I am sorry to drag up this old post but I feel some extra information might be useful to members of this forum using the Creative soundcards SoundBlaster X-fi series - in my case the XtremeGamer. And of course I have a Vista 64bit operating system, although the problem is probably more widespread than my setup specification.

What is the problem? Extremely long shut down of computer and possibly other associated problems.

After some suggestions from Jazzman in this thread, I felt the problem had been solved. But it kept returning. If you look at the thread on the Creative forum you will see that the problem is widespread and that several other solutions were proposed, all of which I tried, but they did not offer a long-term solution.

Creative themselves were very quiet on the subject but have recently admitted that there is a problem with the new driver. They are now offering to selected members of their forum via PM a bug fix for the driver. I am a bit loath to use it after reading the note which said:

"The following beta driver has been found to resolve the issue on delayed OS shutdown.

Before downloading this beta driver, please take note of the following:

* THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED BETA DRIVER. No technical support is available.

* We recommend that only experienced users install this driver. Do not install this driver on a system used to perform critical tasks.

* Customers looking for stable drivers should wait for the final release and install the latest production driver when available."

I have been offered the new driver for testing but since my computer is used for critical tasks - i don't know too many that are not - I think I might wait for the final release.

I suppose I am still a bit surprised that Creative released a driver without proper testing in the first place.

I pass on this information for what it is worth. I know it has nothing to do with the Band-in-a-Box program itself but I am aware that many BB users have Creative soundcards. Hopefully not many with the X-fi series.

Grah Jive Talk
"Don't worry baby, they'll swing their arses off."