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Are there any issues with X-Fi and the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium?

B

BroadbandGamer

Senior member
I've got an itch to replace my sound card. Are their any issues with X-Fi and nForce4 motherboards?

Also, has anyone upgraded from an Audigy 2 and are you glad you did?

Thanks,
 
YES. The XtremeMusic and the Platinum have an incompatibility issue with some bios versions of the nf4 chipsets. Most users report that the problems disappear with the latest bios version, but in my case, the problem didn't go away 🙁 (I've a MSI K8N Neo3 with the latest bios).

I'm waiting for MSI's and Creative's support services reply to my mails...

Has anyone some info that could help me?

See more info at:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1774474&enterthread=y

and

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs...id=26289&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

Hope I've been of some help.

 
what exactly are the problems you're referring to ?

I am running with the A8n-sli deluxe using the 1016 bios and 66.70 chipset drivers and have no problems since installing the XFI card a few months ago (using their latest drivers as well).....
 
Not all users have this problem. I suppose it's a minority, or else it would be more known. As have been stated in the foruns I've mentioned in my previous post, there is no easy way to know wich X-Fi + nforce4 combination will give the problems, but it seems to only happen with the first X-Fi released. You are one of the lucky ones that don't have the issue, probably because you have a later version of the X-Fi or your bios is "fixed".

From the Creative forum (reply 143):

"Hi everyone,

First of all I'd like to thank you all again for your feedback, both here on the forum and in direct contact with Customer Support.

A problem was identified on nForce4 based systems where the system ran into difficulties, related to the enumeration of the cards with 2MB (X-Fi XtremeMusic and X-Fi Platinum). This resulted in a variety of symptoms:

- The system may freeze or not boot

- The system may list multiple "Unknown PCI Device" entries and lead to a BSOD

- The system may reboot repeatedly (when "Automatically Restart" is enabled in the Advanced system settings)

Some motherboard manufacturers have already acknowledged this issue and released a BIOS update to resolve it. For systems where a BIOS update is not available we will be providing an alternative resolution in the form of a replacement card with modified firmware. Please contact Customer Support for your region for further details.

Cat"

For me, no bios or drivers has resolved the issue. I've contacted Creative and I'm going to rma the X-Fi. They were quite efficient to deal with my situation. Contacted them in the morning and by lunch time already had my rma number.
 
First of all, for as big of a comapny as they are, creatives drivers suck complete ass. They always have, but Im sure everyone knows this by now, anyway..

I have an X-fi extreme music *new "heatsink" version* and an Asus A8N32. After the usual fight to get the drivers installed, I have only one hitch. I now have an "Unknown Device" listed in my device manager as stated above. It dosnt seem to affect gameplay or cause BSOD's though, and other than that the card works and sounds GREAT ! !

Did I mention creatives drivers suck ?
 
Yes, IMHO Creative has good hardware but bad software. And without software, hardware is just metallic, shiny junk...

But in this case, the problem lies also on the motherboards side. In most situations, new bios have resolved the problem. And Creative has been replacing the cards that cause problems.

One would suppose that Creative would invest more on the drivers/applications side. Or that another company would percieve customer desire for a good, solid product in the gaming sound department and launch a rival product. Many of us buy Creative because of the game support (EAX, etc...). I would like that. More competition, better prices AND better products.
 
you're most likely right about my success being due to the version of the card I'm using.. I guess that's why it's called bleeding edge... because you're anxious and willing to try these new technologies/products as soon as they are released..I've certainly done my share of bleeding in the past.. It's no different with any first generation product, whether it be an automobile, computer, etc...

Getting back to your problems, I assume you tried all of the usual suspects ?
1) updated mobo bios
2) updated mobo chipset drivers
3) updated creative soundcard drivers
4) try moving the soundcard to a different PCI slot ? (further away from the PCI express or AGP slots seem to produce better results on occassion
5) check that your PSU is sufficient for your setup.. ? Lots of folks have what they feel are seemingly well regarded /rated power supplies.. but with these nforce4 sli setup's they have run into problems... a soundcard like this may be just setting you over the edge of your systems threshold... What type of PSU are you running with, and how many devices, etc are being pushed ? (if this info is in one of the links you provided.. just point me to the page and I can read it from there)

 
Yes, I've tried all the usual stuff (bios, drivers, etc.). I didn't tried putting the sound card in a diferent slot because it was already in the most distant slot from the PCIe.

I've seen that many have tried that with some sucess but now it doesn't matter anymore. I've rma'd the X-Fi and am waiting for a new one to arrive. For what I've seen, this resolved the problems of the other unlucky ones... I hope that it works for me too 🙂.

My PSU is a Seasonic S12 500W ATX12V v2.0. I've done some research before buying it and it seemed, at the time, the best price/quality choice, together with an Enermax. I think it was a good buy. Hope I haven't made a bad choice... I chose it so I' didn't have to worry about power to my new and shiny ASUS X1800XT 🙂🙂.

The rest of the stuff is:

MSI K8N Neo3 (1.5 BIOS)
AMD64 3200 (Clawhammer)
1 Seagate (pata) 60GB and 1 WD Raptor 36GB (sata)
2x512 OCZ PC3700 EB
DVDRW NEC-3520A
ASUS X1800XT
Case: Coolermaster Stacker (STC T01)
and waiting for the X-Fi XtremeMusic...
 
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