Computer Assembly - How To Assemble A PC
Install The Sound Card and Speakers
If you are using the sound built-into the motherboard then skip this page.
The sound card capabilities are built-into the EPoX 8RDA+ motherboard, so you may decide that an add-on sound card is not necessary. My unscientific opinion is that I can't tell any difference between the music and sound effects generated by My Super PC now using built-in sound and those in previous versions that included a Creative Sound Blaster Live! and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy. And that's saying a lot because those sound cards produce very good sound. But, the Creative Audigy Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS definitely does sound better than the onboard sound of the EPoX 8RDA+ or any other motherboard. Maybe that makes it worth it, or maybe you'd like to have the 5 to 15 percent improvement in performance it gives in intensive audio/video applications (games).
Unlike most components, I will be using the driver CD that came with the Audigy 2 ZS to install the applications and drivers. The big reason for doing this is there doesn't appear to be any other way to get them, at least not everything that's on the CD. The Creative Support Download site does have downloads listed for the Audigy 2 ZS. There are a total of 12 download files listed on the site when I looked for them. Of these, 4 are listed as drivers and 8 are listed as applications. The 12 files total about 100MB in size, but the actual total size is something less than this because at least two of the download files are included in one of the other download files. They looked like this at the time I checked, if you want to see. However, the size of the install from the CD is closer to 350MB, so the files on the Creative download support site cannot be a substitute. They must be updates to the CD.
The first step is to disable the onboard sound. Go to the Device Manager and look under the entry for "Sound, video and game controllers". The devices that will be superseded by the Audigy 2 ZS sound card should be disabled. These are the three devices circled in blue.
For each of these three devices, right click on the entry and select the "Disable" option from the small pop-up window.
As the Disable option is selected for each device, confirm the action by clicking on the "Yes" button on the confirmation window.
A little red x appears on each device as it is disabled. After all three devices are disabled, it looks like this.
Shutdown the computer, powering if off. Power it back on, entering the BIOS when you reach the BIOS Header screen. Go to the AC97 Audio BIOS setting and set it to "Disabled". Save the changes, exiting the BIOS, and allow the computer to boot to the desktop.
Checking the Device Manager after the reboot shows this result. Notice the NVIDIA nForce Audio Codec Interface no longer appears either.
Shutdown the computer again.
The sound card, like most PCI cards, can be installed in any PCI slot. The EPoX 8RDA+ has six PCI slots. They are white and run vertically in this picture and are circled in blue. I chose the slot circled in red in the picture, which is PCI slot 2. As with the PCI slot selection for the sound card, the only reason for choosing this particular PCI slot was for cooling purposes, to space out the cards within the interior since they all generate an amount of heat.
Remove the slot cover on the rear of the PC corresponding to PCI slot 2, which is the third slot cover from the left in the Antec KS-282 computer case (when looking at the case from the back). The sound card inserts into the PCI slot with direct downward pressure, just as the video card inserted into the AGP slot. The PCI cards are keyed to the PCI slots so they will insert facing in only one direction. Secure the sound card into the PCI slot with a slot screw, but don't over tighten so much that you might twist the card within the PCI slot. Here's how the interior looks with the sound card inserted into the PCI slot 2 and the card secured with the slot mounting screw. The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card comes with a second slot cover to be used if you plan on connecting a joystick. If this is used then one of the PCI slots is no longer useable, but that may not be much of an issue. I find I don't need a joystick, even though I enjoy the occasional computer game or edutainment software.
Here's how the rear of the computer case looks now that the sound card has been added.
The speakers may now be connected. The wires on the Creative Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks are nice and long so it's usually not difficult to place the speakers and volume control in the best location. Ideally, the speakers should be equidistant from the listener. The sub-woofer should be up against the wall, although it can't be flush since the wiring connects in the back. The next three pictures are color-coded to help show where each plug connects. Two things I'll point out. First, notice the volume control has two similar looking connectors coming out of it - the one that is gun shaped plugs into the sub-woofer and the one that is straight plugs into the sound card. Second, notice that each actual speaker wire ends in a bare split to be connected to red and black connectors - one wire in the split has a red band and this indicates to attach it to the red connector.
The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card provides a lot of connectors, and even one more in the joystick connector if you use the second slot cover. The one circled is the correct one for the speakers I'm using, the Creative Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks. There is etching next to each connector indicating what each is for that are easy to make out in the enlarged picture, but not super helpful even so.
Turn the speaker on - there's a power button on the back of the sub-woofer. Plug everything back into the rear of the computer, including the video cable, keyboard cable, mouse cable and power cord. Flip the switch on the power supply into the on/1 position. Here's how the rear of the case looks once everything is connected again.
Power up the computer. About the time the computer reaches the desktop, the Windows XP "Found New Hardware Wizard" will detect new hardware. A total of two new pieces of hardware will be detected. We don't want the Hardware Wizard to take any action with either piece of new hardware. On the first piece of hardware, Windows XP prompts to use "Windows Update" to search for software. Select the "No, not this time" option and click the "Next" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" then prompts to help install the software for the new hardware, the "Multimedia Audio Controller". Click the "Cancel" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" repeats the process for the second piece of hardware, beginning with the "Windows Update" option to search. Again select the "No, not this time" option and click the "Next" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" then prompts to help install the software for the new hardware, the "PCI Input Device". Click the "Cancel" button.
The computer finishes booting to the desktop. Insert the "Application and Installation CD" that came with the Audigy 2 ZS into the CD drive.
The installation starts up automatically. The installation is done in two parts. The first part looks like this.
Select the language.
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Click on the "Install" button.
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Select your region.
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Accept the license agreement.
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Click the "Next" button on the Readme screen.
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I used the default installation location.
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I clicked on "Full Installation".
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My speakers are 2.1. Click the "Next" button.
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I'm not using digital speakers.
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Select the sound card being installed.
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Click the "Next" button to start the actual install.
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The install begins, taking a minute or two.
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The installation automatically continues with the second part of the install.
Accept the license agreement.
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I used the default installation location.
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I clicked on "Full Installation".
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Click the "Next" button to start the actual install.
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The install begins, taking a minute or two.
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The install completes. Click the "Finish" button.
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Click the "Exit" button, which makes a sound now.
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Click the "Finish" button to restart the computer.
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As the computer shutsdown and then restarts, you will hear the brief musical fanfare that Windows XP plays. After reaching the desktop again, check out the Device Manager to verify there are no problems. Notice the entries listed under "Sound, video and game controllers" has been updated, and now includes entries for "Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)" and "Creative Game Port".
Right-click on the "Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)" device, then click on "Properties" on the small pop-up window that appears.
The Audigy 2 ZS sound card properties windows appears. The tab in view is the "General" tab. Notice the first comment under "Device status" states "This device is working properly". That's a good thing to see. Now click on the "Driver" tab.
The driver is version 5.12.1.442 dated 11/18/2003. That seems like a fairly old date for a popular sound card that was purchased in November of 2004. It's not unusual for the installation CD of a hardware component to contain older drivers. Now click on the "Resources" tab.
The "Resources" tab shows that the sound card is using interrupt IRQ 11 which is not unusual. If you see another value for the IRQ and everything appears to be working then don't worry about it. Also, under "Conflicting device list:", it states "No conflicts." and that's good, but it's also expected since there was no yellow exclamation point included next to the device under the Device Manager.
Note: On this page I've shown My Super PC with the Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card installed. But other assembly pages show My Super PC as it was built without the sound card. I did this on purpose since most will build without an add-on sound card and there's no need to also show the corresponding picture using the add-on sound card.
How To Update The Audigy 2 ZS Sound Drivers
Be aware that Creative offers a utility called Creative Software AutoUpdate that automatically updates the applications and drivers for the sound card. That sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. I couldn't get it to do a thing, even after I enabled all of the ActiveX controls and plug-in settings in my browser. If you don't enable them then it won't work because the security level on your computer will be too high (don't get me started on how weird this is), and if you do enable them then it won't work because it just plain doesn't work.
So if you want to update the Audigy 2 ZS sound driver to something more recent than what's on the installation CD then it will have to be done manually. But wait, there's more. Even when done manually in the usual way for updating a driver, it doesn't work. Creative doesn't provide any instructions describing how to do the install, by the way. After downloading the Audigy 2 ZS driver update file and then double-clicking on it to do the install by following the prompts, everything seemed to go smoothly with no errors or warnings. But after re-checking the driver version and date through the Device Manager, the values had not changed. That seemed very suspicious. As you can see (if you want - it's the second file listed under "Drivers"), the download file is dated 29 Jul 04. The date of the driver within the file is often a little earlier than the date of the file itself, but not eight months earlier. And what definitely confirmed something was wrong is that if I installed the driver before installing the CD, checking the Device Manager showed a date in June of 2004.
The tech I reached at Creative Labs Support was surprised at this as well. As it turns out, the old drivers must be removed first. With that in mind, here are the steps to update the Audigy 2 ZS sound card driver after using the Application and Driver CD that came with the Audigy 2 ZS. The drivers can be retrieved starting at Creative Support Downloads.
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Under "Select Your Products", click on "SoundBlaster".
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Next click on "Audigy 2".
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And then on "Audigy 2 ZS".
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And finally on "Go".
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This brings up the list of application and driver downloads available for the Audigy 2 ZS. I've captured how it looked here. There are four entries listed under drivers. The second one is the one we want, the one titled "Sound Blaster Audigy 2 and Audigy 2 ZS Driver Update". The picture below shows what is presented by clicking on the "Show Details..." for the entry. Under Notes it points out that this driver update includes the third and fourth driver downloads.
Download the file and save it to the hard drive. Remember where it was saved since we're not ready to install it yet. First we need to uninstall the old drivers. Click on Start -> My Computer. Right click on the C: drive and click on the "Search" option in the pop-up window.
Enter "ctzapxx.exe" in the "All or part of the file name:" field as the search criteria, then click on the "Search" button. This will find the Creative uninstall utility, which is named ctzapxx.exe. This utility was installed along with everything else when the "Application and Installation CD" was used.
Here's where it turned up for me and this is likely where you'll find it.
Double-click on the entry to start-up the utility.
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A window like this opens.
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Select the "Driver Uninstallation" option and then click on the "OK" button.
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Click the "OK" button on the confirmation window and the utility uninstalls the drivers.
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Click on the "OK" button to restart the computer.
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After restarting, you'll get this window twice. Each time, click the "Cancel" button.
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Checking the Device Manager confirms that the sound devices are now uninstalled.
We're ready to install the new Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS driver. Navigate to where the driver file was downloaded to the hard drive.
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Double-click on the file.
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Click "OK" to continue.
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Click "Yes" to accept the license agreement.
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The driver installs and this window appears. Click the "Finish" button to restart the computer.
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The computer restarts. After the restart is complete, now the Device Manager shows that all is well.
Checking the driver of the "Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM)" device now shows that the date and version number have changed.
If you're only using the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card for sound and not for the applications then this update is probably the only one you need. But if you are using any of the applications then you should give the other updates posted by Creative a look. Some of them could be quite important.
Common Problems
If you've installed the hardware and software drivers for the sound and you have the speakers connected and powered on, but you're not getting any sound or you're having other sound problems such as cutting out, sounding scratchy or sounding faint then this How To Trouble-Shoot Sound Related Issues from Microsoft Technical Support may help.
If the Device Manager shows that you have a device conflict then the way to get rid of it is to power down the computer and move the Audigy 2 ZS sound card to a different PCI slot. Then power the computer back up again. This will force the computer to re-shuffle the way resources have been allocated, hopefully in a way that results in no device conflicts. The applications and drivers do not need to be installed again. If there was a device conflict then it's very likely that there was no sound.
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As the Disable option is selected for each device, confirm the action by clicking on the "Yes" button on the confirmation window.
A little red x appears on each device as it is disabled. After all three devices are disabled, it looks like this.
Shutdown the computer, powering if off. Power it back on, entering the BIOS when you reach the BIOS Header screen. Go to the AC97 Audio BIOS setting and set it to "Disabled". Save the changes, exiting the BIOS, and allow the computer to boot to the desktop.
Here's how the rear of the computer case looks now that the sound card has been added.
The speakers may now be connected. The wires on the Creative Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks are nice and long so it's usually not difficult to place the speakers and volume control in the best location. Ideally, the speakers should be equidistant from the listener. The sub-woofer should be up against the wall, although it can't be flush since the wiring connects in the back. The next three pictures are color-coded to help show where each plug connects. Two things I'll point out. First, notice the volume control has two similar looking connectors coming out of it - the one that is gun shaped plugs into the sub-woofer and the one that is straight plugs into the sound card. Second, notice that each actual speaker wire ends in a bare split to be connected to red and black connectors - one wire in the split has a red band and this indicates to attach it to the red connector.
The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card provides a lot of connectors, and even one more in the joystick connector if you use the second slot cover. The one circled is the correct one for the speakers I'm using, the Creative Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks. There is etching next to each connector indicating what each is for that are easy to make out in the enlarged picture, but not super helpful even so.
Turn the speaker on - there's a power button on the back of the sub-woofer. Plug everything back into the rear of the computer, including the video cable, keyboard cable, mouse cable and power cord. Flip the switch on the power supply into the on/1 position. Here's how the rear of the case looks once everything is connected again.
Power up the computer. About the time the computer reaches the desktop, the Windows XP "Found New Hardware Wizard" will detect new hardware. A total of two new pieces of hardware will be detected. We don't want the Hardware Wizard to take any action with either piece of new hardware. On the first piece of hardware, Windows XP prompts to use "Windows Update" to search for software. Select the "No, not this time" option and click the "Next" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" then prompts to help install the software for the new hardware, the "Multimedia Audio Controller". Click the "Cancel" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" repeats the process for the second piece of hardware, beginning with the "Windows Update" option to search. Again select the "No, not this time" option and click the "Next" button.
The "Found New Hardware Wizard" then prompts to help install the software for the new hardware, the "PCI Input Device". Click the "Cancel" button.
The computer finishes booting to the desktop. Insert the "Application and Installation CD" that came with the Audigy 2 ZS into the CD drive.
The installation starts up automatically. The installation is done in two parts. The first part looks like this.
The installation automatically continues with the second part of the install.
The Audigy 2 ZS sound card properties windows appears. The tab in view is the "General" tab. Notice the first comment under "Device status" states "This device is working properly". That's a good thing to see. Now click on the "Driver" tab.
The driver is version 5.12.1.442 dated 11/18/2003. That seems like a fairly old date for a popular sound card that was purchased in November of 2004. It's not unusual for the installation CD of a hardware component to contain older drivers. Now click on the "Resources" tab.
The "Resources" tab shows that the sound card is using interrupt IRQ 11 which is not unusual. If you see another value for the IRQ and everything appears to be working then don't worry about it. Also, under "Conflicting device list:", it states "No conflicts." and that's good, but it's also expected since there was no yellow exclamation point included next to the device under the Device Manager.
Enter "ctzapxx.exe" in the "All or part of the file name:" field as the search criteria, then click on the "Search" button. This will find the Creative uninstall utility, which is named ctzapxx.exe. This utility was installed along with everything else when the "Application and Installation CD" was used.
Here's where it turned up for me and this is likely where you'll find it.
If you're only using the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card for sound and not for the applications then this update is probably the only one you need. But if you are using any of the applications then you should give the other updates posted by Creative a look. Some of them could be quite important.
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