Boot Problem... Audigy 2ZS related??

[blood_44]

Im in the process of upgrading a number of components on my pc and the sound card happens to be one of them. I finished the installation on everything and plugged in my hard drive from my old system and everything booted flawlessly and operated great. I went about the task of installing the new drivers for my new components and didnt seem to have any problems till i got to the soundcard. I have the Audigy 2ZS Platinum. I installed the drivers and software and restarted the computer and..... nothing. Everytime i try to boot it gets to a certain point before it will attempt to load windows and then restart on its own. i cannot boot from that harddrive any longer. I cant even boot in safe mode with the drivers disabled. I just dont get it, absolutly nothing changed from when the system was operating wonderfully to when it didnt expect for the soundcard's driver and software installation.

sry for the lengthy post, but i would really appreciate some information and/or advice on how i could fix this.

~~i also tried booting from another drive and removing the software from the problematic drive... didnt work.

and i would also like to avoid reformating the problematic drive and doing a fresh install.....

Thanks in advance

-tc

 

[earnhardt2]

The easiest way to try to fix it would be to use your operating system cd and if you are using Windows XP you could try doing a repair install. It would save the software on the computer that way.

 

[waylander]

I'm assuming that if you take out the sound card it will boot normally?

Can you list the rest of your system specs please?

 

[blood_44]

thx for the replies, but unfortunatly no it wont boot with the card left out which confused me even more. but like i said the problem only started after the drivers and software were installed for the soundcard and restarted.

system specs:
AMD 3800 X2 (stock)
A8N SLI mobo
Mushkin 2 x 1gb DDR400
eVGA 7800GT
Maxtor 100GB SATA
WD 120GB SATA
Thermaltake 500w p/s
Tai Chi case w/ Big Water cooling

and the damn Audigy 2ZS Platinum

thanks for any help, im at my limit when it comes to software issues...

 

[halcyon]

thx for the replies, but unfortunatly no it wont boot with the card left out which confused me even more. but like i said the problem only started after the drivers and software were installed for the soundcard and restarted.

system specs:
AMD 3800 X2 (stock)
A8N SLI mobo
Mushkin 2 x 1gb DDR400
eVGA 7800GT
Maxtor 100GB SATA
WD 120GB SATA
Thermaltake 500w p/s
Tai Chi case w/ Big Water cooling

and the damn Audigy 2ZS Platinum

thanks for any help, im at my limit when it comes to software issues...

Are you able to boot to safe mode and un-install the drivers?

 

[waylander]

Does it actually POST? Or does it POST then start loading windows and stop?

If you can't get POST at all try clearing the CMOS (motherboard manual will explain this).

On a side topic... @Halcyon

Senn HD595's : GRADO SR325i

Which of those headsets do you prefer?

 

[wallis]

try pressing F8 at startup and choosing 'boot to last known good configuration'

unless you logged in it will take your configuration to the last time you successfully logged on

 

[blood_44]

Are you able to boot to safe mode and un-install the drivers?

no im not, it will not let me enter any mode after pressing F8, even the last known good configuration you mentioned wallis.

Does it actually POST? Or does it POST then start loading windows and stop?

If you can't get POST at all try clearing the CMOS (motherboard manual will explain this).

it looks to me as if its POST'ing and then restarting before it attempts to load windows, and i actually did go ahead and clear the CMOS to see and it didnt make a difference... im stumped on this one.

i have XP on my Raptor however, and it WILL boot off of that just fine. once again im stumped.....

helpin me out with everything huh Way?

thx again guys

-tc

 

[halcyon]

Does it actually POST? Or does it POST then start loading windows and stop?

If you can't get POST at all try clearing the CMOS (motherboard manual will explain this).

On a side topic... @Halcyon

Senn HD595's : GRADO SR325i

Which of those headsets do you prefer?

The Senn HD595's sound great and are comfortable, but the GRADO SR325i's sound better...yet aren't quite as comfortable (they've gotten more comfortable over time)...I find myself in the GRADO's more, yet use the Senn's when long listening sessions are up...or I'll switch from the GRADO's to the Senn's when I start to feel the GRADO's too much. ...but I like the sound of the GRADO's best. They're great for techno, trance, hip-hop...anything where's there's a beat. Yet the Senn's are truly world-class as well. In other terms, the GRADOs put you right on stage with the band, jamm'n...with the Senn's I'd say you're more like in the 2nd or 3rd row of the stadium as far as soundstage.

 

[Bobwhite]

I have the exact same problem. I just installed the card about a week ago, and I can't get into windows. I haven't had time to trouble shoot it until now.

I used my computer the entire day that I first installed the sound card and software. I even rebooted it several times just to make sure everything was okay. A few days later, I tried to start my computer, but it just stayed on the widows start up screen for several minutes before a quick blue screen (not enough time to read error) and reboot. As it went into post, by motherboard warned (through speaker) that there may be a hard disk error and post stopped. Just restarting the computer would only give me the same disk error verbal message and freeze in post. I have to cut off all power for it to reach the windows startup error screen where I have the choice to enter into safe mode or last known etc. All choices end in a quick blue screen (again no time to read error) and reboot.

Like I said, I'm just now trying to find some info to trouble shoot, but I'm betting some of the crappy software that was installed has corrupted the boot sector somehow. I will probably just reinstall window on another hard drive and install only creative drivers and no software.

 

[halcyon]

I have the exact same problem. I just installed the card about a week ago, and I can't get into windows. I haven't had time to trouble shoot it until now.

I used my computer the entire day that I first installed the sound card and software. I even rebooted it several times just to make sure everything was okay. A few days later, I tried to start my computer, but it just stayed on the widows start up screen for several minutes before a quick blue screen (not enough time to read error) and reboot. As it went into post, by motherboard warned (through speaker) that there may be a hard disk error and post stopped. Just restarting the computer would only give me the same disk error verbal message and freeze in post. I have to cut off all power for it to reach the windows startup error screen where I have the choice to enter into safe mode or last known etc. All choices end in a quick blue screen (again no time to read error) and reboot.

Like I said, I'm just now trying to find some info to trouble shoot, but I'm betting some of the crappy software that was installed has corrupted the boot sector somehow. I will probably just reinstall window on another hard drive and install only creative drivers and no software.

Your posts leads me to wonder if its a virtual IRQ resource issue. What happens when you try a different PCI slot?

 

[blood_44]

sorry to hear that you have to be going through this too Bob, it sucks. I honestly cant figure this damn thing out. im not all that great with software in the first place but this one has me more confused than ive been before.

Halcyon, I hope your right and that thats the case. I know that it does the same thing when i dont have the card plugged in at all but i dont know what its going to do if i have it plugged into a different slot. ill give it a whirl and let you know but im not hopeful.

if you have any other suggesstions please let me know

thanks

-tc

 

[ilyar]

got the same problem here. put the card in a different slot. Try running repair with XP and if u can get in windows, uninstall the drivers. reinstall the original drivers that came with the card or try the crappy ones on the creative website. i do a backup of system restore of my pc every couple of days because sometimes it boots and sometimes it crashes to a blue screen. its a bitch but it works lol probably gona get a new card soon anyways

 

[Bobwhite]

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted...but here is what I have found out since...
I moved the card to slot 3 from slot 4... It allowed me to continue into windows, but first ran a check disk. I had multiple corrupted system files that XP allowed to be restored from the OS CD.

I had decided to upgrade my hard disk anyway, so I backed up all my data and did a clean install. This time, I only installed the Audigy 2ZS drivers and none of the included software. After the new install, the sound did not work. I moved the sound card back to slot 4, and guess what.... It's been working fine for the past three weeks. It produces great sound by the way.