hi ged
the main reason for the problems removing the soundblaster may be the amount of time its been in your p.c,and since most programs and some games will have a dll(dynamic link libary) file associated with the soundblaster program
this means that when you try to remove the soundblaster card and drivers some of the programs associated with it may be stopping or causing problems with the removal of the drivers
in a situation like this i would first re-try removing the soundblaster drivers and software but in safe mode which is basically the windows enviroment but without any drivers running,this makes it easier to remove the drivers(since they are not running) and is also good for running anti-virus and spyware scans(since theres less places for malware to hide)
however before this try this method which in my years of experience is the best way of removing soundblaster drivers/firmware :
Click Start, Control Panel, and then double-click Administrative Tools, double-click Computer Management, and then click Device Manager.
Double-click the type of device, for example, Sound, Video an Gamer Controllers, that you want to uninstall.
Right-click the specific device (for example, Sound Blaster X-Fi) you want to uninstall, and then click Uninstall.
In the Confirm Device Removal dialog box, select the Delete the driver software for this device option and then click OK.
Restart the computer
When you are done uninstalling the device, remove it from the computer if desired.
If you have a Sound Blaster installation CD-ROM disk (Windows Vista edition), you can manually uninstall the Sound Blaster drivers by running its SETUP.EXE.
To do so, insert the installation CD-ROM disk. Close the Installation/SETUP wizard if the CD-ROM autoruns. Browse the CD-ROM disk, open \Vista\Audio\Drivers, and double click on the SETUP.EXE file.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The following procedures are for manually uninstalling Sound Blaster drivers under Windows XP.:
If you are using Windows Vista, it is recommended that you download and install the latest Windows Vista drivers. Do not use the installation CD-ROM disk unless the disk is labeled for use with Windows Vista.
Click Start, Settings, Control Panel and Add Remove Programs. Uninstall all listings related to the audio card. Do not restart the PC when prompted to.
Go to Control Panel and switch to Classic View. Open System, select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
Click on the plus sign (+) next to Sound, Video and Game Controllers to expand the group. Highlight the sound card entries, for example, Sound Blaster Audigy WDM, right click and choose the Uninstall option.
If there are other previous sound card entries, uninstall them as well and disable onboard audio (AC97, Sigmatel, etc) if present.
Reboot the PC and cancel out of any driver installation if prompted to.
Insert the Creative Sound Blaster installation CD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive.
Exit from the installation wizard if it autoruns.
Click Start, Run and Browse. Browse to Z:\AUDIO\DRIVERS (where Z:\ represents the CD Rom drive Letter), and run CTZAPXX.EXE.
If you have a Sound Blaster X-Fi card, run SETUP.EXE.
If you have a Windows Vista/Windows XP combination CD-ROM disk for your Sound Blaster Audgy SE (SB0570) card, browse to Z:\XP\AUDIO\DRIVERS, and run SETUP.EXE
In the Creative Driver Update Utility screen, select Driver Uninstallation under Update Option and select WDM Drivers under Driver Type.
Select the option Delete all shared Creative audio driver files, and and click OK.
Step 3: Removing the remaining files
Browse to the C:\Temp and C:\Windows\TEMP (if it exists) folders. All files and folders in the temp folder need to be either deleted or moved to a new folder.
Browse to Program Files, Creative and delete the Sound Blaster Folder. If a file won't delete, right click on the file, click Properties and clear all the Attributes. The file should then be able to be deleted.
Empty the Recycle Bin and reboot the PC.
If you wish to reinstall your software and drivers, do this now.
any problems let me know
good luck ged !