flambe

This is one thing I might not blame on Vista but on Creative.
I gave up on Creative sound cards after Audigy 1 because of software issues.
Are you getting sound?
What often happens is that the basic card drivers install but none of the
rest of the Creative software to control the card will install.
Hence the card "works" but only with the basic Windows software. Without the
Creative software you lose access to the features that you bought the card
for in the first place.
I kept getting the "no card detected" warning regardless of platform (AMD or
Intel), chip set and with Creative software for both Win 9.x and XP.
Creative was of absolutely no help, denied the problem existed. They said as
long as their was sound coming out of the card there was no problem. They
would not accept the cards (I have two of them still sitting in a drawer)
for RMA service and after walking me through an install, which resulted in
the same problems, said they would get back to me. That was several years
ago.
Hence I think Creative sound cards are a complete ripoff and can only laugh
at the positive reviews they receive.