Ok Got that one.
 
For those, who couldn't figure it out.
 
Here it is,
 
Go to windowsupdate and update the drivers. It should work fine.
 
ARC

I upgraded the drivers with the ones on Windows Update.
 
...Now when I try to play something like Deus Ex all the speech is scratchy, bad like a record scratching.
 
Damn drivers

this seems to affect all UT based games .. simple fix, disable DirectSound in the options .. after that no more crackles..

To get your SoundBlaster Live to work properly in Windows XP do the following:
 
DRIVER: http://www.soundblaster.com/scripts/down...i/SBL51_W2k.exe
NOTE: You can use this driver for any version of the SoundBlaster Live sound card. (Value, MP3, 5.1..ect)
Just follow the instructions below.
 
1) Make sure you are running the SBLive drivers(M$Driver.) that XP installed.
If you have already installed previous Liveware software go to Control Panel/Add/Remove programs and remove it.
 
2) Make new folder on c: or D: drive and name it "sblive".
 
3) Put SBL51.EXE, SBL51.W02, SBL51.W03 and SBL51WDM.LIB in the sblive folder
 
4) Go to the Device Manger/Sound, video & game controllers and remove:
Creative SB Live! (WDM) & Creative SB Live! Gameport drivers.
 
5) In a start/run box type - c: or D:\sblive\sbl51.exe /w <---the "/w" switch is very IMPORTANT!
 
6) When the installation prompts you to replace the RC1 drivers with the unsigned Creative Labs drivers
click "STOP". The installation will continue. (Sometimes you aren't prompted to install new drivers
but this is not a problem.)
 
7) When done installing the updated drivers - REBOOT
 
8) After booting to the desktop screen windows will detect new hardware. When it finishes REBOOT again.
 
9) Now you have sound and all the liveware features work fine!
 
Hope this helps.
 
MINz

If you run a pc with onboard raid or UDMA100, your best bet is to try a newer driver for these devices, I had the sound crackling and sound crashing problems and took the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz route. This lead to no resolution, but then I installed the latest HighPoint Driver for my Abit KT7A-Raid and the Santa Cruz worked great. I don't mind wasting the money cause I think the sound is way better on the Santa Cruz. I decided to test it and put back my SBLive Platinum and it worked with the XP Driver. Just a thought to keep in mind if you're using the Raid IDE slots.
 
Good Luck
PrinceAli0

I have the same problem with Crackling game sound in XP RC1 with my SB Live 5.1 Platinum. I've tried the default, Windows Update and the Creative WDM Win2K drivers, and the problem still exists. The Creative Win2k drivers perform the best (less crackling) but its still an issue.
My motherboard is an Asus A7V with a RAID ATA-100 Bios.
 
I do not have this problem under Windows ME or Windows 2000 Pro on the same machine.
 
The games I have seen this in are Unreal Tournament (even with 3D Hardware Sound disabled), Quake III, Max Payne, and a couple others.

First off do you have any hard drives on the ATA100 Raid slots, if so then proceed. If you never had the sound problem in any other OS, kinda like I did, then your problem is in your Promise UDMA100 drive. Try to find a beta or the latest driver for Win2k for that device, if you find one give it a shot, if there isn't any out, just deal with it for now or go back to Win2k till there is an XP driver out there. Hopefully this helps you a little.
 
Good Luck
PrinceAli0