X-Fi Fatality Pro, W7 x64, no sound

[golf]

I have just installed Windows 7 64bit on my PC, fresh format. Everything seems to be working except that I have no sound from my X-Fi Fatality Pro.

There are no error messages. W7 thinks there are no problems. The X-Fi is the default sound device as I have disabled the onboard audio. I am running the latest drivers for the X-Fi - 2.18.15.

There are 3 audio devices in the "Sound" section.

1. Speakers
Creative SB X-Fi
Default Device

2. SPDIF
Creative SB X-Fi
Disabled

3. Digital Audio (HDMI)
High Definition Audio Device
Disabled, unplugged

The only noise the speakers have made since installing W7 is a faint 'click' when drivers are installed. I have read a lot of threads regarding X-Fi soundcards and poor driver support, though none have helped me.

If I try to play audio, various software programs either refuse without errors (iTunes), pretend to play audio very slowly (WMP) or pretend to play audio at normal speed (Creative Mediasource 5), although none actually output any sound whatsoever.

 

[Wishmaster]

As far as you devices being shown, the HDMI one is likely the Audio device on your graphics card.
This is Ok to install if you have/use HDMI and should not affect the funton of the X-Fi.
It should show up when the driver is installed.

My X-Fi shows like the snip below in sound devices, so what you are decribing sounds to me at this point as normal.

When you disbaled the onboard, how did you do it? In device manager or in the bios?

Onboard should be disabled in the bios.


If you installed Creative Software form the CD, the only thing I would recommend installing are:
1) The Volume Panel
2) THX Console

They should be installed by setting the setup.exe as Compatability mode Vista SP1 and run as admin.
The Drive, Audio Console, and all other softweare you want should be downloaded from the official site. There are Win7 x64 versions.

I too have heard all the horror stories, but fortunatly have not had any issues with my X-Fi using the official drivers/software. This is how I installed mine if it matters.

 

[golf]

Thanks for the reply.

The onboard sound has been disabled via the BIOS. I haven't installed any Creative software from the CD. The drivers and software I am using are the Windows 7 64 bit versions from the Creative site.

I installed the W7 64bit drivers like I normally would install any software. Should I have installed them using Vista Compatibility mode?

My 'Sound' window looks very similar to yours. One difference is that you have some green bars at the right, whereas my 'Speaker' section only has light blue bars.

 

[sygnus21]

No need to install the drivers in compatibility mode. As you noted there are Windows 7 drivers for that card.

 

[Wishmaster]

No, if you downloaded the correct drivers it should be Win7 x64 compatable.


As silly as this sounds... Have you double checked you speaker connections?
It could possibly be something that simple, and honestly quite easily overlooked.

((Mine had green bars because Zune was playing in the background when the snip was taken ))

 

[sygnus21]

I'm not sure you answered Wishmaster's question.... have you made sure the X-fi is the default soundcard as indicated by the image Wishmaster posted?

Also the speaker connections is valid as well.

 

[golf]

Yes, I have checked the speaker connection. There is no sound with either my 2.0 Analog Speakers or 5.1 Analog Headphones connected to the card.

Yes, the X-Fi is the default device.

 

[sygnus21]

Specifically what X-Fi soundcard are you using?

Make sure the card is fully seated in the PCI slot.

Also, try this.... install from the CD, choosing what you want to install, then updating those items. See if the card then works.

 

[golf]

I am using a SoundBlaster X-Fi ExtremeGamer Fatality Professional. PCI, not one of the later PCI-E ones.

Going to check the seating. Not sure where my original disk went, the card is a few years old now.

Thanks.

 

[golf]

Card is seated fine inside case.

 

[sygnus21]

Can you post a screen shot of Device manager showing the card?

Also post a screen shot showing the sound section - the one like Wishmaster posted?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

Thanks

 

[golf]

Here are the screenshots.

 

[sygnus21]

Did you ever find the disk? If not, you can get all the files here.... Download (ISO) SB X Fi series# Here's the link talking about those files - Guru3D.com Forums - View Single Post - Missing Creative volume control

One other thing you might check is to see if the volume Panel is installed. Go to.... Start, Creative, Soundblaster X-Fi, if the Volume Panel is installed, check the settings. If it's not installed, install from your disk, or the disk you downloaded.

You might also want to look through this thread - http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/21804-creative-sound-cards.html

Let us know.

 

[golf]

Ok, problem solved. I had 4gb of ram. I removed one stick so I now have 3gb of ram. Sound now works. Not sure how to sort this situation out in the long term as part of the reason I bought 64bit W7 was to get around the ram limit of 32bit, especially for future upgrades.

 

[sygnus21]

Posting your full system specs might help us help you figure out the reason you can't run with 4gig of RAM without issue. The fact that you had to remove a RAM stick to get your problem sorted sounds like a conflict, bad RAM module(s) or motherboard issue.

In short.... that's not normal.

- Have you run any tests on your RAM?
- What RAM are you using?
- What RAM configuration are you using? (are they all the sam RAM modules)

Also....are you overclocked???

 

[golf]

I have never tested my RAM.

2x1gb Corsair DDR2 & 2x1gb Kingston DDR2

I am not overclocked. Like has been said, everything worked fine on XP 32bit.

Full system specs are as follows -
Athlon Dual Core 6000+ (standard 3Ghz)
Asus M2V (no extra letters, original M2V)
4gb ram as mentioned above
ATI Radeon 4850 (not overclocked)
X-Fi ExtremeGamer Fatality Pro (PCI, not PCI-E)
750w Corsair PSU
24" monitor
Antec P182

I have found that whilst the sound does work, it will stop working after several minutes playing games (ie Fallout New Vegas). It just starts to crackle and then cuts out fully. I did read that others have had issues with X-Fi's not working with more than 4gb RAM, and that forcing windows to recognise slightly under 4gb can help.

 

[sygnus21]

It's usually not a good idea to mix RAM, especially brands. Do both sets have the same timings and voltages? If not, that could be a problem.