[zuzuspetals]

I was recently having problems where XP would only boot in safe mode. If booted in normal mode then XP crashed soon after the Windows XP loading screen appeared. I eventually discovered what was causing the crash. I tried disabling Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS in Device Manager/Sound, video and game controllers and could then boot in normal mode. However, none of my sound devices now work. I ran creative diagnostics and it detects the hardware. Each time I try and enable the soundcard again I get an instant crash. Not sure whether to use the Creative option to return to defaults or to download and install a new driver. Could it be that the Audigy board itself is broken? Any recommendations?

Thanks.

[Advertisements]

It's probably just an incompatable driver.

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the tab that says Hardware. Now click on Device Manager.

Click on the + next to the catagory that is called Sound, video and game controllers. You will have to double-click on the one that applies to your sound card. Out of the listed choices, it will NOT be these:

Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Unimodem Full-Duplex Audio Device
Video Codecs

When you find the one that applies to your sound card, double-click on it. Click on the Driver tab and then click on Update Driver. Follow the onscreen prompts to install the latest drivers. If the one you updated is not the right one, try a different one under the Sound, video and game controllers catagory.

You will have to restart your computer after each driver update.


If the updates are unsuccesful, or an update is not found, then you'll have to go to the manufacturer's site to obtain the latest drivers for your sound card. If you need help with that, let me know.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 19 September 2006 - 07:10 AM.

[computerwiz12890]

It's probably just an incompatable driver.

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the tab that says Hardware. Now click on Device Manager.

Click on the + next to the catagory that is called Sound, video and game controllers. You will have to double-click on the one that applies to your sound card. Out of the listed choices, it will NOT be these:

Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Devices
Media Control Devices
Unimodem Full-Duplex Audio Device
Video Codecs

When you find the one that applies to your sound card, double-click on it. Click on the Driver tab and then click on Update Driver. Follow the onscreen prompts to install the latest drivers. If the one you updated is not the right one, try a different one under the Sound, video and game controllers catagory.

You will have to restart your computer after each driver update.


If the updates are unsuccesful, or an update is not found, then you'll have to go to the manufacturer's site to obtain the latest drivers for your sound card. If you need help with that, let me know.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 19 September 2006 - 07:10 AM.

[zuzuspetals]

Thanks. I tried doing what you said but it reported that a more up to date driver could not be found so to stick with what I've got. I did get a more useful error message on blue screen failure when I next tried to enable Audigy. It reported:
Same stop error as before (0x0000007E)
then
ha10kx2k.sys
Address A96D759C base at A969C0000
Datestamp 3f94fbac

I looked up ha10kx2k.sys and one site reported it might be malware which has hijacked a Creative Audio driver (http://www.file.net/...10kx2k.sys.html). Do you think this is likely. I've re-run my anti-virus (up to date AVG free version) and have Windows Defender and Zone Alarm enabled, so seems unlikely.

A search for ha10kx2k.sys on my PC found it in three locations:
C:\windows\system32
- date stamp 21/10/2003, file size 884kb

C:\windows\temp\CRF000\drivers\wdm\wind2k_xp\amd64
- date stamp 8/12/2005, file size 1295b

C:\windows\temp\CRF000\drivers\wdm\wind2k_xp\i386
- date stamp 8/12/2005, file size 737kb

Any ideas? Or should I try installing the latest drivers from Creative?

Thanks for all your help.

David

[computerwiz12890]

Upload that ha10kx2k.sys file from each location to http://virusscan.jotti.org/ You might have to wait a bit, since that server can become very busy at times.

I doubt it will find anything, but if it does turn out to be infected, head over to the malware forum and have them help you to clean your system. Let them know what you've discovered.

But if it isn't infected, it is probably just corrupt. I would go to Creative's website and download the latest drivers for your sound card. If you need help finding them, let me know.

In the meantime, after I take a nice break and can get some free time again, I will research that STOP error further to see what else it could mean.

Keep me informed.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 19 September 2006 - 12:42 PM.

[zuzuspetals]

Thanks very much for all the advice. The files weren't infected so I bit the bullet and went to the Creative website and installed the drivers from there. A few reboots later and glorious sound is restored and no system failures.

Thanks for your help and patience.

[computerwiz12890]

Excellent! Good job!