Does Anyone Here Have Experience Modding Creative PCI Sound Drivers for Windows 2000? \ VOGONS

Does Anyone Here Have Experience Modding Creative PCI Sound Drivers for Windows 2000?

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First post, by fosterwj03

Posted on 2025-06-24, 17:04

fosterwj03 Offline

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Hi all,

I have a bit of a problem with my Vanilla Windows 2000 retro rocket. My Gigabyte Z370 motherboard works with vanilla Windows 2000 in MPS mode (with all 8 CPU cores running at 4.6 GHz under Windows 2000), but Windows 2000 will not enumerate the motherboard's PCIE-to-PCI bridge preventing me from using a PCI Audigy or X-Fi card. Other PCIE devices will work with Windows 2000 on this motherboard, but I can't get Creative PCIE sound cards to work with Windows 2000 for full EAX support because Creative never developed drivers to support these cards for Windows 2000.

As you can see from my attached image, I can get the June 2008 WDM drivers for my X-Fi Titanium to install in Windows 2000. The driver seems to initialize the card, but the audio output isn't present (greyed-out in the Audio Control Panel). I used the X-Fi Titanium driver version 2.17.0008. The driver doesn't crash the computer, but I do get a boot error with CTXFIREG.EXE saying it isn't a compatible Win32 executable.

I have gotten earlier X-Fi drivers to work with Windows 2000 for the PCI variant, specifically the one included with the Audigy driver from Creative's SBAX_WBUP2_LB_2_09_0016.EXE package (version 2.09.0016). Is it possible to modify the X-Fi Titanium driver package with files from the working Audigy driver package to link the seemingly working device driver to Windows 2000's audio subsystems? If so, which files would I need to replace?

Alternately, I wonder if the "CTXFIREG.EXE" issue I mentioned above has a clue. Is it possible to simply update the Windows 2000 registry to point Windows 2000's audio subsystem to the X-Fi driver? If Creative's registry modification program doesn't run, would that keep the X-Fi Titanium from producing sound?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1 of 7, by Master Comi

Posted on 2025-06-29, 20:31

Master Comi Offline

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Hi!
My question is, is it possible to run Creative X-Fi (SB0460) under Windows 2000?
Are there drivers for Windows 2000?

Reply 2 of 7, by fosterwj03

Posted on 2025-06-30, 00:10

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Master Comi wrote on 2025-06-29, 20:31:

Hi!
My question is, is it possible to run Creative X-Fi (SB0460) under Windows 2000?
Are there drivers for Windows 2000?

Yes, it looks like the Audigy driver version 2.09.0016 for Windows 2000 and XP would support the SB0460. I can see a data file for the 0460 in the driver package. I could get these drivers to work with my X-Fi Gamer (SB0730) in Windows 2000, but I don't have a good solution for adapting PCI to PCIE for my X-Fi Gamer in my particular situation. My generic PCI-to-PCIE adapter doesn't deliver enough power for a sound processor. Audio came out too quiet from both my Audigy and X-Fi for any usability in my retro rocket.

Reply 3 of 7, by Duffman

Posted on 2025-06-30, 03:38

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Get a PCI-to-PCIe adapter with a SATA power plug, that'll give you all the voltages needed for the sound card to work properly.

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Reply 4 of 7, by fosterwj03

Posted on 2025-06-30, 23:57

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Duffman wrote on 2025-06-30, 03:38:

Get a PCI-to-PCIe adapter with a SATA power plug, that'll give you all the voltages needed for the sound card to work properly.

Thanks, but I'm trying for a really clean build. Ideally, Windows 2000 could interface with the motherboard's PCI slot which would allow me to use my Audigy 2ZS or my X-Fi Extreme Gamer. I did consider ordering a higher quality StarTech PCIE-to-PCI adapter, but I don't want to deal with the power extension cables in an otherwise streamlined rig. Oh well.

I ended up compromising with a C-Media CMI8738-based card that has an Asmedia PCIE-to-PCI bridge chip. I think it uses software for EAX support which isn't a problem for an 8-core, 4.6 GHz CPU. RightMark 3DSound reported a CPU utilization of less than 0.6% in the Hardware/EAX test. This card only gives me EAX 1.0 and 2.0 support, but I can live with that for now.

I really hope the community finds a way to implement the ACPI 2.0 driver for Vanilla Windows 2000. It may never happen, but I bet the motherboard's PCI slot would work with a native Windows 2000 ACPI 2.0 driver.

Reply 5 of 7, by Duffman

Posted on 2025-07-01, 01:58

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Have you tried an Audigy RX? that might work with an INF mod.

Reply 6 of 7, by fosterwj03

Posted on 2025-07-01, 02:30

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Duffman wrote on 2025-07-01, 01:58:

Have you tried an Audigy RX? that might work with an INF mod.

As a matter of fact, I did. I had the same issue as the one I described with the X-Fi Titanium. The Windows XP driver will initialize the Audigy Rx, but it doesn't link to the audio subsystems in Windows 2000. Older Audigy drivers won't initialize the card even if forced to install with an INF mod.

I figured it might be possible to combine older and newer files to get a Creative PCIE card to work, but I just don't know what combination would work.

I'd rather use the X- Fi of the two, but I'd definately take a fully functional Audigy Rx.

On a related note, I did get the kx drivers to initialize the Audigy Rx and produce sound in Windows 2000, but those drivers had issues in games. The kx driver also doesn't support EAX.

Reply 7 of 7, by Master Comi

Posted on 2025-07-09, 19:02

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fosterwj03 wrote on 2025-06-30, 00:10:

Master Comi wrote on 2025-06-29, 20:31:

Hi!
My question is, is it possible to run Creative X-Fi (SB0460) under Windows 2000?
Are there drivers for Windows 2000?

Yes, it looks like the Audigy driver version 2.09.0016 for Windows 2000 and XP would support the SB0460. I can see a data file for the 0460 in the driver package. I could get these drivers to work with my X-Fi Gamer (SB0730) in Windows 2000, but I don't have a good solution for adapting PCI to PCIE for my X-Fi Gamer in my particular situation. My generic PCI-to-PCIE adapter doesn't deliver enough power for a sound processor. Audio came out too quiet from both my Audigy and X-Fi for any usability in my retro rocket.

How can I modify these drivers for Windows 2000?

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