Windows 7: HT Omega Striker 7.1 and Windows 7 Problem

Hey everyone,



I've been using Windows 7 x64 as my default OS since build 7000.
I have an HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card that has worked fine from build 7000 to 7127. I used the Vista x64 driver for all these builds. I used 7127 for quite some time because when I tried upgrading to 7264, I encountered a problem.

After installing the driver, whether it's the Vista driver or the 7 driver, it won't let me open ANY applications besides explorer (not IE). It tries to open and then (I assume) it crashes, because nothing comes up and the icon fades back as if I never clicked it. (Although, if I open Task Manager, I can see *.exe running but only using 2mb of RAM...?) I can uninstall the driver, reboot, and all my applications work again.

I have no sound without the driver and no applications with the driver...

Also, this problem is still around in 7600, as I just tried it.

Can anyone provide any insight on what the problem may be?

Update:

The newest drivers are now working. Here are the steps to make sure you get a clean install and setup:

1) Uninstall any previous versions of the drivers

2) Delete C:\Windows\SysWOW64\HsMgr.exe if it exists

3) (Optional, but prevents lockup issues for many people) Go to Control Panel => Sound and disable the "Digital Output" device.

Everything should now work. If anyone is still having problems after these steps, then please post a reply. I've left the original solution below, but I wouldn't recommend using it.

Old Solution:

I had the exact same problem, but I was able to resolve it. It appears that the 32-bit sound manager from ht omega is causing this problem (HsMgr.exe). Anyways, here are the steps to fix the problem. These steps also include a fix for window volume control not controlling all speakers also:

0) If you have ever had an ht omega driver installed then uninstall it and delete the file C:\Windows\SysWOW64\HsMgr.exe.

1) Download the vista drivers for the sound card http://www.htomega.com/new/s81731ex.zip (this is a newer version than currently listed on the website) and the Windows 7 drivers http://www.htomega.com/new/striker81737W7ex.zip

2) Extract each set of drivers to separate folders (I'll assume they've been extracted to s81731ex and striker81737W7ex respectively).

3) Copy striker81737W7ex\Program to s81731ex\Vista\Program

4) Copy striker81737W7ex\SoftwareDriver\dll to s81731ex\Vista\SoftwareDriver\dll

5) Delete s81731ex\Vista\SoftwareDriver\dll\HsMgr.exe

6) Right click on s81731ex\Vista\Setup.exe and go to properties. Then go to Compatibility and select "Windows Vista (Service Pack 2)". Press OK.

7) Right click on s81731ex\Vista\Setup.exe and pick Run as Administrator.

When setup completes, reboot and your issues should be solved. Let me know if this fixes it.

Thank you for your reply, dornif!

I am eager to try your method out, but the night before you posted, I reverted back to 7127 to fix the issue until they released new drivers.

I want to try your method out so badly though, that I may install 7600 again tonight or tomorrow and I'll post back with my success or failure!

Thanks again!

I finally got around to reinstalling 7600 so I could try what you suggested.

It worked wonderfully. Thank you!

I now have sound and I can open applications!

I really appreciate it!

No problem! I'm glad it worked. Hopefully other people will run across this thread if they have the same issue. I think the most difficult part is just recognizing that the sound drivers are causing the issue.

My Asus Xonar drivers with the newer versions of Windows 7 had the same problem. It was the HsMgr.exe 32* what was causing the IE and control panel lock up problems.

At first I needed to use system configuration to keep it from starting but a few days later Asus put out a patch for Vista64 Xonar drivers which fixed the problem.

Must be some simularities between the Omega drivers and the Xonar drivers.

I just wanted to say thank you very much for this hotfix, i have a club-3d theatron dd(chip is the same c-media chip or close enough as the striker) and had exactly the same problem, so i tried your fix with the respective club-3d drivers and it worked perfectly.
2 days of searching a fix are over, thank you very much

I followed the instruction of Dornif and it works with my Windows 7 x64 but I could not configure my digital output as pass through SPDIF
Can anyone have this problem?

I prefer pass through digital signal to my receiver than the real-time encoding DTS or Dolby 5.1 that would alter my orginal source signal

I got dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7.
My sound card works better in XP since I can get digital output as pass-through for DTS or Dolby signal source.

Thanks for any comment

You're welcome, I'm glad it's helping! I guess the program isn't specific to ht omega.

Two possible suggestions here. First, go into Control Panel => Sound and make sure your default playback device is Speakers not Digital Output (the drivers will wrap this to digital out). Second, if that doesn't work: try using the Windows 7 drivers only, but with HsMgr.exe deleted.

Just a little extra information: The mixing of the Windows 7 and Windows Vista drivers was actually to fix a problem I had with volume control (only non-surrounded speakers were being controlled by windows volume at the time). If you don't have this problem or are using a different sound card, then deleting HsMgr.exe is likely the only fix you need to make your system stable.

Thanks for the post, very helpful. I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my computer would not run 32-bit apps anymore. It was leaving a very sour taste after trying 64-bit OS for the first time.