I have an Audigy 2 ZS that has been kicking around on my desk forever. I'm trying to use it because I found a set of 5.1 speakers in a box but windows doesn't seem to know it's there. Should windows 7 "do something" if I just stick it in the slot and boot up? Because it didn't....and it's not working and the setup CD and driver installer says it doesn't detect any Creative sound hardware installed in the system and self-cancels. My mobo only has 1 PCI slot so I can't try another one. Yes it's seated properly and I've reseated it many times.

There's a good chance it's fubar'd because of how it's been (not) stored. What should I do?

buy another card... audigy 2 zs is old news

Does your motherboard not have 5.1 surround support? Most motherboards that aren't super awful cheap do.

Also, Windows 7, along with Vista, does not have decent drivers for the Audigy series. Creative basically said SCREW YOU to everyone who didn't own an X-Fi card. Even if you do get drivers, they're pretty awful and buggy. I found this out a long time ago. Trust me when I say it is NOT worth your time.

I was actually surprised to find out my motherboard does NOT have 5.1 onboard. I seem to remember paying about $80 for it, micro-ATX.

Looks like I can pick up a Asus PCI sound card for about $29 on amazon. That's what I'll do.

I'm assuming that you have your chipset drivers installed & that you've checked Device Manager (Windows + Pause) to see whether or not the device was detected. If it's detected but is listed as "unknown device" it's likely a driver issue. If it's still not detected, try it in another computer (you appear to only have 1 PCI slot). If the card works in another computer, it's likely that it's a compatibility issue of some sort.

A quick Google search reveals hundreds of people having driver issues with this card & having to jump through a few hoops to get it to function properly in Windows 7 (especially 64-bit). There's certainly nothing wrong with purchasing a new card if you want to avoid the headache, to have a card that isn't becoming more & more legacy & have the money to do so but determining whether or not the card still functions will allow you to at least sell it.