Problem with X-Fi driver update - any ideas?

[The Sauce]

I just took my X-Fi out of my old computer and installed it in the new rig. Installed and working fine. Downloaded the latest drivers. When installing the latest driver it tells me it can't find a compatible device on the computer and crashes out of the installation dialogue. Anyone work through this problem yet?

 

[chizow]

You'll need to install the drivers off of the install CD first, then patch them with the downloaded updates. Creative is one of the few companies that requires you to do this every single time, but its been the only way I've been able to install drivers for Creative products for as long as I can remember. If you don't want all the added bloatware, use Custom and uncheck all the other stuff you don't want or don't think you'll use.

 

[Auric]

Whaaa? It was installed and working fine with what driver? The one included with Windows or from the original CD?

Contrary to chizow, the CD is not required and obviously the Windows driver is equally undesirable.

I suggest uninstalling whatever is on there, running DriverCleaner and manually removing any remaining file/folder/registry traces before simply installing the latest driver/console pack. Afterwards, remove any unnecessary startup items with ccleaner or such.

 

[The Sauce]

Thanks for the replies. Let me elaborate:

I installed the card, physically. Then I tried to jump straight to installing the latest revision drivers. It told me that it could not find compatible hardware. I then installed the original drivers off of the driver CD. That worked. That card worked. Then I tried to upgrade the drivers with the latest version. Same error - can not find compatible hardware. Went to creative site. Redownloaded the drivers and tried again. Same thing.

Then I emailed Creative and they said that I didn't qualify for tech support because the product was more than 1 year old. I'm stuck here.

 

[450R]

Have you tried the auto-update thing at Creative's site? Maybe you're inadvertently downloading the wrong drivers.

 

[Auric]

Is it some weirdo OEM model or retail? I suppose the latter since you have a CD. But I have likewise yet the CD has never even been opened and have just used the aforementioned driver/console download and it seems unlikely to mistakenly fetch the wrong one. Maybe you have a flaky mobo and it needs to be moved to a diff'rent slot?

 

[chizow]

Hmmm make sure you select the correct version of your X-Fi. It sounds like its looking for a particular firmware/revision and there's at least 3-4 versions of the X-Fi from the driver download pulldown menu. Not as many as the Audigy series, but it can still be confusing. For instance, my X-Fi FPS is listed as BF00 and my Audigy 2 had a similar 4-digit firmware name.

As for the self-extracting update installations, I've never been able to get them to work properly without installing the components off the original CD first. Then the executable uninstalls them and installs the new version. Trying to install straight from the executable results in red X stop errors similar to the one Snatchface is seeing, like "unable to locate compatible device" etc.

 

[The Sauce]

OMG I am such a fool. You guys were right. I must have had the wrong file. I followed your link and the file worked. I am a numbnuts.

 

[Brian48]

You don't need the CD any more to install a Creative sound card. The drivers from the site are fine.

Are you trying to install this on a nForce4 board by chance? Also, is this one of the older ExtremeMusic WITHOUT the heatsink on the chip?

 

[The Sauce]

I got it. Their download site is totally fvcked up. They have options for both X-Fi and Soundblaster...but the X-Fi drivers aren't under "X-Fi"...they are under Soundblaster - X-Fi. It is very confusing and poorly done. You can easily be misdirected to the wrong file. Sorry guys I got it. Thanks.

 

[Brian48]

This is what I get for walking away in the middle of replying to a post. Didn't see your last post. Glad you solved the problem.

 

[Auric]

Hurray

I still don't see how you got the wrong one though. Every X-Fi except the "Audio" model shares the same core hardware and thus driver. So all such menu selections do point to the same driver I linked.

As to the four-digit alphanumeric sequence, that's just the variable I/O resource.