Soundblaster Live! hardware problems?

Hi!
I have a Soundblaster Live! Value card since.. 3 years or so.. and it doesn't seem to work anymore.
Well as the OS is Windows: I plug the card in, and the windows drivers automatically install for the card.
Note that if i want to install the latest drivers from creative, it says that a soundblaster card is not available in my system.
Anyway I try to play something:
- the directsound buffer fills up, but it won't play. the buffer doesn't empty, it just stops there after it's filled up without any sound.
- if i try with std waveout ( i don't know how it works ), this one plays (at least winamp for example keeps feeding the buffer) but no sound arises.
- dxdiag doesn't seem to realize that no sound is coming out at all, when i test directsound or directmusic, the usual dialog boxes appear, says that music is playing or did i hear the sound... but nothing..
Note2: it's not a connection problem between the sound card and the speakers.
I tried to test the (electrolit) condensators, well all of them, except one, the biggest which is located near the border of the card, where the connectors are, are working.
^^ disregard this ? No, I'm not an electronics expert, maybe i didn't even measure them righ, or that one is too big for my measuring device.
Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

PS. I'll give it a shot under fbsd later today, though i doubt it would make a difference.

--
nyo