My SB Live! volume is unbearably loud in XP. I went into the Sounds control panel and set that volume to its lowest level. Also went to the volume control in the taskbar and did the same. That makes it somewhat tolerable, but it is still TOO LOUD.

On the lowest volume setting, I should just barely be able to hear it. Instead, it sounds like it's turned up to at least 6 or 7 on a scale of 10.

I installed the latest drivers at soundblaster.com, and still the problem persists.

What's up?

There is a knob,that says volume.
No, really check that your cables are
plugged into the right places.

Like I said...I have the master volume almost turned ALL THE WAY DOWN. It is on the FIRST NOTCH. It is still too loud.

If you mean the internal cable that goes from the CD-ROM drive to the SB Live!, yeah, that's plugged in fine. And my headphones are plugged into the green-coded jack on the SB Live. And the control panel settings are set for "headphones."

OK.

Generally, there is a volume control knob on your speakers.

I'm quite sure that if you turn the volume down using the speakers volume control knob your problem will be solved.

Mark has a very valid point. I too had a problem with the volume output being 'too loud' for the headphones.
I had to set the control panel's master volume setting to only 4%, as anything above that was far too loud!
For various compatibility, and internet privacy reasons, I've now gone back to Windows 98SE. The volume setting in the Liveware control panel is now at 31%.

I also had problems with XP relating to either the CPU, or the power supply's fan speed. My PC sounded like an aeroplane for most of the time!!
Now I've gone back to Windows 98SE, and the fan operates at its normal pace again (MUCH quieter!!). The temperatures of the: CPU; motherboard; and power supply are at their optimum levels.

Strange... but true!

PS:

One solution could be: buy a pair of headphones with its own volume-control dial.

PPS:

Before anyone anything about my PC being 'not worthy' of XP...

I have a 1.2GHz Athlon, 512Mb CAS-2 RAM, GeForce 3...etc.

My advice to people is that they shouldn't bother to 'upgrade' to XP until Micro$oft release a service pack for it!!
Even then XP is still a pain in the arse ('ass' in American English)- all those useless 'services' to turn off etc! Unless you're experiencing problems with Windows 98/ME- why bother??
All of my games work brilliantly- and there isn't the stupid refresh-rate problem that requires a 3rd-party application to be run in order to fix it! Wake-up NVidia!!

All of that money for a new GUI!! Hahahaha!

OK folks...I don't want to sound ungrateful for getting replies...BUT...

It's not the damn volume control, OK??

Yes, I know speakers have their own volume control knob.
No, I don't have speakers -- I am using headphones.
No, my headphones don't have any volume control of their own.
No, I'm not going to buy a volume control for them.
Yes, I have my master volume control slider turned almost all the way down, to about the first notch.
No, I don't think I should HAVE to turn it all the way down to the first notch!

And to Rob: I like XP. It works great. Never crashes. A hell of a lot more stable than Win9x. It runs my music apps and games better. It allowed me to overclock my system further than with Win9x, squeezing an extra 47Mhz out the processor to go at 980Mhz instead of 933, whereas with Win9x I would have gotten blue screens at that speed. The way NOT to respond to a request for help with a specific problem is to post a post like yours, basically saying, "XP is crap. Why did you bother in the first place? You were a fool to waste your money on it. And now you're having problems? Ha! I laugh in your face while bragging about my system and the fact that everything works brilliantly on it in Win9x."

Well, goody goody for you, Rob. Hey, everything works brilliantly for me in XP too. Except for the sound. That's the ONLY problem. It works too -- it's just too loud, that's all.

The problem is that the volume SCALE is off kilter. If I have the master volume control on zero, the sound is off (predictably). If it's on notch #1, the sound is what I would normally expect from notch #3 or 4. If I slide the slider up to notch #2, the sound is now unbearable -- on a level that I would normally expect from notch #7 or 8. So the volume SCALE is what is messed up. I shouldn't have to have the volume control slider set all the way down to the first notch in order to get a volume level that doesn't give me a headache.

This never happened with my old MX300 (Vortex2-based) sound card -- even in XP.

I figure it must be a SB Live driver problem.

I was trying to help, but obviously you're too immature to appreciate that.

I'm glad that I'm not you, that's all I can say! You're just the type of individual that probably got his lunch money stolen from him in the school yard!
Unresolved issues Marky-boy??

Learn how to be polite to people before you start blubbering like a little schoolgirl on this messageboard!
Carry on, and you'll be listening to that Sound Blaster Live... through a straw!!

"Carry on, and you'll be listening to that Sound Blaster Live... through a straw!!"

Couldn't have put it better myself! Hehe

OK, I apologize. Your response came after I received a ton of other responses from various Usenet people, saying in essence, "You know that little knob on yer speakers? That yer volume control, fool!" and other similar remarks. Talk about immature? Those idiots really got on my nerves. I mean, I thought I outlined my problem pretty succinctly, and yet I got at least 20 of those kinds of responses.

I'm sorry I took you as another one of them. I see now that you were just trying to help. Sorry to have unloaded my ire for the others on you.

If I may add something to this, though -- one of the reasons I thought you were another one of the "jerks" was largely due to your "All of that money for a new GUI!! Hahahaha!" comment, which I took as an insult, as in "what a sucker to have bought XP! Hahahaha, I laugh in your face."

That might not have been what you meant, but it sure came across that way. So I tended to respond in kind.

Sorry about that if you didn't mean it that way.