Hi folks,the day has came for upgrading my standard SB audio device.I went to my reseller and bought a Creative Labs SB Audigy2; now i ask: which is the correct procedute for upgrading? Suppose i have to uninstall old drivers from control panel...before or after opening PC case? Is there a driver cleaner also for audio device?Thanks in advanceLuigi ;-)

If you're updating from one soundblaster device to another then it's a simple process. Switch off computer, swap over sound cards. Start computer. Win XP will take care of the rest, even prompt you for installing drivers. Then just replace the existing drivers with the new ones that either came with the card or that you have downloaded. Depending on which drivers are installed for your current SB card you may not even be asked for new drivers. This is normal (Creative had a universal driver base for all their cards, but it isn't perfect so you must update the drivers).Only danger: DO NOT LET THE WINDOWS XP DRIVERS INSTALL or else you are asking for trouble. They may have been fixed by SP2 but the default XP drivers contain a serious memory leak.After you get the new card up and running with the supplied or up-to-date drivers then you might want to try the replacement KX Project drivers from herehttp://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1These are so much better than all the Creative bloatware that it is hard to put into words - I use them in a sound studio environment on my other computer and they rock! Driver Cleaner 3.2, mentioned many times in these forums, is the best utilty for removing all traces of Creative drivers. Use the uninstall function of Windows Control Panel, then follow the DC3.2 instructions. Hope this helps!Allcott

HI,thanks a lot for detailed instructions.Should i also reinstall Diectx 9c after audio drivers updated? or it isn't necessary?cheersLuigi ;-)

No, DX9 should be unaffected by the drivers. Allcott

Hi,gave a try ay KX Project drivers; they work just fine. But:1) how do i disable tiny icon in desktop bar?2) cannot calibrate my CH - Combat Stick ......cheersLuigi ;-)

I've never disabled the icon so I'm not sure, but the CH Combat Stick, is that USB or Gameport? If it's gameport reinstall the KX Drivers and when it prompts you for the gameport selection, tick `yes`. Sounds like you didn't install that portion of the driver.If it's a USB device then I have no idea why it should be affected by new sound card drivers, as there is no link between the two?Allcott

Thank you Allcot,yes, it's a gameport.Maybe i did a wrong installation: did it manually from devices tab >>> reinstall driver. Should i let installer automatically install drivers just after setup? It prompted me for but i simply ignored it! i like to do things manually...After that i installed CH Drivers as usually, went into game devices in Control Panel and added my device; but it doesn't work correctly!Cannot calibrate and buttons are all dead.I'll try an automatic install and reportcheersLuigi ;-)