X-Fi demoshield installation problems

H

hecuter

n00b
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
12
Well, there was a "going out of business sale" at a computer store, so I managed to pick up a Soundblaster X-Fi for $45. I tried installing the drivers for it, and demoshield crashed halfway through. Researching this, I found that quicktime causes these problems, so I uninstalled Quicktime, and when that didn't work, iTunes as well. It still won't install though.

I'm running Windows XP with SP1 and an nForce4 mobo. I heard that the nForce4 causes running problems, but nothing about install problems. Any help here would be appreciated, because it seems that my saying, "It isn't a creative product if it works" is coming true. :rolleyes:




**On a sidenote, I just bought a pair of Sennheiser 650HDs, and was wondering if this board + cmoy would be adequate until I can get my hands on a proper amp.
 
SP2. No freaking reason not to. That'll probably fix your problem too. If you have a problem with SP2, don't use Windows.
 
Also, make sure to download the newest drivers from creative's website (if you have not already). Do not bother with the disc that came with it:rolleyes:
 
Grentz said:
Also, make sure to download the newest drivers from creative's website (if you have not already). Do not bother with the disc that came with it:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

you cant use the drivers from the website without using the disk first.
 
pain.angel said:
you cant use the drivers from the website without using the disk first.
Click to expand...

I have never heard of that. I have always went to the manufacturer's website to get any driver. It doesnt matter if its for a wireless card or sound card. What is on the site is the newest driver.
 
Yea, if I recall, its some parts of the website drivers that dont work and only work via the cd, so say you needed a load of the crap software that you get with creatives drivers, then trying to install them from the website wont work, you have to use the cd, but the actual sound card drivers install ok from the website, its things like the sound panel etc that you need the cd for.
 
You know, I have a new X-Fi, I've done their auto update and looked at the list of drivers to install manually; and there are never any so called drivers listed, just software applications. Kind of weird.

M
 
I just installed an X-Fi today. I uninstalled the old drivers of my audigy first, then popped the x-fi in my computer.

I went to creative's driver page (about half an hour ago) and there was a driver there. It was dated august (or october?) 2006, I believe. The driver is part of creative's "Audio Console." It wasn't an application (like mediasource). I didin't bother with the CD. I'm listening to music right now with the x-fi.

So, you would:

1. Go here: http://www.creative.com/support/
2. Click on Downloads.
3. Choose Region
4. Choose Country
5. Choose language
6. Scroll down (this might be what's throwing people off...the page is blank - the picture here doesn't work...just scroll down).
7. Select product - Sound Blaster (in this case the x-fi cards are actually under "Sound Blaster" (not x-fi...kind of dumb...all you will find is external solutions there).
8. Select "X-Fi"
9. Select your Card
10. Click on Next
11. Scroll down.
12, Select language, OS and file type (you can choose all or just driver.)
12. Click on Go
13. The first item should be the driver (dated oct. 30, 2006).

Here is what the audio console looks like after installation:




Hope this helps.


p.s. Can anyone tell I'm having a boring Friday night? ...sniff...
 
schapman said:
You can with the XFI. It's how I always do it. Grab the driver from the website, install it, then just install the THX panel from the CD.
Click to expand...

What important settings/options are on the THX panel that are not also available through the Audio Console that downloads with the driver from the web site? My driver (July 06' version) is working well, so don't want to take any chances by using the installation CD or updating the drivers:D
 
jester1176 said:
yes you can. that argument is about 2 years old.
Click to expand...

lol the card isnt even two years old. Last I knew the drivers on the creative site where an update only and not the complete driver. forgive me for not reforming my hd every other month and having to reinstall drivers.
 
oneils said:
I just installed an X-Fi today. I uninstalled the old drivers of my audigy first, then popped the x-fi in my computer.

I went to creative's driver page (about half an hour ago) and there was a driver there. It was dated august (or october?) 2006, I believe. The driver is part of creative's "Audio Console." It wasn't an application (like mediasource). I didin't bother with the CD. I'm listening to music right now with the x-fi.

So, you would:

1. Go here: http://www.creative.com/support/
2. Click on Downloads.
3. Choose Region
4. Choose Country
5. Choose language
6. Scroll down (this might be what's throwing people off...the page is blank - the picture here doesn't work...just scroll down).
7. Select product - Sound Blaster (in this case the x-fi cards are actually under "Sound Blaster" (not x-fi...kind of dumb...all you will find is external solutions there).
8. Select "X-Fi"
9. Select your Card
10. Click on Next
11. Scroll down.
12, Select language, OS and file type (you can choose all or just driver.)
12. Click on Go
13. The first item should be the driver (dated oct. 30, 2006).

Here is what the audio console looks like after installation:




Hope this helps.


p.s. Can anyone tell I'm having a boring Friday night? ...sniff...
Click to expand...

Yup and folks will still botch this:D Driver date is Oct, 9, 06.

For folks having problems installing the card. Here are a few more tips. First run Prime 95 to see if your rig is stable. Then Defrag and if you're overclocked set it back to stock speed. WinXP is good at running multiple apps but shut down Quicktime and ANY other apps similar to it. Close everything in the "Systray" like Anti-Virus apps, IM and etc........

Then us Geeks take for granted that everyone has their INF's, Service Packs and BIOS's updated. The Cards don't like Windows Compatability Drivers on the IDE, PCI Bridges and other system devices as well. Known problems with some VIA and nVidia platforms are rooted here. A well set up PCI BUS or South Bridge is very important.
 
aznx said:
SP2. No freaking reason not to. That'll probably fix your problem too. If you have a problem with SP2, don't use Windows.
Click to expand...

I heard so many horror stories about SP2, and how it cause a big PITA for alot of users that I never got it. SP1 has been doing fine for me so far, maybe the next time I do a clean install I'll get SP2. For now I can't be bothered.

Grentz said:
Also, make sure to download the newest drivers from creative's website (if you have not already). Do not bother with the disc that came with it:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The disc is a lump of garbage, it takes forever to load each step, and it's filled with useless programs.

EVIL-SCOTSMAN said:
Yea, if I recall, its some parts of the website drivers that dont work and only work via the cd, so say you needed a load of the crap software that you get with creatives drivers, then trying to install them from the website wont work, you have to use the cd, but the actual sound card drivers install ok from the website, its things like the sound panel etc that you need the cd for.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I found that too. They have the drivers, but to get the soundpanel/volume knob/equalizer and all that jazz you need to use their clunky cd.

oneils said:
I just installed an X-Fi today. I uninstalled the old drivers of my audigy first, then popped the x-fi in my computer.

I went to creative's driver page (about half an hour ago) and there was a driver there. It was dated august (or october?) 2006, I believe. The driver is part of creative's "Audio Console." It wasn't an application (like mediasource). I didin't bother with the CD. I'm listening to music right now with the x-fi.

So, you would:

1. Go here: http://www.creative.com/support/
2. Click on Downloads.
3. Choose Region
4. Choose Country
5. Choose language
6. Scroll down (this might be what's throwing people off...the page is blank - the picture here doesn't work...just scroll down).
7. Select product - Sound Blaster (in this case the x-fi cards are actually under "Sound Blaster" (not x-fi...kind of dumb...all you will find is external solutions there).
8. Select "X-Fi"
9. Select your Card
10. Click on Next
11. Scroll down.
12, Select language, OS and file type (you can choose all or just driver.)
12. Click on Go
13. The first item should be the driver (dated oct. 30, 2006).

Here is what the audio console looks like after installation:




Hope this helps.


p.s. Can anyone tell I'm having a boring Friday night? ...sniff...
Click to expand...

Haha, sounds like you're pretty damn bored. Thanks for the help though I realized I was looking in the wrong place.


Here's where I'm at now. The problem ended up being a conflict with demoshield, so I restored my settings to their pre-X-Fi driver state, then did a clean boot install, and it worked the first time. When i used creative's updating program, it tried uninstalling the drivers I had just put in, and then ran into the same demoshield terminal error. I tried doing it in clean boot again, but it didn't work, telling me that I had previous drivers installed, and would I like to uninstall them? Click yes gave me the message "Fail", clicking no aborted the install, leaving me with a buggy board.

I DL'd the drivers direct thanks to Donnie's help, but it gives me the same message as above. I can't do a restore point because the tech adivsed me to turn off system resources as well as services, so that wiped out all my restore points.

I'm at the point know where I'm thinking the only thing I can do is back everything up (alot of stuff, almost a terrabyte) and reinstall windows, or see if anybody has a suggestion. Little help? :confused:
 
Safe mode?

Try safe mode and Regcleaner or Crapcleaner. Clean up all of the Creative and Apple software. Try to boot normally afterwards.
 
You need the latest version of Quicktime or demoshield will fail. Sounds like you had an older version of Quicktime and then just completely uninstalled it.
 
Regcleaner and CrapCleaner didn't resolve the issue, but thanks for introducing me to some cool programs. Definitely worth keeping around. I had the newest version of QT (7.1.3) when I did the initial install, and I've tried redownloading, but still the same problems.

Update: I checked my IRQ settings, and IRQ 5 (sound) was being shared with Nvidias PCI management. So I went into bios and reserved slot 10, which moved my audio into 11 and my nvidia into 12. I'm still getting driver setup tool errors though. Are the IRQ settings causing problems? And if so, how can I set it up so 5 is for audio, and 10/11 (free) for the Nvidia nForce pci system management?

EDIT** After crawling through the HF archives, it seems that IRQ issues haven't been a problem since the days of 98. It appears the only way to manually reconfigure IRQs is to set your computer from ACPI to HAL, which apparently causes more problems than it's worth. So now I'm still stuck with the problem. If swapping through PCI slots and booting in safe doesn't cure this, I think the only option might be a complete reinstall. :(
 
Never;/DON'T use IRQ #12.
Never install any of the nVidia software, use microsoft's default drivers. Only use the nVidia Chipset .Inf Don't use any IDE, NIC, or RAID software. This CRAP causes problems before any Creative software or hardware was installed.
Look in the BIOS for APIC and Enabled it. These will make your IRQs work better and give you 24(0-23). If you don't have them enabled you will need to update the Drivers.

So, have at it?

MicroSoft KB
 
Thanks for your help guys. Creative's support page wasn't too much help. Donnie, thanks for the advice. I don't use raid, ide, or any of the nvidia bloatware. APIC is enabled and I switched the IRQs back to where they were. After trying everything and more, the only option left for me is to reformat and reinstall. I'm finishing the last of my backing up as I type this, so hopefully this will rememdy all the problems. Thanks to everyone for their help, and I'm sure this thread will be a good resource for those having similar troubles (it's the #6 result on google search for demoshield problems).

J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top