I recently bought a Sound Blaster 5.1 from a Japanese retail store. Since the packaging is Japanese, it doesn't specify whether the card is Sound Blaster Live! or Audigy, but I when I log in Vista tells me that there was a problem with Sound Blaster Live! The problem itself is that as soon as Vista begins to boot (the screen with the loading bar), it tends to go to a blue screen, do a memory dump, and restart. Sometimes this doesn't happen, and it rarely occurs more than twice in a row. Normal Sound Blaster 5.1 drivers claim that they don't detect the card in my computer. Any suggestions other than getting a new card?

First of all, when your PC starts normally ( you say it does, sometimes ), disable any program that belongs to the sound card and that does start with Windows. This way you may be able to eliminate Windows boot problem that happens from time to time. Then you can try to sort out the problem, i.e. uninstall drivers and the hardware in Device Manager and reboot Windows. I may also suggest you raise a question to the technical support staff of Creative ( the sound card maker ) company. Other than that, there are programs that detect the hardware in your PC. But you can also do it with Device Manager provided that the card is identified properly by Windows, I mean, if there is no exclamation or red-cross mark besides the sound card. Hope the above helps. Regards SuatCINI

Sound Blaster Cards have a model designation SBxxxx, are you saying yours is devoid of this label printed on the card ?? Also be aware that several of the SB Live Family do not have drivers available at the Creative Support site! Lastly you did not state wether you have vista32 or 64.............

Suatcini, I established that disabling the device called "Sound Blaster 5.1" in the device manager solves the problem, but this leads to the obvious issue that the card no longer works. As far as I can tell the card doesn't have any other programs running. I could try Creative tech support, but since I'm in Japan with a Japanese card, and my Japanese is quite poor, I'm not sure they would help me. WebsWonder, I don't see a product designation like you mentioned, but the Japanese packaging is quite different than that of US cards. I could take a picture of it if you think that would help. Also, I'm using Vista32. Sorry for not mentioning that.

After a bit more research, I've decided that the card is neither Live! nor Audigy. It's simply Sound Blaster 5.1 and is either no longer supported by the US site, or was never made available in America. I guess I'll just try to scour the Japanese site for a Vista driver unless anyone has a better idea... I found the pic below on Google images. It's the same card. I can take a shot of the back of the box if that would be helpful. http://techno-st.net/2007/01/11/IMG...

The PIC shows a model number to the left of Sound Blaster..........

Try the follwing link and download the #1 driver: http://tr.creative.com/support/down... I do not know if it works but you do not lose by trying. If it does not work, just uninstall it. In some cases, you can even install XP drivers. They work for most hardware to my knowledge except for display adapters. Hope this helps. Regards suatcini