3. Reduce the the Hardware Acceleration of the graphics card:
Windows 9X

Right-click on My Computer
Choose Properties - Performance - Graphics.
Move the slider for Hardware Acceleration down 1 notch.
Restart the system; if necessary, repeat procedure.
Windows XP/2000:

Right-click on your desktop
Choose Properties - Settings - Advanced - Troubleshoot.
Move the slider for Hardware Acceleration down 1 notch.
Restart the system; if necessary, repeat procedure.
4. Change the resources for SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device:
Under Windows 9X, PCI Sound Blaster cards take two Interrupt requests or IRQ's. (One for the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device and one for the Sound Blaster itself). Normally, the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device defaults to IRQ 5, 7 or even 9 whereas the Sound Blaster usually uses IRQ 9, 10 or 11, or whatever assigned to it. Occasionally this allocation may be reversed (for example when running Windows 98 with motherboards based on the VIA MVP3 Chipset which may not have the appropriate IRQ Routing Miniport Driver installed), or both devices may be allocated the same IRQ. This sometimes causes sound problems or may result in a malfunction of the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device.

To check the IRQ allocation:

Select Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager. Click on the Computer icon (the first icon in the list) in Device Manager to view the resource allocation for all your devices. If the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device either shares an IRQ with another device or takes an IRQ higher than the one used by the Sound Blaster, try to install the latest Chipset drivers (specifically the IRQ Routing Miniport Driver when using older VIA Chipsets).

In Device Manager select Creative Miscellaneous Devices, SB 16 Emulation (or Sound, video and game controllers, Legacy Device, depending on the card you have). Select this entry and click Properties. Click the Settings tab and select LPT Interrupt Sharing. This allows SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device to use the same interrupt as the Printer Port (Parallel Port, IRQ 7), which does not state a problem, as there hardly will be a situation where the Parallel Port and the SB 16 Emulation / Legacy Device are used simultaneously.

5. Changing/disabling ACPI configurations in Windows 2000/Xp
Disable ACPI in your BIOS Note: We recommend you check with the motherboard manufacturer for more information about performing these steps

Windows XP:

Disable ACPI automatically
With ACPI disabled in the BIOS, reinstall Windows over the origional installation
Disable ACPI manually
Copy the install CD to your hard drive
Edit the Txtsetup.sif file to change the ACPIEnable value to 0.
Save the file, and then rerun the installation


Windows 2000:

Disable ACPI automatically
With ACPI disabled in the BIOS, reinstall Windows over the origional installation
Disable ACPI manually
Start Windows 2000 Setup as an upgrade.
Press F7 when Setup generates the following informational message: "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver" .
Choose the correct HAL for your system from the provided list
MPS Multiprocessor PC
MPS Uniprocessor PC
Standard PC
NOTE: You do not receive a visual indicator that auto detection is taking place when you press F7; proceed normally with setup until it is completed.

6. BIOS settings
On a BIOS level, ensure all unused on-board devices are deactivated. This usually includes, but might not be restricted to devices like:

Serial Ports
Parallel Port
Onboard Sound
Onboard Game port
Onboard Graphics
Note: Do not deactivate devices you require for the system to function properly (e.g. do not turn off your onboard graphics if this is the only display adapter you have in your system).



The following suggestions are about specific BIOS setting that may or may not be applicable to your system. If in double, please verify with the system vendor.

System Performance:
Collective setting that sets a number of values to influence the systems performance (possible settings: "Turbo", "Fast", "Optimal", "Normal", etc. The naming depends on the BIOS version/motherboard manufacturer. If unclear, contact motherboard manufacturer for more information).

VGA Shared Memory Size:
Applicable if the motherboards onboard graphics adapter is active. Instead of having dedicated graphics RAM, some onboard VGA solutions require you to reserve a certain amount of the systems main memory.
Increasing the memory set aside for the onboard graphics adapter can help reducing traffic on the system.

Note: Ensure not to reserve too much of your systems RAM, as this might result in a system-wide slowdown.

AGP Aperture Size (MB):
It defines how much of your system's memory is to be used as a data buffer for your AGP graphics card. The default setting should be half the system''s RAM, however, certain cards work better with specific settings (e.g.: 128 MB despite having 512 MB in the system).

Peer Concurrency:
This setting defines if multiple PCI devices can access the PCI BUS simultaneously. Set this to "Disable" if you are unsure whether all PCI devices in your system support this option.

PCI 2.1 Support:
All Creative PCI sound cards adhere to PCI 2.1 specifications. This setting must be enabled for your Sound Blaster card to function properly. Note: Some BIOS's might have various options for this setting (e.g.: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2).

Spread Spectrum Control:
This setting reduces Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) by slightly modulating the master clock of your motherboard. Audio glitches might occur on some systems if this setting is enabled.

PCI Latency Timer:
The PCI Latency Timer is a mechanism that helps PCI bus-mastering capable devices to share the PCI bus. Each PCI device able to operate in bus-master mode is required to implement a timer, called the Latency Timer, that limits the time the device can hold the PCI bus. The timer starts when the device gains bus ownership, and counts down at the rate of the PCI clock. When the counter reaches zero, the device is required to release the bus. If no other devices are waiting for bus ownership, it may simply grab the bus again and transfer more data.

If the latency timer is set too low, PCI devices will interrupt their transfers unnecessarily often, hurting performance. If it's set too high, devices that require frequent bus access may overflow their buffers, losing data.

Experiment with this value. A good starting point would be 32 (often the default found in many systems BIOS's). Once the PCI Latency Timer has been changed, the new settings have to be saved and the PC needs to boot back into the Operating System. If this doesn't lead to the desired result, repeat the procedure.

Memory Hole:
This setting needs to be disabled unless you have a device that requires a 1 MB area assigned to it.

AGP Fast Writes:
Allows the graphics chip to communicate with the chipset / CPU directly. Enable this setting if your graphics card as well as your motherboard support this.

PNP Aware OS:
Try setting this to No.

Update the systems BIOS:
It is advisable to update the BIOS of your system, if none of the above steps solve the problem.