X-Fi Popping in CS:S solution

[zagood]

Started having a problem with my X-fi extrememusic card, hissing and popping in CS:S mostly when there was a map change. Went through the standard progression...wipe/reinstall drivers for sound card and video card, reseat sound card, uninstall/reinstall steam itself, etc. Couldn't find a fix. Didn't have problems in any other games, nor music, nor video. Both speakers and headphones.

Buried in some obscure forum I found the solution...disable Aero Glass.

Seemed stupid, but it worked.

Just an FYI for others that have this same problem.

-z

p.s. yes, my onboard sound really sounds that much worse than the x-fi.

 

[postmortemIA]

geez, another 'win' from creative.

I'm surprised that other soundcards (onboard, cheap stuff) don't have as many driver problems. After all, others are much smaller compared to Creative.

 

[imaheadcase]

Its not a surprise. No reason to use a X-Fi anymore.

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
geez, another 'win' from creative.

I'm surprised that other soundcards (onboard, cheap stuff) don't have as many driver problems. After all, others are much smaller compared to Creative.

I made my mistake a few years ago with an audigy. Last time I buy one of their products.

Unrelated, but I was having crackling sound semi-constantly with my new build (using the same old audigy card). Updating my MB's bios fixed it.

Edit: Updating my MB's bios fixed it - for a half hour. Asus Xonar DX is in the mail, ty Newegg. Anyone want a paperweight? It's got capacitors and a breakout box! :laugh:

 

[Ghouler]

The fix that zagood shared suggests there was an issue with not enough power or bandwidth somewhere to do all the processing.

Aero is something that takes up a lot of resources.

 

[Sheninat0r]

I thought Aero automatically disables itself when you start a game? I know it does for me [Vista Ultimate SP1 x64], since when I alt+tab out of a game my windows are all in Vista Basic for a second until Aero Glass kicks in.