Getting tired of my X-Fi

[alevasseur14]

I've been through multiple OS installs (32 and 64 bit) and even completely different motherboards/chipsets and I'm getting really fed up with this problem. What happens is I'll be listening to music with iTunes or watching TV in Windows Media Center and all of a sudden the sound will start getting distorted - like reverb is being added. It doesn't crackle like the X-Fi cards were famous for after release, it sounds like an echo. It gets worse and worse until I have to restart. Logging out works but doesn't seem to last and isn't much less annoying than a restart anyways. Also, it's not specific to those two programs. Once it starts, any audio produced is affected.

I'm thinking of hooking up the audio card that came with my motherboard but I've only recently gotten this machine completely set up and am tired of tinkering - for now. I'm wondering if I just have a bad X-Fi or if this is another common problem that I just haven't heard of. I've kept up on driver updates and I still have the issue.

I think it's probably just an e-peen issue but I'd really like to stick with my X-Fi, especially since I laid down all that cash for it back in '06 or whenever. Do the new PCIe cards suffer this defect as well? I'm probably not going to spend the money on an X-Fi again, this is just more curiosity than anything. What do you all think?

 

[zerogear]

Have you tried non-official drivers? PAX or Daniel_K ones?

 

[alevasseur14]

I haven't. Truth is, I didn't know anything about them. What benefits are they supposed to provide over the official drivers?

 

[hclarkjr]

have a look here

 

[hclarkjr]

i have been running my x-fi for over a year with no trouble at all in vista ultimate 64 bit. i use the official released drivers from creative too

 

[goobernoodles]

Did you disable your onboard sound? I just had a fresh Win7 build do the same thing, only to realize I forgot to disable the onboard sound. Disabled the thing in BIOS and haven't had the problem since.

 

[alevasseur14]

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
Did you disable your onboard sound? I just had a fresh Win7 build do the same thing, only to realize I forgot to disable the onboard sound. Disabled the thing in BIOS and haven't had the problem since.

Interesting thought. I know I had onboard disabled on my last motherboard but I'm not sure about this one. I'll restart and see and then check back in.

 

[geokilla]

Daniel_K should replace everyone who works at Creative.

 

[brblx]

wish there were aftermarket drivers before i literally threw my x-fi away.

 

[alevasseur14]

Well, I rebooted and checked my BIOS and the onboard sound was indeed disabled. This is where it gets really funny. I reboot into Vista and am not greeted by the usual start up sound. I fired up iTunes and sure enough, no sound. Nothing. Rebooted again and sound was back. My X-Fi must not be pleased with me. LOL.

I'm going to have to check out those Daniel K drivers with all the good things you guys are saying about them. Hopefully they fix my issue!

 

[hclarkjr]

here is link for the daniel k drivers

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: alevasseur14
Well, I rebooted and checked my BIOS and the onboard sound was indeed disabled. This is where it gets really funny. I reboot into Vista and am not greeted by the usual start up sound. I fired up iTunes and sure enough, no sound. Nothing. Rebooted again and sound was back. My X-Fi must not be pleased with me. LOL.

I'm going to have to check out those Daniel K drivers with all the good things you guys are saying about them. Hopefully they fix my issue!

I had that happen to me for the first time last week. It never happened before, or since. Very infrequently I'll get static from the xfi that can only be fixed by a restart. That only happens a couple of times per year though.

 

[alevasseur14]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: alevasseur14
Well, I rebooted and checked my BIOS and the onboard sound was indeed disabled. This is where it gets really funny. I reboot into Vista and am not greeted by the usual start up sound. I fired up iTunes and sure enough, no sound. Nothing. Rebooted again and sound was back. My X-Fi must not be pleased with me. LOL.

I'm going to have to check out those Daniel K drivers with all the good things you guys are saying about them. Hopefully they fix my issue!

I had that happen to me for the first time last week. It never happened before, or since. Very infrequently I'll get static from the xfi that can only be fixed by a restart. That only happens a couple of times per year though.

Weird. We have the same X-Fi too. Mine acts up all the time though. Probably 3-4 times a week and it's the same across both motherboards I've used it on.