I've had this problem with my live platinum 5.1 but only after i damaged it while installing a new dvd drive, then i got the devldr not responding on shut down and it took ages to shut down. Also on start up I got the worst sound I have ever heard, like a evil digital screech which is sooo bad when you have headphones on. Anyway I got a new soundcard and a new pc but I'm selling the old one with the live with it so i've formatted and reinstalled using the drivers windows provides this works fine, tho i cant use the inputs on the front panel (tho this maybe due to me damaging the soundcard). Its when you install the drivers provided that things go bad, i dont get the noise on startup but i do get the slow shut down. I'm downloading the LiveDrvUni-Pack.exe now to see if it will do anything.