X-Fi Xtreme and Windows Sounds

[Zatara214]

This is more annoying than dire... but the sounds for Windows Explorer are kinda messed up. Its hard to explain exactly what it is... Its only the little click sound when navigating through Windows Explorer, all of the other sounds are fine. Say I double click on a folder, it makes a click. But that click repeats over and over again really quickly for another 2 seconds or so, and then suddenly stops. Does it every time without fail, even for the different Ultimate sound schemes. I've already reinstalled the drivers, downloaded them from the site, etc, and that didn't work. I usually solve these problems by searching google... but I have no idea what to search for lol.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Try resetting your windows theme and sound schemes to the default settings. It sounds like something is causing the window to hang which is causing the repeating clicks for 2 seconds. You can also try to repair your windows installation, which may fix the problem.

[Zatara214]

Tried resetting to default, that didn't work. Also, the window itself doesn't hang, I can double click on a folder, and then click another while the sound is going, and the sounds will actually play on top of each other lol.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

It still sounds like a windows issue. Try doing a windows repair using your o/s disk to see if that fixes anything. When did you first notice the problem? Did you install any new hardware/software prior to the extensive clicking sounds?

[Zatara214]

No it started right after I installed the drivers for the card, which was right when I recieved the laptop. I thought it would go away with like an update or something which is why I didn't say anything sooner. I'll have to get back to you on the OS repair later today, I don't have access to the disk right now.

Edit: An interesting note, I have a program called Guitar Pro, which uses MIDI to play back guitar tabs. While I'm playing back a song, the sounds are fine, and don't repeat. Weird...

[Zatara214]

Ok I just tried the OS repair and it didn't do the trick. I'm starting to think that it's the driver. When I go into the Device Manager, it says that the driver I'm currently using is from 3/4/2008. Is there a newer one I don't know about lol?

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

View the most up to date drivers here (http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=209&CatName=X-Fi&subCatID=669&subCatName=Sound%20Blaster&prodID=16642&prodName=X-Fi+Xtreme+Audio+Notebook)on Creative's website

[Zatara214]

Ok this is getting weirder and weirder. I installed the drivers from the site and restarted, looked in the device manager, and the driver date was changed to August 2007. I went into Windows Update and it had an updated driver, just like it had when I first installed off of the CD. I tried out the older driver for a little bit and it didn't change anything, and it even broke compatibility with Alchemy in some games.

I also tried using the update manager tool that comes with the CD, which I forgot to mention before, that only listed an update for Alchemy, which I got. Otherwise, the newest driver seems to be from 3/4/2008.

[Brad@XoticPC]

To me, this sounds like some weird software/driver conflict - or maybe even something with IRQ's. Not that I'm a quitter or anything, but If I were in your situation, I'd probably just disable that sound on the Windows sound scheme so it's not a problem anymore. :-)

[Zatara214]

Well I did do that already. The issue is that it isn't just Windows sounds. It happens whenever I, say, close Windows Media Player or iTunes while they're playing something, or if I close a web page or game that has sounds coming out if it. Happens for pretty much everything. It'd be really sucky if it was an IRQ conflict lol... I just emailed Creative to see what they come up with. They didn't have anything about this on their site, but I'm assuming they'll maybe send me a beta driver or something... at least I hope so.

Also, the top solution to all sound problems with the X-Fi Xtreme Notebook Audio was in the BIOS. Any idea where I can see if I have the latest BIOS revision in my notebook? I checked the Sager driver section but there's no BIOS in there lol.

[Zatara214]

So, I emailed Creative, and their solution was to uninstall all of the drivers and software, take out the card, restart without it, and then start with it, and reinstall using the latest drivers. That didn't work lol. So, I'm back to square one on this. Pretty much everything is effected, though its most noticable with Windows Sounds because they're short (but not anymore lol) I've disabled Windows Sounds though, and so now it only effects games, music, and web pages playing music (from what I've seen anyway)