Devildog

Well, you a kind of stuck.. Either you can stick with the Microsoft provided drivers and not have all the features you are used to, or , you can go with the Liveware 3.0 For Windows 2000 from creative, available for download at www.sblive.com . Here's the catch - the drivers from creative are absolutely horrible under windows 2000.. When they work right, it sounds fine, but wow, under most games, forget it , you might was well listen to a cat with it's tail put into a light socket that has been turned on with no bulb in it.. I gave up on my live and gave it to my ex-wife in favor of a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card.. creative's drivers for windows 2000 are plagued with problems that literally thousands upon thousands of people have complained about, but yet, creative refuses to acknowledge there are even issues. All I can say is, good luck! Devildog

No, I bought the Santa Cruz, made by turtle beach. I do believe the manufacturer of the chip on the card is Cirrus Logic, but I could be mistaken. Games under Win2k do sound a little different from the Santa Cruz than the Live did in Win98, but that's not a bad thing. In fact, some of the stuff actually sounds a little more realistic (Nascar 4 is a prime candidate!) All in all, I am very happy with the card and it's performance. Good bye creative, good ridence Win98/ME.

Well, I did it - I bought a Santa Cruz today, and Well, after installing the Santa Cruz and the drivers, then all the games I had problems with - guess what - everything sounds PERFECT!!!! Definately $79.95 well spent!!!! Take that creative!!

Well, after installing the Santa Cruz and the drivers, then all the games I had problems with - guess what - everything sounds PERFECT!!!! Definately $79.95 well spent!!!! I really don't think it is my job to help out other people with the SBLive, that's creative's job (they dont even rate the capital C anymore). They obviously don't give a crap about their customers, so, there is only 2 possible solutions - A) Live with it, or Get yourself a card that was made by people who give a damn. DD

Well, after thinking about it all week, and finding absolutely nothing but complaints for Win2k/Live combo, I reformatted my hard drive in preparation for a trip to CompUsa tomorrow to pick up a Santa Cruz - HASTA LA VISTA, CREATIVE

Hell, if I wanted to use a sound card without EAX, I would have bought a cheap sucker for $10-$15 from the computer show about oooh say 7-8 months ago, which was about when I lost my cool and became enraged about Creative not giving a damn about it's customers. Time to go over to CompUsa and pick up a Santa Cruz I think..

I think anyone who uses the SBLive under Win2k for anything other than "strictly business" has issues.. I have seen time and time again problems like crackling, studdering, weird noises during games, and a whole plethora of other issues with this sound card. I myself am running it in a Microstar K7T-Pro A-2 , and yes, I realize there were issues with VIA and the SBLive, but I was not being impacted by any of those (normally was a problem when trying to move files from one hard drive to another, system would totally hang). Additionally, Microstar has released a new BIOS update that specifically says it has addressed the SBLive issues, and VIA has released new 4 in 1 drivers that say they have addressed it as well - but still, under Win2k(Barebones, SP1, AND SP2)the sound is total trash . It just seems that creative labs just doesnt care about gamers or people who do anything that has to do with entertainment under Win2k - just look at their support web page... They have the whole thing posted on who should/should not switch to Win2k. I may be reading between the lines, but it seems that this is their way of saying "If want our stuff to run right with your stuff, stick with Win98 or ME".. Here it is , copied and pasted from their FAQ page.. {BEGIN PASTE} My system is currently running on Windows 95 or Windows 98. Should I upgrade to Windows 2000? This depends on the tasks you commonly perform on the PC. It is better to retain your current OS if you are relying on: a. The best support for working with music and video b. The best support for PC gaming c. Easy home networking and Internet setup {END PASTE} Like I said, yes, I am reading between the lines, but sometimes to best information IS between those lines! I believe it has been somewhere in the area of a year since Liveware 3 is been released for Win2k - well, I think it's about time Liveware 4 comes out, or at least an update for 3 that WORKS!!! Seems that everything they are releasing these days is for the 5.1 series of cards - maybe Creative is just following the trend that they took with all their other cards, but it seems that the message they are sending out is, "If you want support and updates, you have to keep buying the newest products." Don't get me wrong now, I absolutely LOVE the performance of my SBLive value under Win98SE (and WinME , when I have the patience to deal with all it's quirks), but come on people, WinXP is going to be out before too long, and if they haven't fixed the problem with the Live under the 2000 kernal, well, I am tossing it out the damned window and buying something else from another company that gives a crap about it's reputation and it's customers, and not just about making mo' money! I know the games I play run exceptionally well under 2000 - now if I can just turn on my speakers without cringing everytime I hear a sound! Nevermind me , I'm just ranting!!

I have the same sound card in 2 Athlon /KT133 based systems running the same NIC (Realtek 8139 based). I don't have that problem, however, in some games I have a weird crackling noise in the background (For instance, Nascar 4 - it sounds almost like my card is dragging a chain behind it every so often - never heard anything like that under 98SE or ME <GAG>).. So, as far as it being the NIC, I dont think that's the problem.

Well, you know, it might be a little bit to your benefit if you told us what kind of problem you were having, what kind of hardware you are running, you know, things of that nature.. 8)

I have had similiar experiences, even with brand new CDRom drives. What it seems to be is a slight incompatibility with some VIA Chipsets (in the case i had, an old MVP3 chipset). It would do this if I turned on DMA and the CDRom was not actually a DMA compatible drive.. Turn off DMA, might help!

My mother's PC has a Digital Research DRSCAN 30EPP (AKA Dynotak 6p/SF-600E2), and well, it's time to reload her machine for the year. I was considering installing Windows 2000 on her machine, but this is the only device she has that I have not found Win2k specific drivers for. Has anyone tested the WinNT drivers for this scanner on Win2k? I so, please reply! If at all possible, I want to set her up with 2000 for the added stability that we have all come to respect and love. Thanks, Devildog ------------------ Success is a journey, not a destination.

Actually, per Creative Labs tech support, the Liveware3 is NOT 100% compatible with WinME, and they intend to do a release that is fully compatible very soon. I havent tried them, but Gateway has just published unified WDM drivers for the Creative Labs SB Live, supposed to work on 2000/9x/ME, you might want to look into them. http://www.gateway.com/support/product/drivers/sound/6001128a.shtml Devildog

Just this week I upgraded from a Voodoo3 2000AGP to a Leadtek Winfast GeForce 2 GTS 32MB board. Since the upgrade, I am running into some buzzing noise in some games (most importantly, Rogue Spear/Urban Ops/Covert Ops). Anyone else experiencing the equation of SBLive+Liveware3+GeForce2+Newest Detenator drivers+Windows ME=Buzzy, NASTY sound? If so, please email me at JWHI@Dictaphone.com

I have a suggestion - you could make a partition on the C drive that is very small, say 20 megs, use that as your boot partition, and make it either Fat16 or Fat32.. Then , next 2 partitions make you Win9x and Win2k partitions. During the install process, just change the default location for Windows to go into. I use this configuration on my system , and it works very well.. Also, if you ever have to reload one of the operating systems from scratch, just reformat the partition that it is on - just leave that C drive alone! And, of course, if you have room left on the hard drive, make a small partition at the end of your drive to use as an archive, and leave that one Fat16 or 32. I use TweakUI on both my OSs to direct all my favorites there, I install my ICQ to a folder on that drive as well - that way, if I ever have to lose my OS, I dont lose all my other stuff. Oh yeah, and I dump anything there I might not want to download again, such as drivers, hard to find software/tools, and I put Partition Magic for DOS there in the event that things really go wrong, so I just boot off a Win98 boot floppy, go to my archive drive, and make any partition changes that way - no OS required. Hope this helps! Devildog

I too am seeing the usual memory leaks, which I am counteracting with MemTurbo - seems to keep the system running more smoothly, just as it does in Win2k and Win98SE. Funny though, on my Voodoo3 2000 AGP, using the exact same drivers as I do under 98SE (latest/not-neccesarily greatest beta build), I am actually getting better performance and frame rates while playing games (or at least under Redstorm's Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear and it's mission pack, Urban Operations using WinME..Go figure.. ANYHOW, if you havent tried MemTurbo, you may want to give it a shot - i've been using it for over a year now and it has help things a lot on the 9x series, as well as anything NT Based... Devildog

Spacey, I personally have not done an "upgrade" per-se, but coming from a fresh installation of Win2k then immediately applying the service pack after I get all my drivers in did not seem to have any negative effects once I installed my software, in fact, the system seemed to have a little more "pep in it's step" if ya know what I mean. I do have one GAME that it fixed some issues in, but it seems to have also broke my ability to stay connected to an online or networked game for more than 10-15 minutes, but thats about it. Oh wait, yes, my BlackIce defender I had to get an updated version for as well.. Hope this helps, at least a little. Devildog

I dont think there is a way to BOOT from an NTFS partition, but there is a 3rd party driver that will allow you to READ-ONLY from an NTFS partition. The READ-ONLY version is freeware, but there is a version that you can purchase that will allow read AND write.. Check it out at WWW.SYSINTERNALS.COM.. Devildog

Well, looks like the SP1 fixed a problem with Redstorm's Rainbow 6 Rogue Spear, and mission pack for it Urban Operations. Fixed a problem many people were having where they had to double click a mouse button to get it to register, HOWEVER, I would like to know if anyone else is experiencing the problem I am. Under Windows ME and 98SE, and Win2k prior to SP1, I have no problems maintaining connection to a game, whether it be via the MSN gaming zone or a direct IP game, whether it be someone all the way around the world, or on my local Road Runner node. NOW, post SP1, I drop connections constantly. I cannot stay connected to a game server for more than 10-15 minutes. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I thought it may have been a RoadRunner issue, but I rebooted into WinME and had no trouble, swapped back, and the same story all over again. I tried again with the same results over the next 2 days, with the exact same results.. Has anyone else experienced any similiar issues? Thanks Devildog ------------------ Success is a journey, not a destination.

Try using CuteFTP.. Every time I am disconnected it re-connects and tries to resume the file. Works well under 2000, ME, 98 and 98SE