Creative Soundcard "Freezing" computer?

So... My PC has been locking up and "freezing" lately. It's the type of freezing where you can't do anything but hold down the power button and reboot it! Very annoying... After doing some troubleshooting I think I narrowed the issue down to my new soundcard! It only happens when the soundcard (Creative Soundblaster X-fi Expresscard) is hooked in. It didn't happen until after I started using the soundcard either! Almost all signs point to the card as the culprit.

It usually happens when a) playing a game, b) playing music/movies, c) editing music, or d) surfing the net (very rare though). If I unhook my soundcard, I can go for days without a lock up. I'm beginning to think that the drivers for this card are screwing with my computer when they are active. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I went with the Creative because it was cheap, and seemed to have good reviews from what I read. However, I'm thinking I may have to go with something else to enjoy my media with, since I really believe that this card doesn't go so well with my system. So... could my sound card be the cause of these lock ups?! If so, is there anyway to prevent/fix it (other than getting rid of it and getting something else)?! I have been happy with it's performance so far... I'd like to keep using it, but if it's going to keep causing me to friggin restart my computer all the time than I can't!

Thanks.

 

Have you checked for driver updates for your sound card? And Windows updates?

 

Of course. Both. Everything is up to date! That was part of my "troubleshooting" - Along with virus and spyware/adware scans galore.

 

You may possibly have a faulty card. It seems as if when your card is trying to process it is locking up your system. There may be an issue with it. I'd say call Creative Labs.

 

If you surf the internet forums then u ll notice that a huge controversy is going on..

some guy from US hacked Creative Drivers which really made them run great on Vista..

but then stupid Creative threatened him on that same forum ..

and now all users are abusing & thrashing Creative that they suck

& the guy should have been praised by creative because he did what the Creative engineers cudnt..

he made Creative Soundcard run extremely stable on Vista which was Crashing before.


IMO, you should sue Creative.

I bought some headphones HQ1400 from creative which broke within weeks of normal usage..

their build quality is extremely Cheap & their Design engineers create a very Delicate frame.

Its a sinking company in the technological world.

so stay away from the sinking ship

You can download that hacked Driver by Googling it..
lot of forums have download link for it.

 

What exactly would you sue them for? Many products on the market are unstable on systems they SHOULD work on? As for that guy. It is fully legal for creative to threaten a lawsuit on somebody whether or not the action is "illegal". Yes, creative labs is a sinking ship and its sad, they used to have very reliable/great products. Try and get a refund.

 

Yeah... I ended up logging on to the Creative Support forum... after searching, I found that a lot of people are having issues with the "X-fi" drivers. Their computers keep "deep freezing" as well... So... I think I might be right in my assumption that the drivers are ******* up my computer.

*Sigh*... I was pumped for this card too... I FINALLY found a use for my useless expresscard slot... As far as I know this is the only xpresscard sound card on the market... and it sucks! Actually, it's pretty nice... except when it freezes my computer!

any other recomendations?