall, option for drivers in the ctzap.exe program. Her method didn't help at all whereas at least yours got me some progress, even if I have been set back already... heh :)

[confus-ed]

Mmmm .. all that should have worked ..

So perhaps there's something else missing from the equation, the usual reason cards behave this way is down to IRQ assignments getting done 'wrong' (each card has a set of resources it wants from the PC at boot, one of these is IRQ {interupt servicing} this gets affected by physical placement (different slots allow different resources) or perhaps windows isn't getting that bit 'right' ..

So the first things to try are 1, 'chipset patches' - this motherboard I think is VIA based - so perhaps Hyperions/4-in-1s (http://www.vaiarena.com)
2. physically choose a different slot for your audigy
3. maybe a bios update ? (last resort)

After all this 'unsucessful stuff' just what is showing in device manager & with what error ? (& you've looked in safe mode for any 'ghost duplicates' ? {this can make windows think its got more than one of things})

[Febtober]

Putting in a different slot had no effect.

I downloaded those Hyperion drivers, and the setup for them contains
"VIA PCI IDE Bus Driver"
"AGP Driver (AGP 3.0 Support)" and
"VIA INF Driver 2.20A"
Do I need to install all of these?

I'm fine doing most any physical upgrade on my computer, except for maybe a new motherboard, but I'm not too comfortable updating the bios, which I've never done before. If it's easy to do, then okay, but if it's very complicated with lots of room for error that can seriously screw up my computer, I may bypass that and just reinstall XP.

Just realized I'm late for class, so I'll make this short: Device manager shows errors with PCI Input Device and Multimedia Audio Controller when the card is in the slot, saying that their drivers have (obviously) not been installed. If the card isn't present, neither are those items. Screenshot to come later.

edit:
www.student.gsu.edu/~tbrown36/dm.jpg

This is what it looks like when the sound card is installed (actually, Multimedia Audio Controller usually shows up under "Other Devices"). I'm not sure what's up with that USB controller, or if it's related. All of my USB devices are working fine, in any case.

[Febtober]

I was able to screw around with it enough to get the drivers to detect the card so I could install them again, but most of the way through with the installation, a message pops up telling me that the software I'm trying install my not be compatible with Windows XP and if I want to contiue or stop. If I continue, the system locks up...


:(

edit: After messing around some more, I found that the Multimedia Audio Controller and my USB controller were both on IRQ port 10, which may be why I was getting an error regarding the USB controller.

[confus-ed]

..I downloaded those Hyperion drivers, and the setup for them contains
"VIA PCI IDE Bus Driver"
"AGP Driver (AGP 3.0 Support)" and
"VIA INF Driver 2.20A"
Do I need to install all of these?.

You particularly want the 'inf' bit - thats the 'chipset patch', the other bits are 'ancillarly' but generally almost always install them (the IDE driver can sometimes prove problematical with some software, as these are 'busmastering' drivers which enable DMA {& make things go a whole lot faster, once installed these can be switched back to pio mode if necessary} but really windows is only 'guaranteed' with PIO type drivers which is much slower).

The chipset patch or lack of it, is definately 'in play' whenever we have IRQ issues or any code 10 (no resource available) type message, as it affects this 'sharing business' with IRQs

[Febtober]

After install those Hyperion drivers, I was actually able to get the drivers fully installed. I rebooted my system, but I still have no sound. Trying to play a sound file still tells me I need to install proper drivers. I'm going to try and reinstall them, although I doubt that's going to help.


So close...

edit: nope, didn't help :(

[confus-ed]

After install those Hyperion drivers, I was actually able to get the drivers fully installed. I rebooted my system, but I still have no sound. Trying to play a sound file still tells me I need to install proper drivers.

Can you tell me what device manager is reporting please..& is everything working ok now (but the s/c) ?

& between any uninstall/re-install of the driver make sure you get any ancillary stuff in add remove programs it might leave behind (these are meant to control the s/c after the drivers present but sometimes if the driver isn't being accepted they can then hamper it when it would)

[Febtober]

Can you tell me what device manager is reporting please..& is everything working ok now (but the s/c) ?

& between any uninstall/re-install of the driver make sure you get any ancillary stuff in add remove programs it might leave behind (these are meant to control the s/c after the drivers present but sometimes if the driver isn't being accepted they can then hamper it when it would)

Well I was able to successfully install the drivers that one time, then once I restarted and tried to reinstall them, the computer has gone back to locking up during installation. Reinstalling those Hyperion drivers didn't help.

I reinstalled XP hopeing that would help, but it didn't. Now I'm also not able to use my USB CD Burner. It shows up in device manager, but says that it can't load the device driver for it. I bought a new generic CD-ROM drive, but I get the same problem. Device Manager sees it, and it shows up when the computer boots up, but My Computer won't display it.

I was just going to reformat my main hard drive and reinstall Windows, but now I'm not sure if I'd be able to reinstall Windows after formatting if I can't get these CD drives to work.

[confus-ed]

Well I was able to successfully install the drivers that one time, then once I restarted and tried to reinstall them, the computer has gone back to locking up during installation. ...

You have to make sure that after any un-successful attempt at installing you completely get rid of any trace of the drivers for the audigy .. or you go around & around..

Re-installing windows over the top has now set you right back where you started .. When windows ships its doesn't necessarily have all the drivers it needs, & thats why you apply chipset patches to correct windows 'misconception' - the problem with your USB is related to this business of windows 'needing' chipset patches to sort out all the IRQ stuff right.

[Febtober]

Did a repair reinstall of Windows (without a reformat), and got everything back to relative normal. Still crashing when trying to install the damn drivers. I've backed up my main drive onto a storage drive and I think I'm just going to reformat and reinstall. We'll see...

If that doesn't work, ugh, time to buy a new motherboard I suppose.

edit: I was able to get the drivers installed in safe mode, but the computer hangs while loading XP when I have to reboot it, and I have to select "Last Known Good Configuration" in order to get it to load, albeit once more without sound.

edit 2: As far as I can tell, I've successfully installed the drivers. I was able to get them installed without the computer crashing and a message popped up telling me they were installed correctly and I just needed to reboot. Rebooted, still no sound and winamp is still bitching about having bad sound drivers.

[merlinsghost]

Go to soundblaster.com and download the latest web drivers.

What I've found most often with Creative products is that their
CD drivers never work properly.

Try this direct link: http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?Product_ID=4915&dlcentric=8060&Product_Name=Sound+Blaster+Audigy+2+ZS&OSName=Windows+XP

Also, make sure your on-board sound (if any) is disabled in your motherboard's BIOS. If you have other PCI cards installed as well (NIC, modem), try moving them to different slots then installing your soundcard. That might straighten out any IRQ/System resource conflicts that may be arrising.

If that doesn't work, I'd suggest sending it back for a replacement. Reinstalling Windows may work, but I doubt it's a sure thing in this case.

Good luck.