help getting sound blaster live! card working under win98

[Soviet Conscript]

for some reason i can't seem to get my sound blaster live! sound card working on my win98 pc. i know that card and pci slots i'm useing work. i'm running win98 SE as well. i also have the offical SB cd with drivers on it and the cd states its for win 2k/98se/xp/nt

every time i try to install the drivers the installer starts up and then it claims it cannot find any creative hardware installed on the pc and instillation quits. i also had the same issue with a 98 pc i built some time ago and just gave up on using the Live! card.

something stupid and simple i'm missing here?

[NayusDante]

There are several different versions of the Live. The drivers for the retail card do not work on, say, the Dell value edition. Your best bet is to download the different versions from Creative's site and try them until you find the right one. Then, just use the discs to install the application suite, unless you can get everything from Creative's site...

[Kitsune Sniper]

... dammit, I remember seeing a website that was collecting ALL of these drivers for posterity. I wish I had the address handy but I think I saw it at Vogons...

[Jorpho]

Yes, I also remember seeing SB Live driver CDs at Vogons.

If all else fails, you can try to dig up an old version of the KX Project drivers that work under 98. (I think they exist. I could be wrong.)

[FxMercenary]

if its the Sound blaster card that came with the PC, the drives you need are the Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V. You can download them on many sites, just google SB Pci64V

[Soviet Conscript]

i just ended up getting a cheap SB live 5.1 off ebay with the install disc. it started installing fine then half way through install the dvd drive crapped out. its always something with these dinosaurs. so i guess its a trip to the flea market tommarow to try and scoop up an old drive for $5

[Edmond Dantes]

Dude, why do you need an old DVD drive? It's been awhile since I've had to replace one but in my experience, a DVD drive is a DVD drive as far as your computer cares.

[NayusDante]

A lot of the drives on the shelf at your local PC shop are going to be SATA interface. I'm sure you could still find a new IDE drive though. Still, probably won't be under $20. Flea market is your best bet.

[Soviet Conscript]

Dude, why do you need an old DVD drive? It's been awhile since I've had to replace one but in my experience, a DVD drive is a DVD drive as far as your computer cares.

i only said that cause i can pick up an old one for like $3 compaired to a new one for $15. also all the newer ones i see are black and i would prefer that off white color that all pcs seemed to be in the 90's.

i did end up going to the flea market today but to my suprise the guy had no dvd drives. i do have a number of cd drives though so i wonder if i would even need to bother with the dvd drive. basicly this thing is only for games from 98-2000ish so were games on dvd even prevalent then? did a search for my own curiousity for first pc game on dvd but couldn't find any info.

[Diatribal Deity]

Tex Murphy: Overseer (1998)

"Overseer was one of the first games to utilize DVD technology. The game came on five CDs or one DVD, packaged in the same box together. The advantage to the DVD version was the absence of any disc swapping and the higher quality video files used. Other than on those key points, gameplay remained identical in the two versions."

[Jorpho]

Silent Steel comes to mind, mostly because I vaguely recall reading that it was slightly incompatible with ATI's drivers at the time.

also all the newer ones i see are black and i would prefer that off white color that all pcs seemed to be in the 90's.

It's not terribly difficult to pry off the face plate. I'm not so sure you could necessarily interchange it with the plate from another drive, but you could always repaint it after taking it off.