OT-ish: safe online source for Win XP drivers?

[Lobster]

Just ebayed myself a second-hand Creative Labs SBO220 soundcard for the kids' old PC. As expected, it arrived without a driver, and unfortunately the manufacturer's website - which would be my normal source - can't help so I'm resorting to Google. Trouble is, this throws up umpteen sources of the required software on any number of third-party sites - but how can I verify that these are 'safe' to download? Are there any sources for drivers which are recognised to be 'OK' (or at least more 'OK' than others?)

Yes I know, the penance for relying on Micro$oft products...

Thanks David

[Part timer]

Never had any problems with

but usual antivirus precautions apply.

[Dave Osborne]

?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blasterselect Live! then search through archived products until you find a driver that looks suitable.

[Lobster]

>> select Live! then search through archived products until you find a

Yeah been there done that, but in the absence of a driver for SBO220 (or even any acknowledgement on that site that this model number actually exists!) how am I to guess which of the gazillions of listed drivers might actually work properly with my sound card?

David

[GB]

Have you tried just plugging it in and letting windows sort it out? You may not get all the bells and whistles but a generic driver should be ok. Specifically, what happens if you try this approach?

There's also the uk.homebuilt newsgroup to try.

[newshound]

that's uk.comp.homebuilt

[Cash]

David,

Try a scan at driverguide.com for the file - link here:

this has helped me out quite a lot in the past.

If the driver is there, you will need to register (free) with the site to get it.

Cash

[Dave Osborne]

You mean been there and *not* done that?

I suspect its a universal driver. That's what the "Uni" bit means in the file name. Just download it, install it and see if it's happy with your card. If not, uninstall it and try something else.

You have nothing to lose.

[Ericp]

Creative cards of this nature seem to have many oem users. The driver may be available from Creative but under an oem link. I have found a profitable route is to find the name of main brand machines that used a particular card and trying to find drivers for them. Dell makes are particularly good as they seem to keep drivers available for ages.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Lobster writes

Doesn't the M$ "Found New Hardware" dialogue kick in and offer to go search Windows Update for a driver? They are usually fairly basic (not a bad thing considering all the bloated s**te Creative bundles with their products) but work and are tested by the M$ HW labs to be compatible.