Sound Blaster Live! Error Message After Installing Windows

This article was previously published under Q229186

SYMPTOMS

After you install Windows, you may receive the following error message:

Error: Memory Manager not detected.
SB Live! requires EMM386 or similar.
SB Live! driver NOT loading.

This issue can occur if the Emm386.exe file is not loaded during the startup process.

To resolve this issue, make sure the Emm386.exe file is being loaded in the Config.sys file:

Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Notepad.
On the File menu, click Open, type c:\config.sys in the File Name box, and then click Open.
In the Config.sys file, note whether there is a line that contains Emm386.exe. If there is a line that contains the Emm386.exe text string, remove any characters in front of the "Device=" line, and then continue to step 5. For example, change the following line from
rem -- by Windows 98 setup - device=emm386.exe
to
device=emm386.exe
If the Config.sys file does not contain a line with the Emm386.exe text string, continue to the next step.
Add the following lines to the Config.sys file
device=windows\himem.sys
device=windows\emm386.exe
where windows is the path to the folder in which Windows is installed.
On the File menu, click Exit, and then click Yes to save the changes.
Restart the computer.