For the last little while I've been having some issues with my sound card (In my desktop / file server) it stops working randomly. As in the hardware "vanishes" from the computer. I have Creative's Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. These issues have only been present for about a month now, however I have previously had other issues with other parts of the "package".

Last year the Front I/O Box suddenly had 4 ports die. The L/R RCA in and the Mic in / Headphone out jacks just stopped working.
It seems now, that the gold tracks (solder bits that carry electrical signals yadda yadda) are PEELING off the board!

The actual PCI slot part has ~5 broken points (explaining why the card "vanishes") and what look like a mix between dry joints and peeling on connections to the expansion connector that goes to the I/O Box.

Unfortunately for me, I bought this on the 10th of August 2004! So the warranty has long since expired.

However, I can see no possible reason for this to happen. The computer is dry, hasn't been exposed to moisture, is well taken care of and keeps very low temperatures. The fact that the tracks are physically PEELING off the board concerns me. There are no sign of any other issues through the computer, the motherboard and 3 other nearby cards are all fine.

I spent $383.04 on this card + the Creative 7.1 speakers to go with it.
This is supposed to be a high quality card, I've had it now for 3 years, 1 month, 20 days (at time of posting) and yes that is approaching what I would call "age" but seriously, ITS PEELING! And I guarantee that that wasn't in the product description.

I'm tempted to contact the supplier, maybe even Creative and see if anything could be done. I love Creative products and this really is a first for me. Any ideas anyone?