Hi all,

Here is the latest from Creative:

Thanks for the reply. It looks like you are having an IRQ conflict. The
sound card should be having it's own IRQ number.

Below are some steps to check and change the IRQ of the device.

CHECKING AND CHANGING THE IRQ OF YOUR CARD
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware
2. Click on the Device Manager button to open up Device Manager
3. Go to View > Resources by type
4. Open up the IRQ section
5. Find the main listing for the card
6. Check to see what IRQ the card is listed on.
7. Check to see what other devices are listed on the same IRQ number
8. Shut down Windows
9. Power off computer
10. Switch the slot of your card
11. Boot the system, and reinstall the drivers for the card.
12. Repeat steps 1 - 5 to check the current IRQ for the card.
13. Note the IRQ listed now. Has it changed?
14. Check to see what other devices are listed on the same IRQ
15. If the IRQ has not changed, or it is sharing with another device, we
may need to switch slots again. It also might be necessary to reserve
or assign resources in your motherboard BIOS.

Do reply back to me if you are still having problems with any error
messages prompted. Thanks.

For faster service please reply with previous correspondence when
replying to this email.

I have one more slot left, so I'll try that next. Sweeping and re-installing the drivers may be a problem, since the installation CD stopped zapping or installing. But I'll try doing the last step they specified, i.e., deleting the Creative directory and the registry key, then installing the 2003 drivers.

But I have the feeling, having switched slots already, that it "might be necessary to reserve or assign resources" in the motherboard BIOS. This kind of intimidates me.

If I go silent, it's probably that the computer no longer works at all.

best,
mgj