Sound Card Install Issue

[Jim Colletti]

I have a Creative Audigy card, and had updated to the latest driver. I
had a problem with a couple of the Creative applications (Creative Task
Bar and AudigyHQ), so I uninstalled them and tried to reinstall from the
installation CD that came with the card, but the setup automatically
tried to reinstall the driver. Now the sound card doesn't work, I can't
install drivers, I get messages saying the card is installed
incorrectly, etc. etc. I also can't restore to a previous restore
point. I've done the following to no avail:

-- Uninstalled the device in the Device Manager, and tried to reinstall
from the card's installation disk.

-- Ran the Creative utility available on the installation disk to do a
full uninstall of the drivers (it's called something like ctapaxx.exe).
This was suggested by one of the Creatives knowledge base articles.

-- Moved the card to another PCI slot.

-- Removed the card entirely, and enabled my motherboard onboard sound.
That audio device also won't install (incidentally the driver and
utility install in each case runs normally, but after the reboot, the
device "mulitmedia audio controller" in Device Manager is reported as
having a problem.)

So it looks like something is hosed in Windows (I have XP Home Edition)
that is causing it to be unable to correctly install any audio device.
Anyone know where to go into the registry to fix this? Alternatively,
is there a way can I run a repair installation of XP once I've already
updated to SP2??

 

[Guest]

When you uninstalled did you try a diffrent pci slot for the card,when you
enabled on-board,did you reconfigure that in the BIOS.You might try those
if you hadnt,also try,letting windows drivers get it going,it has the
drivers,
you can always add creative.

 

[Jim Colletti]

Yes I tried moving the card to a different PCI slot. Not sure what you
mean by reconfiguring the on-board audio in BIOS. As for letting
Windows drivers get it going, I've tried to install drivers, but the
hardware wizard comes up with the automatic or install from a specified
location window, without trying to install any Windows drivers. When I
reboot, Windows starts up with no sound at all. So the issue isn't just
driver installation, there appears to be some device issue as well.
Curiously, the system does recognize the card as an Audigy, but still
can't get it installed correctly. I had originally thought that maybe
there was a PCI driver issue, but my ethernet card works fine in the
slot that the audio card failed in, and the audio card fails in the slot
that the ethernet card worked fine in. I'm confounded! Thanks for the
ideas though.