Auzentech X-Fi Prelude Driver Problems!

[varkanoid]

I had a X-Fi Fatality. When my XP 32 bit install went west I had to reinstall Windows from scratch and as I had a legit XP Pro X64 I decided to try that plus due to having 4gb X64 would use all the memory (whereas XP 32 bit doesnt). Even though there were drivers for X64 with the Fatality the speaker levels were terrible and on the whole the driver was pants.

Then I saw the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude and had heard that this was a reworked card with greatly improved drivers. Excellent ! So I got one from morecomputers.com for £115, bargain.

Installed it today and installed the drivers from the CD. Using the Audio console tested the levels and the sounds were superb. Great I thought just what I wanted superb. Then I thought I had better put the patch on. Oh dear.

I`m using Creative 5.1 speakers.I lost sound to the rear speakers altogether. Front left and right are really loud and the centre is quiet. Rear channels are then directed to front left and right and are really quiet.

It looks like they really screwed up the patched drivers. Also with having 4gb games crash still with the patch installed.

Therefore I have logged a ticket with Auzentech support to see if I get a response.

The only recourse I can think of is remove 2gb and use the drivers from the CD.

It looks like it could be a very good card, but it still has driver problems !

 

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Well they said they fixed the 4gb ram problem in the updated patch drivers

I only have 2 gb ram so i couldn't test if that is so....

Are you sure you have the new drivers installed ? Check the control panel >> hardware device manager >> audio >> driver version see what it says.

Maybe others can step forward and see if they have this problem as well or just you

 

[varkanoid]

I suspect it maybe Vista and 4gb they have fixed someone else maybe able to confirm that.

er yes I did install the patch correctly, its not hard !



I've tried different combinations too, patch on its own etc still no joy.

So I've removed 2gb and then tried the patch and still it screws up the sound to the speakers so whether it fixed the 4gb problem or not the patch is still a mess.

At the moment running cd drivers with 2gb fine although only tested one game successfully so far.

I guess with it being a new card and they ran out of stock of production 1 cards not many people have them yet especially with XP Pro X64.

 

[varkanoid]

Thought you might like to see this reply I got from Auzentech tech support.

Dear Julian,

Thank you for contacting Auzentech, Inc.

It can be classfied as the compatibility problems or crash with heavy devices.
Update your motherboard chipset and BIOS.
Try cleaning the PCI connector with pencil eraser(do not leave the finger print) and putting your sound card into another PCI slot.

[XP]-Go to ‘my computer’ right click >> properties >> hardware >> device manager >> view >> resources by connection >> interrupt request(IRQ) Each devices has their own IRQ number and some part of devices are using it together.
If you think that some devices are unnecessary, right click and select disable.

When you put your heavy data device such as webcam, WiFi card or TV Tuner card, it is possible to have a crash at the reason above.
Try moving those devices and testing your sound card.

Set the onboard sound device to Disabled at the BIOS setup.
The MIDI port and Game port need to be set as Disabled as well.

The best thing you can do is to make your pc as stable as possible.
Go to Start > All Program > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.

- Creative LAB reported that the patch is helpful to 4G pc more stable.
If the problem persists with patch 1.0, once you use RC3 only.
We will release the patch 1.1 by next week and hope it will fix the issues on your PC.

We appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

 

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

Ah... thx for the info.

Well cross your fingers hopefully the new patch will fix the problem for good.

This is alot of info compared when asking Creative forum admins who tell you "Oh we weren't told anything by the programmers yet..." .....

Anyway my problem with the old drivers when the card came out was my console switcher kept crashing after leaving it on for long periods.

It hasn't done that though after updating

Hei did they change the EAX option in Game Mode ? Because It looks as if there is no big EAX tab there like before ;

 

[varkanoid]

Looks like they did change the EAX tab.

Just tested C&C3 with the RC3 CD drivers and it crashes. Thats with 2gb.

Battlestations Midway plays fine tho !

 

[varkanoid]

just got this too

Dear Julian,

Thank you for contacting Auzentech, Inc.

We are reporting many issues to Creative continuously.
Not only patch 1.1 but also new patchs will be available incessantly.
We keep our website as up-to-date as possible, so please meke sure to stay informed of all the information posted.

We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

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