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Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic: cannot get it to work

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unfortunately there is no solution to your problem. i had the exact issue with my xtrememusic on xp sp3 and ended up just buying a new card. its a pci bus latency issue that causes the problem, the same one related to the SNP problem people are having. i only had luck running the first released drivers off the cd.

the problem arises on virtually every chipset platform out there, i had the same thing happen from an nf4 setup to an x38. i wish i could say theres a solution but given creative's shoddy track record for quality with the xfi series, the only way out is to buy another brand.
 
i have an xtreme music that i bought recently and it works fine on win7 pro 64bit

what you can try to do is force a driver install, which involves right clicking the card in device manager and doing have disk..etc. theres likely guides on google about how to do this

it could also be a mobo issue.. is the pci clock fine? i think 33mhz was the value to 'lock' at
 
i have an xtreme music that i bought recently and it works fine on win7 pro 64bit

what you can try to do is force a driver install, which involves right clicking the card in device manager and doing have disk..etc. theres likely guides on google about how to do this

it could also be a mobo issue.. is the pci clock fine? i think 33mhz was the value to 'lock' at

I tried finding the driver manually... there is no "force" option, but either way it didn't work. Maybe it is the board, but that stinks as that's the only board I needed it for. My other machines either already have an X-Fi or run raw digital format to an external decoder...
 
Sounds like this card is affected by Creative's notorious disregard for supporting their cards. Other than getting lucky with original CD driver, sounds like joining the legions of dissatisfied Creative customers is in the cards for you too. :(


unfortunately there is no solution to your problem. i had the exact issue with my xtrememusic on xp sp3 and ended up just buying a new card. its a pci bus latency issue that causes the problem, the same one related to the SNP problem people are having. i only had luck running the first released drivers off the cd.

the problem arises on virtually every chipset platform out there, i had the same thing happen from an nf4 setup to an x38. i wish i could say theres a solution but given creative's shoddy track record for quality with the xfi series, the only way out is to buy another brand.
 
Sounds like this card is affected by Creative's notorious disregard for supporting their cards. Other than getting lucky with original CD driver, sounds like joining the legions of dissatisfied Creative customers is in the cards for you too. :(

My X-Fi is going straight to the garbage when I either get my Xonar STX or Claro HT.
 
Don't throw it away. There's probably an OS/configuration it can do basic work on somehow.

I have drive images of all OS since 95 just in case this happens, I reimage back to first boot state, then experiment away... Unless the card is defective, I bet you I can get it to work and tell you how I did it ;).
 
Well I'm back to this problem, on a different X-Fi this time. It's now an X-Fi Fatality Pro Series SB0460 sound card.

I get the same darn problem. The last card (the one from the original post) was returned to the previous owner, and he popped it in no problem on a Win 7 machine.

Here's my guess:
This motherboard + Windows XP SP3 + X-Fi = BAD COMBO!

I think the problem lies between the mobo chipset and the xfi, being on Windows XP.

I'd love a solution... I can't afford to pay for Windows 7 or to have to change my entire motherboard b/c Creative is a bunch of idiots... sorry, they really are for giving this many people problems, and for not paying Daniel K some serious dollars to just fix this for them!
 
Just spent another 3 hours approx.

I don't know why I'm so glued to wanting to figure this out, but I think I'm now interested in solving this impossible task... def need help, though.

My next move is a format I think. This is on my spare (secondary) gaming rig that I keep @ my parents house when I visit there. I'm there every other weekend or so (had dinner with family tonight so I'm staying overnight), and I want an X-Fi card to work on this machine (specs in OP).

I have a single 36gb raptor on here, so no partitioning. I also have a file-svr here that I built for my family yrs ago when I used to live here. I let them keep it... I've got about 800GB on there, and it's stuck on a 100mbit since my main ethernet line is Cat5 and not 5e :( So... I gotta bring another HDD over next time to do a format/install... I want to keep this one available if things don't pan out right.

Any suggestions? I tried all the things I did last time, only this time I got Driver Sweeper to finally work!! .NET framework had to be on here... I already had 2.0 I think, so I just went with installing 2.0 SP2, 3.0, 3.5...

I ran DriverSweeper 2.1, Driver Cleaner Pro, Glary Utilities, and CCleaner, all in safe mode and various combinations.

Before doing all of this tonight, I uninstalled the onboard audio by uninstalling SoundMax from the control panel, rebooting to safemode and cleaning with DriverCleaner Pro (driver sweeper doesn't have 'soundmax' in its list), restarted, went to BIOS and disabled onboard, save and exit, turned off as soon as machine POSTed, installed x-fi fatality card, went into windows, and since then I've been trying everything I stated in my posts tonight.

I tried:
Support Pack 2.0 (I think that's Daniel K)
PAX v1.35, v1.40, v1.60 (yup, all of them)
Creative X-fi driver from their website
PAX's newest suite (was going to try software without driver)

All of them say they don't detect a supported hardware.

Oh, and I also flashed to the newest motherboard BIOS, and I even uninstalled chipset drivers, ran cleaners... I tried installing the XFi drivers while there was no chipset driver, and then reinstalled chipset drivers and tried again.

Other than formatting, did I miss anything? Yes, I've tried diff PCI slots. Yes, this is the SECOND X-Fi card I've tried in this machine and they all give me this problem.

I understand if no one wants to help... I'm probably just beating a dead horse, but I'm so eager to find a solution!!! One thing I lack is knowing how to adjust/program drivers, or I'd be doing that too!! :D
 
I guess no one cares, but I'm still updating this thread.
I installed Windows 7 x64 ultimate on a new hard drive and tried different drivers... STILL GET THE SAME ERROR!!!!!!!
I tried 3 different X-Fi cards when I was on WinXP. I only tried one so far on Win7, but I'm guessing it's a motherboard chipset and XFi HARDWARE compatibility issue.

What do you guys think?
 

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...that Creative is notorious for issues such as you describe and that choosing another brand is cheaper because of the amount of time you won't spend with driver and compatibility issues. :shrug:
 
...that Creative is notorious for issues such as you describe and that choosing another brand is cheaper because of the amount of time you won't spend with driver and compatibility issues. :shrug:

I've probably spent 10 hours, who knows... but I was willing to WASTE that time as I'm gaining an understanding of the situation. I run an IT business and I've never gone to IT classes or achieved any certs... this is pretty much how I learn my stuff.

Anyway, I guess it's safe to say that an XFi card WILL NOT WORK on an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe no matter what...

The only thing left to try is a new power supply.

This machine has seen 3 diff XFi cards, newer BIOS, cleared CMOS and battery, diff video cards, diff hard drives, XFi in all PCI slots... Win XP 32-bit pro, Win 7 64-bit ultimate...

did I miss ANYTHING AT ALL or can I conclude that this motherboard WILL NOT ACCEPT an XFi card? Do you think it's this particular board or the chipset this board is based on? I'm assuming it would be the SB chipset that handles this since it's PCI...
 
Godman, I am using my X-fi extreme music on my MA790XT with no problems, Win 7 64 bit home premium. I am using the latest drivers from Creatives website.
 
Godman, I am using my X-fi extreme music on my MA790XT with no problems, Win 7 64 bit home premium. I am using the latest drivers from Creatives website.

I also have a 790XT and Win7 x64... that's my MAIN gaming computer.
The machine I'm testing this XFi on is located in the OP (original post). It's an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe, so that's based on nForce 570 SLI chipset.
 
OK, My bad, I thought you were trying to move it to the 790XT and still having issue's. Sorry!!

No big deal, buddy. :)
I just can't believe that I couldn't solve this problem... it's all gonna come down to having to change the motherboard, which is something I don't wanna do! :(
 
garo, reading through i didnt see you say anywhere that you tested teh pci slots themselves. Have your tried installing something other than a sound card in the pci slots like a network adapter or something. Perhaps its not a compatibility issue but your pci slots are just dead? I'm not sure if this possible but with all the effort you have put forth I figure its worth a try. I did a quick google search and I did happen to see a few people out there that were using a x-fi card on the same motherboard, but I didn't look in depth so who knows.
 
garo, reading through i didnt see you say anywhere that you tested teh pci slots themselves. Have your tried installing something other than a sound card in the pci slots like a network adapter or something. Perhaps its not a compatibility issue but your pci slots are just dead? I'm not sure if this possible but with all the effort you have put forth I figure its worth a try. I did a quick google search and I did happen to see a few people out there that were using a x-fi card on the same motherboard, but I didn't look in depth so who knows.

Thanks for the thought... maybe I should be REALLY planning this out better if I'm investing all this time, right? To answer your awesome question, no I haven't tested anything else in those slots... looks like that's next on the agenda!!

But the Device Mgr shows "Multimedia Audio Controller" so it's doing something right...
 
The last thing I tried b4 I left was a CMOS battery out for over an hour while CMOS jumper was in the clear position... all while the power plug was out and the PSU toggle was off.

Also tried plugging in the extra power floppy connector, and raised chipset voltages.... No difference.
 
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Yeah it seems weird that it would show anything if they were dead, but who knows. Hopefully you can solve this problem without a new motherboard. I'm having SB issues my self ATM so I feel your pain.
 
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