SoundBlaster troubleshooting

Troubleshooting SB:

1) The installation of the Sound Blaster Audigy is locking at 97%:
a) try removing and reinstalling the drivers using the CTZAPXX.EXE utility which is on the installation CD
b) Disable any programs running in the background before Installing
c) Check with your PC manufacturer that you are using the latest BIOS for your PC

2) MFC42.dll caused an Invalid Page Fault in module kernel32. dll:
a) Windows 2000:
Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop
Open default drive where Windows is installed e.g. C:/ Windows 2000 /Program files/Creative/SB Live 2000/ Playcenter 2/ MFC42.Dll
Rename the file MFC42.Dll to MFC42.old
Open default drive where Windows is installed e.g. C:/Win NT/System32/ MFC42.Dll
Copy the file MFC42.Dll (right click and select copy from drop down menu)
Paste file into the C:/ Windows 2000 /Program files/Creative/SB Live 2000/ Playcenter 2 directory
b) WIndows '98/Me:
Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop
Open default drive where Windows is installed e.g. C:/ Program files/Creative/SB Live / Playcenter 2/ MFC42.Dll
Rename the file MFC42.Dll to MFC42.old
Open default drive where Windows is installed e.g. C:/Windows/MFC42.Dll
Copy the file MFC42.Dll (right click and select copy from drop down menu)
Paste(right click and select Paste from drop down menu) file into the C:/ Program files/Creative/SB Live / Playcenter 2/ directory
c) Extract the file MSVCRT.DLL from the Windows Installation CD by selecting Start - Find - Files or Folders and type MSVCRT.DLL in the Named field and browse to your CD Rom drive. Copy this file into your C:/Windows/System directory (C: represents default drive where Windows is installed
d) Try installing Microsoft Libraries Update, SPEU.EXE.

3) MSGSRV32 error in DEVCON32.dll when starting Windows (This error message sometimes occurs when Creative Launcher loads or when restarting Windows. Non Creative mixing devices such as wave device for modems, mixer applications for multi- function video cards such as Hauppauge's WinTV Go card, or systems using ATI's Multimedia Centre software can cause this problem. You can check to see if you have non Creative Audio applications installed on your system by selecting Start - Settings - Control Panel - Multimedia - Devices):
a) Disable the Creative Soundblaster hardware . Reinstall the non Creative software. If you are using ATI's Multimedia's Centre, please upgrade to Version 7.x . Re-enable the Soundblaster hardware . Restart your system
b) Select Start - Run and type ASD and click OK. From the list select Starting a Device => Creative SB Live! Series and click on OK. Choose OK to reboot the PC.

4) How to reduce Bus Noise with PCI soundcards:
a) In Windows 98SE/ME:
Select Start - Settings - Control Panel then double-click System
Select Device Manager
Double-click the Generic IDE Disc Type (xx) entry found under Disc Drives and click Settings.
Uncheck the DMA tick box and then click on OK
In Windows 2000/XP:
Select Start - (Settings) - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager.
Click on View and select Devices by connection.
Locate your Hard drive(s) and double click it (them) to open its (their) property-sheet(s).
This allows you to find which drive is connected as Device 0 or Device1
Right-click on the IDE Channel to which the drive is connected (in our example "Primary IDE Channel"), select Properties and Advanced Settings.
Click on the Transfer Mode drop-down menu shown under the device number that represents the location of your drive. Select PIO Only
b) Update the PC's BIOS.
In the BIOS, ensure that DMA mode for IDE devices is not Enabled but set to AUTO
In the BIOS, try setting the PCI Latency Timer to 0; the default is 32. If this value if not present in your BIOS, please check here
In the BIOS If you have the option Memory Hole setting try changing this from Disabled to 15M-16M
Enable Enhanced Chip Performance in the BIOS. (This may not be present on all machines)
Move the card to a different PCI slot, away from components such as the hard drive, processor and graphics card.
Ensure your cables are tidied up and properly insulated
Update the Chipset drivers.The following are the links to driver download pages of major chipset manufactures: VIA/ETEQ, AMD, Intel, SIS. Ali
If there is a PCI Graphic Card installed, ensure that both this and the soundcard are not sharing the same IRQ
Try lowering the Hardware Acceleration of the Graphic Card *
If the system has an AGP slot, it may be necessary to use an AGP graphic card instead of PCI.

5) System crashing during the installation of Creative audio cards:
a) press the CTRL + ALT + DELETE buttons simultaneously and close all programs apart from Explorer and Systray
b) Virus scanners may also cause the problem (disable)

6) USB microphone for a USB camera disabled after installing the SB Live!:
a) Select - Start - Programs - Windows Explorer and Browse to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32. Select the file VMCPD.VXD, then right-mouse click and choose Rename. Rename the file VMCPD.VXD to VMCPD.OLD. Then restart Windows 98.

7) 'SUreg create key failed' when installing SB Live! software:
a) To enter your registry Select Start - Run and type REGEDIT and press OK. Then remove the following:
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Creative Tech\Creative Launcher
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Creative Tech\Creative PlayCenter
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Creative Tech\Creative Rhythmania
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Creative Tech\Sound Blaster Live!
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Creative Tech\Sound Blaster Live! Experience.
HKEY_Local_Machine\Enum\PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_00211102&REV_03 (There will only be one entry starting with VEN_1102&DEV_0002. but if more are found remove them also) This key will remove the entries in Device Manager.
When these entries are removed from the registry, remove the software installed for the SB Live! via Start - Settings - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs. Reboot and repeat the installation of the soundcard and software.
If you find you have yellow exclamation signs in your Device Manager after the installation then reinstall the drivers and software again.

8) System fails to start after installation of SB Live!:
a) Check the allocation of your interrupt requests (IRQ's) by doing the following :
Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager - Computer - ensure you have resources available.
Try moving the card to another free PCI slot or swapping the position of your cards. Try removing other non-essential cards to resolve the conflict.

9) System hangs during Windows startup:
a) Restart Windows. When you see the message 'Starting Windows 9X ...' press the F8 key. Select 'Step By Step Confirmation'. Say yes to all entries except C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\SBLIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM. This prevents the DOS driver from loading. Restart your system. If you do not need support for legacy DOS games, and especially if you need to free up some resources, you can disable your DOS drivers as follows: Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager. Double click on 'Creative Miscellaneous Devices'. Select Creative SB16 Emulation. and then click on Properties. In the General tab, check the option called 'Disable in this hardware profile'

10) My soundcard is not detected in my system:
a) The card is not inserted firmly into the PCI slot
b) The BIOS in your machine needs to be updated
c) The card is faulty

11) SB live! Setup will not run or not run completely:
a) In the BIOS page entitled æFeature SetupÆ is an option labeled æBoot Virus DetectionÆ (disable)
b) BIOS updates
c) Try uninstalling or disabling any anti virus software such as Norton

12) Blue screen (page fault 0E EMU 10K1) error upon installation of an SB Live! card in an Intel Pentium III system:
a) Update drivers
b) Regedit.exe --> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Creative\Tech\DeviceInfo\PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0002 . Rightclick anywhere in the right pane area and select New - String Value from the dropdown menu . Name the value MMX, rightclick it and select Modify from the dropdown menu. Enter the value of 1. Click on OK and close down the Regedit window.
c) Restart the system in Command Prompt mode by pressing F8 at start up. Delete EMU10K1.VXD in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Restart the system. Enter MMX=ö1ö in the Registry. Install the updated drivers.

(-* Source from CREATIVE FAQs *-)