Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer stopped working after installing GTX 970

Hello guys!

I have just upgraded my videocard and memory(i dont think its relevant) from GTX 570 to GTX 970. BUT, the moment i installed the new Nvidia drivers, my sound was gone...
My rig is:
CPU: Intel 2500K
MB: Asus P8P67 Pro
GPU: MSI GTX 970
Memory: 2x4GB Gskill 1600
Audiocard: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
OS: Windows 8.1 64BIT

I did google this problem and it seems that NVIDIA Audio HD driver is at a conflict with Creative X-Fi driver.
I tried:
1)Removing NVIDIA driver completely with Driver Sweeper and installing it without the HD audio.
2)Removing Creative drivers and reinstalling them.

No matter what i do, it just wont work... And one more thing - i get this error in device manager when i click on Creative X-Fi Audio Processor - This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)

If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.

Also, if i click to uninstall the creative driver from device manager, the pc will give error of IRQL not less or equal and then restarts...

I am dealing with it for the last 4 hours with no sucess. I hope you guys can help me to solve it.

BIG THNX IN ADVANCE!!!

Which PCIe slots are you using?

Here is the image

Have you tried the uninstall of Creative drivers via Device Manager through Safe Mode?

I havent tried to uninstall through safe mode, but i did try to uninstall and install about 10 times already. Maybe i am doing it wrong. How can i completely remove Creative drivers from my system?

Should i disable onboard audio in BIOS or its not relevant?

I would disable onboard as well to be safe

Driversweeper I believe also has an option for Creative drivers for what it's worth.

Thank you guys for your help but nothing helped.

I decided to connect my T7900 Speakers to onboard Realtek soundcard and though it doest work flawlessly(rear left and rear right not working) - it works!

Thanks for your help!

CONCLUSION:
Never buy a Creative product again!

Try PHYSICALLY removing the Creative card and uninstall then reinstall the GPU drivers again (without the audio). Once that is installed, then put the Creative card back in and see if that works.

Otherwise, the next step to me would be a reformat of windows. Sounds like its still not uninstalling the HD Audio drivers and it is causing a conflict.

It's normally not a driver issue. I had the same problem once upgrading a video card as well a number of year ago. When that occurs, it's because the card is unable to obtain a IRQ, so the OS cannot access it. Normally, moving it to another PCI slot can solve the issue, as the Bios might allocate a specific IRQ for each slot (check you motherboard manual).

If at all possible, try the video card in either the white or black PCI-e slot, and the X-Fi card in the other PCI slot.

Driver issues with Creative cards usually occur when doing any major changes to the system, like if you move the card to a different slot on the motherboard. The Creative drivers when installed look for the card at a specific location in the computer resources, and if no longer located there, it just fails to load as it does not look for the card at its new location in the resource pool. A simple uninstall and re-install of the drivers fixes that, but the op already did so and it still fails to work.

Would removing the hardware and placing the GPU in first (so it will pull IRQs it needs), rebooting, then installing the other card which should then pull available IRQs?

EarthDog said:

Would removing the hardware and placing the GPU in first (so it will pull IRQs it needs), rebooting, then installing the other card which should then pull available IRQs?

Click to expand...

Usually on those older motherboards, no. The IRQs assigned to the USB controllers, SATA controllers, PCI, PCI-e, etc, etc, is normally fixed and cannot be changed or dynamically assigned (a good motherboard manual will actually state what IRQs are assigned to what slots/peripherals). The only way to resolve IRQ/resource conflicts would be to rearrange the cards. I've had to do that a couple of times because of the same issue.

Hmm... I always thought, for a long while now (before this P67 based board), that IRQ settings were dynamic to the hardware that is installed. There may be 'hardcoded' IRQs for things like USB and such, but the PCI/PCIe IRQs were dynamic.

Thanks for the info.

EarthDog said:

Hmm... I always thought, for a long while now (before this P67 based board), that IRQ settings were dynamic to the hardware that is installed. There may be 'hardcoded' IRQs for things like USB and such, but the PCI/PCIe IRQs were dynamic.

Thanks for the info.

Click to expand...

For many expansion cards, yes, they can have the IRQ randomly assigned to it and they will chug along happily, but on those older boards, it's the mobo and bios that are in charge of what gets what resource. Normally, all would work fine, even when different components had to share resources. But sometimes, a component would refuse to work because of a specific resource that it needs, that some other component has taken over. I don't know the specifics, but when I had this problem with my older PCI equipped boards, it was always a IRQ or resource issue. Off the top of my head, one of my really old Asus mobo manuals has a chart in it showing what is assigned which IRQ. Page 39 in this PDF manual.

Newer boards should not have that problem at all, as newer boards should actually be able to change resources as needed for each component. But usually anything with legacy PCI slots, will have statically assigned resources.

I wonder where that line is in that case? The P67 chipset is 4 years old (1/2011 release date). When I was thinking is what you showed me... circa 2004 and much earlier even. The PCI spec was last updated in 2002, IIRC and it allowed for resource sharing even (not all devices).

Oh well.

I remember setting irq numbers manually when I had issues in the distant past. Is he unable to manually set a new channel?