I've had this board for a couple of years, and it worked fine on W98. When I went to XP it self-installed, and I thought it was working ok. I began to notice some funny ringing, especially on piano music. Being as I am now officially 'older than dirt' I just figured it was my ears. But I just bought some new speakers and a new boom box to play the CD's I burn and it sounds so clean and beautiful, that I knew something was wrong with the SB. (No pun intended) I began searching for drivers since this board predates XP. Guess what? Microsoft even says that the drivers included in XP will not work with Sound Blasters! It recommended I go to the Creative site and download the latest drivers. Did that. Installed them. Guess what? It still sounds like crap. Plus, I don't have the Demo or the Rythmania or the Keytar or the Play Center or the Launcher. They show in Programs but nothing ever happens when I try to run them. OK, here's my question, after all that: Do any of you sound experts out there have a clue for me that will allow me to get this antique working like it did in W98? It's really a good board and all I use it for is monitoring and some playback of CD's. I convert old LP's to CD (and some cassette tapes) so I need to be able to make sure the sound is truly high fidelity. I know, there are probably better cards out there, but this is what I have right now, and I am sure that someone has already solved this problem. I have checked the archives, so far without much success. Thanks in advance. ;) Bob

I wanted to update this post, since I have found SOME information, at least, and it may help some other poor soul out there having a similar problem. I went back to the Creative site and actually registered as a user, and browsed through the forums and BOY, did I find lot's of people with the same problem. Creative has a big problem. XP apparently threw them a huge curve. But I did find a way to get the new XP drivers installed (I hope) and I printed off two sets of directions to completely remove all the CT software and then get the new stuff installed. So, I recommend that everyone having trouble with getting the older SB products to work go to the Creative.com site and do as I did. The information is there. I got it straight from the moderator. I'll post back here after I get it figured out and working. I hope. Bob

Personally I would lose XP and keep the soundblaster. You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

Hi GX1 Man. You know, that idea has crossed my mind, too. I do like XP for the most part, but not when it won't let me use something that worked great under W98. And, to find out that even MS tells me that they can't make it work, either! That's a bummer. I do have the notes and KB from Creative, if I ever get the time and nerver to try it. I don't want to blow XP away. Maybe this weekend I'll try it. Have a great day! Bob