Ugh. Need some help with Creative Vista Drivers

[okayplayer]

Hey guys,

I recently had my HD crash. I purchased a new drive, installed it, and re-installed Vista Home Premium (32-bit). All was going fine until I tried to re-install the driver for my Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer. No matter what I do, the system hangs during the installation of this driver and becomes unresponsive. I must then reset the machine, and from there it will not boot normally to Windows, and I'm forced to do a system restore from safe mode to get back up and running (but obviously without sound).

I've downloaded all the recommended/important updates for Vista. (In the process of downloading Microsoft .NET Framework 4, but doubtful this will make a difference).

I have tried the following drivers, using Driver Sweeper to remove them when they fail:

• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi series driver 2.18.0015 (http://support.creative.com/Product...e=X-Fi&prodID=15853&prodName=X-Fi+XtremeGamer)
  
• Creative X-Fi Drivers v. 2.13.0012 for Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit (http://files.aoaforums.com/I2803-SBXF_PCDVT_LB_2_13_0012.exe.html)

I have also let Windows search for the driver but it never finds one.
I have the original driver installation disc, but it is for Windows XP.

I don't know which drivers I was using before but they worked fine. Any idea's? I'm at the point where I'm considering either a new soundcard or upgrading to Windows 7 but I'd rather not do either if I don't have to.

System Specs:
Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Asus P5B Deluxe w/ wifi
Core 2 Duo @ 2.13ghz
2GB Mushkin RAM
EVGA 8800GTX
Creative X-Fi xtreme Gamer
Silverstone Strider 750W PSU

 

[Snufykat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132052

 

[cyclone3d]

Have you installed the chipset drivers for your motherboard?

Do you have all of the latest Windows updates installed (not including drivers) from Windows Update? Your post makes it sound like you are downloading updates seperately.

Did you move the X-fi card to a different slot when you were swapping out the HDD?

Have you tried the "beta" drivers 2.18.0015A ?

http://support.creative.com/downloads/welcome.aspx?nLanguageLocale=1033&nOS=26&nPage=1

If the card was working fine before the crash, it has to be something that you setup different... maybe chipset drivers - never trust the ones included with the OS.