Creative X-Fi Blues

[TheMafioso]

Hi Guys,
I've recently bought a second hand Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic card from Ebay.
I'm not been able to install it on my computer. On running the installation of the drivers that came with the CD, the computer hangs during installation.

Then I've downloaded the updated drivers from creative website, though the installation completed this time, only sometimes i was able to hear to hear the sound, most of the times there was no sound or sound is produced with crackling.
Also during the first boot after installation, there was a BSOD...but after restarting the system again i was able to boot up XP..

I've contacted the seller, he says the card was working on his system...

So what do you guys think, is the card defective or there is problem with my system ??
I've also updated my motherboard drivers to latest...but it didn't work..

My System is:
AMD Athlon XP 2100+
MSI VIA KM400 Mobo
1 GB Ram
Nvidia geforce 6600gt
400W PSU
Windows XP Proffesional SP2

 

[BDawg]

Knowning Creative, I bet it's a problem with the drivers.

I haven't had a single problem with my X-Fi though.

 

[Ghouler]

My X-Fi works fine, too. I have impression Creative drivers improved a lot since the original Live in the 90's.
If you get blue screens again perhaps take note what they say, it could be anything.
Installing latest Via chipset drivers for mobo and disabling onboard sound in bios won't do any harm either.

 

[TheMafioso]

^^onboard sound is already disabled.....i will take note of the BSOD when it appears next time..
BTW heard there were some issues with early versions of the card...could this be reason ??

 

[lamere]

I've had the card sine the first week it cam out, I haven't had any problems either.
Maybe the guy on ebay wasn't being so honest. What I would wonder is why he would want to get rid of one of the best cards creative makes

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Did you have a sound card previously? If so you may need to uninstall the drivers from the previous card, then reinstall the Xfi drivers

 

[indie]

It could be your VIA chipset. Soundblasters in the past had serious problems working normally on the VIA chipset (BSOD, crackling sounds, etc). Try another computer to see if everything is fine?

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

just trader for a used X-Fi off this forum. Installed the updated drivers off the Creative website and my X-Fi works perfectly.

 

[Brian48]

I haven't read of any issues with the X-Fi with KM400 based motherboards. You can try using a different PCI slot to see if that makes a difference. Checking to see whether you have the latest BIOS might be good idea as well.

I really don't think it's a driver problem.

 

[stardrek]

I know this is not the error you are encountering but you may want to update your BIOS, just in case, and also update Quicktime or itunes if you have either of those.
They talk about it on the FAQ. If they have some issues with BIOSs or other software, it could affect other things they do not know about...like what you are experiencing.

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/x-fi/faq/
Q2. Some computers may exhibit one or more of the following symptoms while attempting to install a Creative X-Fi sound card:

* System will either freeze or not boot
* System will say there are multiple unknown PCI Devices and then cause the system to generate a blue screen error.
* System may reboot repeatedly depending on XP settings.
* Error: The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant. Please contact your system vendor... ( STOP: 0x000000A5 )


These symptoms may be corrected with an updated BIOS from the motherboard manufacturer. To update the BIOS for your motherboard, please contact your motherboard vendor.

 

[TheMafioso]

Thanx all guys for the response....
Well issue seems to be fixed for now...there were some IRQs set as `reserved` in the BIOS, i put them all as `enabled`, and it is working now...though i once encountered crackling sound after changing the card on entertainment mode, but thankfully it has not appeared after that...

BTW there are no recent BIOS updates for the motherboard, as its quite old....