Sound Blaster Z + Windows 8.1 problem

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chineseman

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 28, 2004
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Hey guys, I just updated to Windows 8.1 yesterday and I'm having a bit of trouble with my Sound Blaster Z now. My previous set up was Windows 7 and I had my mic, headphones, and speakers all plugged in at the same time. When I went to the SBZ control panel, I could toggle between speakers and headphones and the system would automatically mute the speakers when the headphones were enabled.

Now, however, the sound continues to play through the speakers regardless of what mode I have enabled. I remember in Windows 7 there was a "Mute speakers when headphones are plugged in" option in Sounds but I can't find it in Windows 8.1. Any clues? Thanks!
 
I'm guessing that these drivers are as screwy as anything else Creative.

Try going to the Creative control panel, or whatever it may be called now, and resetting everything to default and then go from there. I've found that resetting all Creative apps to default (control panel and console launcher for X-Fi stuff) seems to straighten it out sometimes. Also, if the settings don't seem to stick, reset to defaults and then shutdown, do not do a restart.
 
Not exactly the same as your problem but with my Titanium HD, every time I boot in Windows 8.1, my soundcard defaults back to "speakers". I have to change it manually to headphones every time ("speakers" sounds awful) and I even have to tick that "detect headphones plugged in" option and it unticks itself.

I've tried a couple of different driver versions but no go. I'm going to chalk it up to Win 8.1 not being ready for prime time.
 
Im having issues with my TiHD as well. I dont have faith in creative to release an updated driver anytime soon.
 
Term-X said:
Not exactly the same as your problem but with my Titanium HD, every time I boot in Windows 8.1, my soundcard defaults back to "speakers". I have to change it manually to headphones every time ("speakers" sounds awful) and I even have to tick that "detect headphones plugged in" option and it unticks itself.

I've tried a couple of different driver versions but no go. I'm going to chalk it up to Win 8.1 not being ready for prime time.
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That can't be counted as a strike against Windows, thats more a strike against Creative. They are in charge of their hardware/software drivers, all Windows does is make sure is WHQL qualified.
 
FrEaKy said:
That can't be counted as a strike against Windows, thats more a strike against Creative. They are in charge of their hardware/software drivers, all Windows does is make sure is WHQL qualified.
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Perhaps but given it works perfectly fine in Windows 7 and the slew of issues Windows 8.1 has had.. I'm feeling it's more an 8.1 thing.
 
Term-X said:
Perhaps but given it works perfectly fine in Windows 7 and the slew of issues Windows 8.1 has had.. I'm feeling it's more an 8.1 thing.
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My comment was not very helpful to the thread, i removed it.
 
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Just an update for anyone else who was having this problem. The good news - it's working properly now. The bad news - I didn't do anything and I have no idea why it's working now.
 
djoye said:
I'm guessing that these drivers are as screwy as anything else Creative.
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drivers for the new sound blasters have been perfect, if you want to talk about shady drivers all you have do is mention Asus sound cards.
 
Wow, really glad I decided to stick with Win 7 now. As it is, I still have hassles with my TiHD drivers, I'll start getting the "crxfihlp has crashed" message, and I have to reinstall the drivers again to clear it until the next time. I think letting Geforce drivers install the geforce audio drivers causes the problem sometimes.
 
I am running Windows 7 with the Titanium HD with the latest drivers with ZERO problems. I will take a look at Windows 8.1.
 
Term-X said:
Perhaps but given it works perfectly fine in Windows 7 and the slew of issues Windows 8.1 has had.. I'm feeling it's more an 8.1 thing.
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There are no drivers for windows 8.1.
Why would it be a windows 8.1 thing?
 
Snufykat said:
There are no drivers for windows 8.1.
Why would it be a windows 8.1 thing?
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My sentiments exactly. People are still banging the pot over Creative's driver issues from Vista and making blanket statements about every other product since. I have the Titanium HD fully updated and NEVER have a driver or application issue in 2.1 or 5.1 modes, analog or digital.
 
EarlKeim said:
My sentiments exactly. People are still banging the pot over Creative's driver issues from Vista and making blanket statements about every other product since. I have the Titanium HD fully updated and NEVER have a driver or application issue in 2.1 or 5.1 modes, analog or digital.
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Eh, I think you need to go back and read conversation in context (mine specifically, which he was referring to). I'm not necessarily blaming Creative but Windows 8.1. I initially had problems with the Titanium HD under Windows 7 when it was first released but now it is fine.

@SnufyKat

Isn't that sort of the issue? Windows 8.1 presumably should be very similar under the hood to Windows 8. I assume that a lot of it is but there are apparent issues since 8.1's release. Given those issues and the logic of that presumption, most if not all drivers for Windows 8 should work for 8.1. And if conflicts arise because "there are no drivers for 8.1", well, it's safe to say that 8.1 is the problem.

I do realize that 8.1 was more than just a service pack but clearly a lot of these issues could have been avoided.
 
Ummm, blaming MS is rather silly. They reserve the right to change driver models with OS version changes, and indeed we'd like them to. They introduce new features, streamline things, etc. For example: Windows 8 got hardware audio processing back. It doesn't work quite the same as it did in XP, but it is back in. So if a sound card has a hardware DSP and proper 8 drivers, it can offload audio mixing from the system.

When there's a new OS, new drivers may be needed. This is how it has always been. Also, it isn't like they fuck you over. MS supports old OSes for a minimum of 10 years from date of release (sometimes they extend it). Windows 8 will be supported until, at least, January 10, 2023. So it isn't like you have to jump on the 8.1 bandwagon right now. You can wait and validate compatibility.

My desktop is sitting on 8 for that reason. My soundcard, DAW, and samplers all are not verified for 8.1. I can wait until the companies say "Yep, this is ready to go."

Windows 8.1 brings a new kernel version (NT 6.3), it can change the driver model. This can require new drivers.
 
Term-X said:
Eh, I think you need to go back and read conversation in context (mine specifically, which he was referring to). I'm not necessarily blaming Creative but Windows 8.1. I initially had problems with the Titanium HD under Windows 7 when it was first released but now it is fine.

@SnufyKat

Isn't that sort of the issue? Windows 8.1 presumably should be very similar under the hood to Windows 8. I assume that a lot of it is but there are apparent issues since 8.1's release. Given those issues and the logic of that presumption, most if not all drivers for Windows 8 should work for 8.1. And if conflicts arise because "there are no drivers for 8.1", well, it's safe to say that 8.1 is the problem.

I do realize that 8.1 was more than just a service pack but clearly a lot of these issues could have been avoided.
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Guess we will just have to agree to disagree on that.
If the OS was the same or similar i would expect creative to not have make new drivers to get their product to work without issues.
 
HybridHB said:
I got this reply from creative, its a chart on when the drivers will be available.

http://support.creative.com/kb/showarticle.aspx?sid=61105&Question3016=obj
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Thank you for this! I was having issues with Sound Blaster ZxR and Windows 8.1 The vocal audio was just faded out, echo and seems to be out of sync on youtube and Netflix. But played fine on Spotfiy. I did five clean installs before most of the other installs like Origin, Steam, ect.. So for now I went back to Windows 8


This is my issue I been having.

I'll watch movies (netflix)or watch youtube clips from my speakers Corsair SP2500, everything is fine. When I game on the wireless Astros A50s I'll go to the playback panel to switch to the Digital Audio (S/PDIF). Everything is fine too but When switching back to 'speakers' to default device, it just go downhill from that point.

Going back to WIndows 8 and everything is fine :(
 
And now it says end-of-feb 2014. This is complete bullshit. I'm not going to bother waiting for this vaporware form of driver support from Creative. This will be the last Creative product I purchase, and I'll be sure to pass the word on to everyone that will listen. Which should be easy since I sell the stuff for a living. :)
 
Blindside said:
And now it says end-of-feb 2014. This is complete bullshit. I'm not going to bother waiting for this vaporware form of driver support from Creative. This will be the last Creative product I purchase, and I'll be sure to pass the word on to everyone that will listen. Which should be easy since I sell the stuff for a living. :)
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Yeah they updated that date yesterday. I've been checking that page regularly, only to be really disappointed now.
 
Blindside said:
And now it says end-of-feb 2014. This is complete bullshit. I'm not going to bother waiting for this vaporware form of driver support from Creative. This will be the last Creative product I purchase, and I'll be sure to pass the word on to everyone that will listen. Which should be easy since I sell the stuff for a living. :)
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Except that every sound card provider has crappy support....Kind of a pick your poison and hope it doesn't kill you.
 
new drivers now...wroth a try:)

http://support.creative.com/Product...ET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_21402,VARSET=CategoryID:1#
Driver
Creative Sound Blaster Z-Series Software
Filesize : 162.01 MB Download
Hide Details
Release date : 22 Jan 14
File Name : SBZ_CD_L13_1_00_22.exe



Edit: never mind its really just the same driver with creative just changing the date it was listed, as in to make us think we were getting a real made for win 8.1 driver....those dirty bastards
 
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just use Win8 drivers for all Creative products, you have to be a fool to think that 8.1 drivers will be any different.

I own Titanium HD and everything has been fine since day 1 on my Win8.1 machine.
 
TroyX said:
just use Win8 drivers for all Creative products, you have to be a fool to think that 8.1 drivers will be any different.

I own Titanium HD and everything has been fine since day 1 on my Win8.1 machine.
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The Windows 8 driver won't even finish the install on my 8.1 system. It just gets to like 80% and sits there forever. Happens after a full format too. I have to force reboot since the installer won't even cancel or close, then the card seems works fine after. No idea what I am missing.

So at the very least I suspect they would fix something like that...

There is something in the volume levels that gets screwed up on my system too. The volume gets crazy loud after watching Flash videos, and then stays loud until I remove the driver.
 
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The Cobra, any issues installing the Ti HD drivers with your ZxR?

My Z just arrived today. Debating which drivers to install. Running 8.1
 
fenixv said:
The Cobra, any issues installing the Ti HD drivers with your ZxR?

My Z just arrived today. Debating which drivers to install. Running 8.1
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I wanted to build a mantle test machine, so I have a secondary AMD FX-8350 system that I purchased used off of craigslist and got a pair of R7-260x 2GB cards and crossfired them. I split the ram from my primary machine (16GB) threw in my old power supply (1000W Cooler Master) and brought it back to life. Installed Windows 8.1 and was using the onboard audio and noticed it was glitching in BF3&4 and didn't sound as rich as my ZXR in my primary system.

I was perusing the creative forums and saw the posting that the X-Fi HD Titanium driver was finally released. I had a bad exp with the previous driver (Which is why I got my ZXR) because it was basically crippled under Windows 8: No HW audio acceleration, the creative control panel was a joke and would crash all the time. I got my old X-Fi HD out of the closet and installed in with the new driver creative provided. The audio glitching in BF3 and 4 was gone, the sound has not cut out mid game in other games and the control panel looks like it is really working again, basically everything I had on my old Win 7 system, came back to Windows 8.1.

And my X-Fi HD sounds just as good as my ZXR. I was really pleased with the audio performance this driver update provided. I wish creative had been as responsive with their drivers as Nvidia and AMD are. Audio technology does not move as fast as graphics cards and CPU's on the pc side of things. I would say for gaming, the edge goes to the z-series because of the headphone amp and the scout mode option. The X-Fi HD is still the overall better card because of its music and movie capacity, not to mention being geared toward the audio professional if you are in that line of work. if you take away the scout mode, the ZXR and X-Fi HD match up toe to toe in gaming with this driver update. And it seems as though HW Accel is working again on the HD on my older Battlefield 2 and 2142 games.
 
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Oh gotcha - so you're actually using an X-Fi HD. The Z seems to sound pretty great with BF4 but I'm upgrading from a Logitech g35 headset. No problems with the most recent Z drivers yet. However, I am getting the BF4 crashing that seems to be prevalent on the forums with the most recent second assault DLC update. Not sure if it's related to the Z though.
 
fenixv said:
Oh gotcha - so you're actually using an X-Fi HD. The Z seems to sound pretty great with BF4 but I'm upgrading from a Logitech g35 headset. No problems with the most recent Z drivers yet. However, I am getting the BF4 crashing that seems to be prevalent on the forums with the most recent second assault DLC update. Not sure if it's related to the Z though.
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Doubtful it is related. I have had the same error with BF4 as well since the 2nd dlc was released with random desktop crashes again. I also got a BSOD the night before last, but that was the Nvidia video drivers fault. Audio has been great on both machines with these latest driver releases from Creative. It has def given my X-Fi HD a new lease on life.
 
I am also awaiting for Mantle to mature with drivers, I am just glad I can use both cards in both machines.
 
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