My (Weird) X-Fi Experience

[TerranUp16]

As part of a semi-major upgrade I initiated three weeks ago, I purchased an X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card. I initially slapped this in my case, installed the drivers, and had it working fine in XP. I then received Vista x64 (had bought Vista Home Premium but for anything less than Ultimate you need to then order the x64 disc and pay shipping). I installed it on my system and installed the Vista x64 X-Fi XtremeGamer drivers, and had it working fine. Until last weekend. It just stopped working in most applications and worked, for some reason, in UT3- albeit, not well. Then it stopped working in UT3 and worked sporadically (when it was working, it worked in all applications), but working is a bit of a misnomer- it output sound with tons of crackling (certainly not what I bought an X-Fi to hear). I have been going back and forth with the Creative tech support guy via e-mail for almost a week now and have been unable to change the situation.

He finally suggested that it was time to test for a hardware issue, and told me to take it out and test it in another computer. In preparation to do that, I uninstalled the card's drivers (the latest x64 ones, and I uninstalled them via the Device Manager as instructed). It prompted me to restart to finish-off the uninstallation, but my virus scanner had, at that point, decided to scan. So I told it I'd restart later, figuring it wouldn't hurt to let me virus scanner do its work first- just load-up some NHL 2K3 on my Wii for a bit. Anyway, I saw one of my friends on AIM, and sent him a message. He messaged me back. But, I heard a sound. The AIM sound. I wondered how. To confirm that I truly was hearing sounds again, I initiated AOL Radio. Sure enough, it was coming through- crystal clear. That really is where I am right now. It seems to be working perfectly, but I refuse to shut-down or restart my PC and refuse to mess with any settings. I have tested games and pretty much everything that can output audio and have found the results quite satisfactory.

But I really don't know what to do or what is going on. I'm presuming that there must be an issue w/Creative's Vista x64 drivers that's causing the problem because I know that at least some parts of the drivers were uninstalled, but apparently the main part of the drivers still remain intact until I restart. I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with X-Fi cards and Vista/Vista x64 and if they have any input. Atm, I'm just waiting to hear back from the Creative tech support guy, but until I do, I know I'm not shutting this thing down (even afraid to put it to sleep).

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

You have an nForce 4 + 4GB RAM + a 64-bit OS? I wouldn't have recommended an X-fi in your situation. There have been known issues with Nforce4 boards populated with 4GB RAM and an X-fi card IIRC.

 

[TerranUp16]

Hm, I did some research and hadn't heard about those. Apparently I'm experiencing them.

 

[TerranUp16]

You know, I could just say what I did above, but I had it working perfectly after part of the driver was uninstalled- ostensibly the non-vital parts. Therefore, there is definitely a way, through drivers, to rectify this problem. Thus, to simply say that nForce 4 + 4GB RAM + a 64-bit OS is a no-go with X-Fi is simply wrong- there is a way, Creative just needs to find it. Furthermore, it was working perfectly for a few days before it started having issues. My point is, it's definitely possible to get it working- I just can't replicate the process to do so.

 

[Nenu]

As said you have hit one of the issues with the X-Fi and Nforce 4 chipset that surfaces far too often.
I quote your first post

it output sound with tons of crackling (certainly not what I bought an X-Fi to hear)

This could be part of the problem you are having but it might also be another separate issue.
I read about one chap sorting out this issue with the X-Fi and NForce 4 by putting an EM shield around his X-Fi card as his problems were due to interference from radio waves inside the PC.

I've had similar awkward experiences on a few machines getting the drivers to work.
I just kept fiddling (uninstalling/reinstalling just the driver) until they worked, sorry I cant be more helpful.
Its like each Windows install, has its own personality!

 

[TerranUp16]

Hm, I don't think it has anything to do w/radio waves inside the case- the times when I got the crackling were not when it was initially working and not during the time when I uninstalled the driver w/out shutting down (it worked perfectly then w/out any crackling).

 

[silasbear]

I am in a quasi-similar situation. I had an old s478 intel board with my x-fi platinum for 2 years with no problems ever. No popping, crackling, nothing. I even had the original drivers from the disc installed because I never had a problem.

Then... last week I get my new build together, with an Abit IP35 board, pop in my X-fi and it Snap-crackle-pop central. Every driver I tried had the same random pops and crackles. Uninstalled the X-Fi and tried on-board sound and it worked perfectly.

Cut to last night, doing some research, I find out that some people have had success with increasing the pci latency of the card using PCI latency tool. I figure "what the hell" and give it a whirl. Well the latest build of PCI latency tool hard locks my system, but I managed to track the 2nd version, which worked, and changed the latency of the card as well as a few other devices on that same bus.

I am currently,*crosses fingers*, listening to crackle free audio. I thought it might be a fluke, so I rebooted, applied the new latency and here I am blasting music over my Senn HD595s with no grimacing.

I would try the latest drivers and try adjusting your pci latency.