Anyone with these troubles with Audigy 2?

Bear with me. My be kinda long.

I recently upgraded my system from Live! Value to Audigy 2 (not platinum etc). The only other new thing was a 17" NEC LCD display, which I don't think is causing problems.

The sound is absolutely wonderful. However, I have problems with programs I didn't have before adding the Audigy. I have random startup lockups (locks up with Windows logo loading), which are less if the speakers are turned on. Also, NAV 2002 AutoProtect was disabled most of the time.

Rise of Nations, which was rock-solid, now crashes to the desktop after a few minutes of play. Windows FS2004 crashes the system randomly (usually when lining up for a landing), with system reboot. Even GTA Vice City is weird (REALLY long wait time after loading a save game)

Attempted fixes:

Uninstall/reinstall NAV 2002....currently uninstalled (holy crap my system is faster without it...but feels weird, like sex without a condom...)

Remove+uninstall+reinstall Audigy 2 drivers+re update.

Live! drivers removed and onboard sound is off too.

Newest Catalyst drivers

System: P4 2.533 Ghz 333 Mhz FSB; RAM --> PC2700 1 GB in two 512 sticks (DS)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Antec TruPower 420
System temps running OK (mid 50's at peak graphical usage). Opened case, all fans work. I also blew minimal dust off all the fans.

Forgot to mention -- one of the FS2004 crashes sent an error report to Microsoft, which then popped up an explorer window (I like this feature), which stated I had a driver problem (it could not specify).

My question...finally...is this: anyone else have issues with Audigy 2 and the above games? Should I wait for updated drivers and hope?

Thanks in advance for any replies. I can give more details if needed.

I just built a system and put in audigy 2. I have had a couple of nasty crashes when playing Q3A. But I have my memory way overclocked. I'm waiting on new mem. Hope it's not the audigy 2.

Cool. Sometimes it's hard to sort things. You just installed somthing and you think thats the reason why. I've been there.

P4 2.4c @ 3.0
ASUS P4P800 dx
Geil pc4000 2.5,3,3,6 250FSB 1:1
Radeon 9500 non-pro
2 Maxtor 60gig 7200rpm 8mb cach in raid 0
SB Audigy 2
Maudio delta 66 with omni studio