X-Fi Xtreme Audio issues

[Zatara214]

This freakin thing is driving me crazy lol. It's the only problematic part in my laptop (and, ironically, the only part I didn't order through XoticPC lol)

Not only am I having the Windows Sounds issues (described in an older post below this. The sounds repeat for about 4 seconds very quickly and then stop suddenly), but this issue has made its way to games, web pages, and even WMP and iTunes when playing music. It's gotten to the point where I could be listening to a song, and all of a sudden it will increase the volume by itself until I have to take out my headphones and turn it down as quickly as I can.

Don't get me wrong, the sound is GREAT with this thing, it's just that Creative absolutely sucks with its software and drivers. Is anyone else having issues with this card? And if not, tell me how you did that lol...

Brad already walked me through trying to update software and drivers (there was an update for Alchemy that I didn't have but that was it), and to no avail.

Usually I can solve any issue myself by just using Google (I'm known for being the ultimate issue solver by most lol... aside from Justin that is...... srsly....), but I don't know what to search for lol.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Try searching in google and include the model number of the creative card and a keyword such as "sound errors" or "window errors"

[Zatara214]

Try searching in google and include the model number of the creative card and a keyword such as "sound errors" or "window errors"

Ugh I hate keywords lol, they always do this to me...

'Sound' is detected and displayed as the result 'Sound Blaster' in the name, so I took that out, because it was leading me to the main pages and purchace sites, even with 'errors' after it.

'Windows' is detected in the supported operating systems, and so that, too, leads me to the regular pages on where to buy, etc.

'Errors' seems to come up with a lot of 'Error processing your request' results, but nothing along the lines of what I'm experiencing.

Any combination there of comes up with combinations of these results.

I've also been going through a lot of forums (notebookcheck, neowin, etc), and have so far found nothing like what I have.

Even 'x-fi xtreme notebook audio problems' will lead you directly to the main product page on Creative's site, and so this is why it's so difficult to find anything on it.

I have managed to dig up quite a few people having issues with playback, but most of them had either a processor that was too slow, or a bad or no codec to play back their music.

Also, dig the new avatar, Justin lol.

[Jrock15]

Hooray for Sound Blaster!

Alright, I have a sound blaster audigy SE and it has been giving me grief for a year now. Recently, SB released a new update for my card and it finally fixed my issue.

-_- took that that long.

New driver for you card was just released

http://www.new-drivers.com/files/sound/Creative/Sound%20Blaster%20X-Fi?gclid=COahv8f9pJYCFQRhswodHGWk5w

The creative driver update tool just in case you are missing something.

http://driver-pro.com/related/english/update-audio-drivers/?gclid=CPPSw8f9pJYCFQITswodpW-S6Q&hit=1&adurl=11962

And check the knowledge solution database for your issue if its not fixed, could be a setting.

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

The knowledge database is just on top of the driver and application downloads.

I hope this helps =D

[Zatara214]

New driver for you card was just released

http://www.new-drivers.com/files/sound/Creative/Sound%20Blaster%20X-Fi?gclid=COahv8f9pJYCFQRhswodHGWk5w


I tried to get this, but it seems like a link to driver detective to me lol. This isn't on the official Creative site. Any other links to it?

[Jrock15]

I tried to get this, but it seems like a link to driver detective to me lol. This isn't on the official Creative site. Any other links to it?
Doh, thought I had that link while I was browsing Creative labs. I'll be back in a few, hopefully with what you need. :D

[Jrock15]

Well we can rule out that finding something useful on the CL/SB forums.

This snippet was taken from here

http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/vista-sound-drivers/

"Creative X-Fi Series
Check Windows Update. Recently, correct drivers have popped up on there that support all Audigy cards with digital audio too! If you don't find anything:
Download the latest Creative X-Fi Audio Drivers for Vista from the official site here (http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?Product=14000&dlcentric=9091&Product_Name=X%2DFi+Fatal1ty&OSName=Windows+Vista+32-bit).
Extract them to a folder using WinRAR.
Open Device Manager (Control Panel | System | Hardware | Device Manager) find the entry for the X-Fi and update the drivers for it with the ones you just extracted.
Restart your computer.
Open audio options in the Control Panel and enable/disable digital audio in the Other tab.
Play with the Format tab to get the audio quality to your liking.
You may need to restart to ensure that digital audio works after changing that option." This user on their forums said updating his BIOS solved his problem. He was was also using Vista 64x. (username was warriorking)

It could be a matter of tweaking your settings, for more specific help, since this problem had a thread going for 160 pages with no real solution ever posted (from what I saw, no I didn't read all 160 pages).

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=131346

That thread will give you direct access and help to tweaking what you need to help fix your sound bursts and interrupts.

[Jrock15]

I dont think that walk through will help much considering you probably already tried it.

[Zatara214]

Well we can rule out that finding something useful on the CL/SB forums.

This snippet was taken from here

http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/vista-sound-drivers/





"Creative X-Fi Series
Check Windows Update. Recently, correct drivers have popped up on there that support all Audigy cards with digital audio too! If you don't find anything:
Download the latest Creative X-Fi Audio Drivers for Vista from the official site here (http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?Product=14000&dlcentric=9091&Product_Name=X%2DFi+Fatal1ty&OSName=Windows+Vista+32-bit).
Extract them to a folder using WinRAR.
Open Device Manager (Control Panel | System | Hardware | Device Manager) find the entry for the X-Fi and update the drivers for it with the ones you just extracted.
Restart your computer.
Open audio options in the Control Panel and enable/disable digital audio in the Other tab.
Play with the Format tab to get the audio quality to your liking.
You may need to restart to ensure that digital audio works after changing that option."This user on their forums said updating his BIOS solved his problem. He was was also using Vista 64x. (username was warriorking)

It could be a matter of tweaking your settings, for more specific help, since this problem had a thread going for 160 pages with no real solution ever posted (from what I saw, no I didn't read all 160 pages).

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=131346

That thread will give you direct access and help to tweaking what you need to help fix your sound bursts and interrupts.

It's weird, I was there, and then I came back here and you posted it here lol. Seems like we're looking at the same stuff, no problem. I have done all of the above things with the exception of 6 and 7. I have no idea where to get BIOS for the NP8660, but I would assume, considering how new a model it is, that it probably isn't my BIOS. However, I will rule nothing out. Justin, if you could, please tell me if there has been an update for the BIOS yet, and if so, where could I find it?

As for settings, I've played with the settings in the audio manager, and that hasn't done anything. I have bass boost, crystalizer, and the EQ enabled, and disabling any combination there of has absolutely no effect.

I posted a thread in the Creative forums, I'll tell you when someone responds.

As for Windows Update, I ran it right after I installed the driver off of the CD when I first got the card and found the update. So out of curiosity, I uninstalled that driver and installed the one on the CD. Did nothing, so I reinstalled the newer one.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

The most up to date bios is version x.x.xxx.07

If your bios is ending with the number .07 that is the most up to date bios on the Sager np8660

[Zatara214]

The most up to date bios is version x.x.xxx.07

If your bios is ending with the number .07 that is the most up to date bios on the Sager np8660

In my BIOS it says

BIOS Revision 1.00.06S LS1

Am I looking in the right place here? lol

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

There is an updated bios version ".07" according to Sager. Unfortunately they don't have it available yet. I will see if i can acquire that bios update for you and will send it your way if i can obtain it.

[Zatara214]

There is an updated bios version ".07" according to Sager. Unfortunately they don't have it available yet. I will see if i can acquire that bios update for you and will send it your way if i can obtain it.

Alright thx for that.

[Woody]

Which card do you have? The older silver 5.1 channel card or the new wireless 2 channel card?

I have the new one since the old one has been discontinued. It works flawlessly on my system but I'm using XP Pro with SP3.

Have you considered that maybe the hardware is bad? You might consider trying to get them to RMA it. I swapped out my old Audigy2 ZS PCMCIA notebook card a couple years ago after have issues with it but it turned out there was nothing wrong with the card and it was a bandwidth issue that was inherent in some PCMCIA systems. That's not a problem with the new ExpressCard slots but your problem is either due to a driver issue in Vista or a bad card.

Be sure your system drivers are up to date also. Specifically you should verify your chipset and ExpressCard drivers are up to date? I doupbt it's a BIOS issue with your new system.

[Zatara214]

Which card do you have? The older silver 5.1 channel card or the new wireless 2 channel card?

I have the new one since the old one has been discontinued. It works flawlessly on my system but I'm using XP Pro with SP3.

Have you considered that maybe the hardware is bad? You might consider trying to get them to RMA it. I swapped out my old Audigy2 ZS PCMCIA notebook card a couple years ago after have issues with it but it turned out there was nothing wrong with the card and it was a bandwidth issue that was inherent in some PCMCIA systems. That's not a problem with the new ExpressCard slots but your problem is either due to a driver issue in Vista or a bad card.

Be sure your system drivers are up to date also. Specifically you should verify your chipset and ExpressCard drivers are up to date? I doupbt it's a BIOS issue with your new system.

Yes, everything is up to date, I've checked and double checked that.

As for it being a hardware issue, it may very well be. This thing is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth, though, and I'm wondering if I can't just get a refund for it, even though I bought it through eparts and more. It's slightly disappointing that 2 weeks after I bought the card, it was discontinued, and it still has buggy drivers apparently. If yours works with your XP installation, it may very well be Vista, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to switch operating systems just for a buggy piece of hardware, I'll read Creative the riot act before that happens.

[Zatara214]

There is an updated bios version ".07" according to Sager. Unfortunately they don't have it available yet. I will see if i can acquire that bios update for you and will send it your way if i can obtain it.

Much thanks for the BIOS revision, Justin, I really do appreciate that. Unfortunately, it didn't solve my problem with my X-Fi card. I emailed Creative support once again, and the rep had me install a diagnostics tool to see exactly what hardware my laptop was running on, and so I've sent that to them, and hopefully they can email me back with a solution.

[Justin_W@XoticPC]

Your welcome Zatara, I'm sorry to hear it didn't solve the problem. Hopefully creative can come up with a resolution for you.

[Woody]

But which card do you have? There are two types of Creative X-Fi cards for ExpressCard slots. The older discontinued one is a silver card with two 1/8" jacks and a dongle port for 5.1 channel output and the headphone jack doubles as an Optical out. The new X-Fi card that replaced it just came out in the last couple months and is an all black, two channel only card that has only two 1/8" jacks, two channel wireless out, and no optical support.

Here's another idea. Do you have a friend who would let you test it on his laptop? Preferably a Windows XP based computer as well to. Just set a restore point before installing the drivers then run it through some tests where you know the card fails on your system. That could possibly isolate the cause of the problem further.

[Zatara214]

But which card do you have? There are two types of Creative X-Fi cards for ExpressCard slots. The older discontinued one is a silver card with two 1/8" jacks and a dongle port for 5.1 channel output and the headphone jack doubles as an Optical out. The new X-Fi card that replaced it just came out in the last couple months and is an all black, two channel only card that has only two 1/8" jacks, two channel wireless out, and no optical support.

Here's another idea. Do you have a friend who would let you test it on his laptop? Preferably a Windows XP based computer as well to. Just set a restore point before installing the drivers then run it through some tests where you know the card fails on your system. That could possibly isolate the cause of the problem further.

I have the older silver card.

I used the card in my old F3SA before my NP8660 showed up, and it did the same thing, which is why I know it's either a problem with the card or its drivers (the other laptop had Vista Ultimate x64 as well)

If it is Vista that's causing the problems, it's completely unacceptable and I'll be sending the card back for a refund. Vista has been out for what, two years now? And if Creative still isn't on the ball with Vista drivers, I don't want their business. However, if it turns out to simply be a bug with my hardware, or a resolvable issue with the software, then it's perfectly fine and I'll accept that.

Vista is perfectly stable now, and there is absolutely no reason that a piece of hardware should not be supported, other than either a company not having enough money to pay Microsoft's driver protection fee, or the hardware being too old to be supported. This card is neither of those.

[Jrock15]

Did vista come with your laptop or is it your vista disk?

I can't find a fix for you anywhere > . >

I had the same issue with Vista on my Desktop. There was no sound and no fix. -_-

I'll keep looking but every time I open a new thread about vista and wireless cards I take the safety off of my handgun.

I bought the handgun from Counter-strike source btw.

If you do have the disk, load all of the current drivers onto a cd or flash drive.
Then reformat.
Then reinstall your drivers.

Also, is there any news on the updated BIOS? Did Justin W get you the driver?

[Zatara214]

Did vista come with your laptop or is it your vista disk?

I can't find a fix for you anywhere > . >

I had the same issue with Vista on my Desktop. There was no sound and no fix. -_-

I'll keep looking but every time I open a new thread about vista and wireless cards I take the safety off of my handgun.

I bought the handgun from Counter-strike source btw.

If you do have the disk, load all of the current drivers onto a cd or flash drive.
Then reformat.
Then reinstall your drivers.

Also, is there any news on the updated BIOS? Did Justin W get you the driver?

Justin got me the new BIOS revision extremely quickly, as he always does, but it didn't do anything for me, which, frankly I wasn't expecting it to, considering the age of the laptop (3 weeks old maybe).

I have reformatted Vista twice on this laptop, including the first time I installed everything, only to realize that I had accidentally installed the 32 bit version, and I had the same issue in each instance.

I lol'd at the CS:S joke.

I have my own Vista disk, along with a disk of XP Pro and XP Pro x64 (my friend works for a school, and they give him leftover licenses from their computers, it's a sweet deal lol)

Creative still hasn't emailed me back yet, but I suppose I shouldn't expect anything for maybe a few days. In any case, you would think by now that, even if it was a software or driver problem, there would be a fix for it, considering the card is now discontinued... I'd say that's old enough for the product to be considered 'stable' lol...

[Jrock15]

Let us know about the e-mail you get back from Creative Labs. I think I may be e-mailing them myself asking what the heck is up o.O

[Woody]

Vista support for Creative Sound cards is not as good as for XP.

The main reason for this is that Vista doesn't use the same sound API that XP uses. Microsoft has removed the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) for Vista. This is why game audio performs much better under XP than Vista. Any game that uses DirectSound3D (part of the DirectX application programming interface), such as Battlefield, Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft, etc. will have no surround sound or advanced hardware audio features as a result. This means no surround sound and no fancy EAX special effects when gaming in Vista.

The Creative Vista drivers and Alchemy software use software emulation to re create the audio effects of Direct X and convert it to OpenAL for Vista and that causes a performance hit. Alchemy software's performance is sketchy and doesn't always work. It also only supports the latest Creative X-Fi audio cards. Since the notebook X-Fi card does not actually use a X-Fi chip it may still have different issues than the desktop version.

Microsoft has never explained why they removed these features in Vista and Creative has never explained why they won't support older hardware in Vista but it seems like simple economics. It also means that you can't enjoy surround audio in these games in Vista at all unless you purchase a late model Creative audio card designed for gaming. This is one of the major reasons why many gamers, such as myself, refuse to use Vista even to this day on gaming computers.

You can argue all you want that it's unacceptable but I doubt Microsoft or Creative will care much since they planned it this way. There is evidence to this in how harshly Creative came down on their estranged former employee, "Daniel K," who released modified drivers that allowed older Creative cards such as the Audigy 2 ZS to provide full support in Vista. This proved that the there was no technical problem involved in the release of such drivers and since the drivers clearly existed and worked it also proved that Creative was deliberatly withholding support for legacy hardware in Vista to force customers to buy new sound cards.

The audio card that you have is discontinued so it may be difficult to get a replacement even from Creative. That card had many known issues under Vista which may be hardware related and part of the reason the product was discontinued after such a short life span. I can vouch for how well the new version of the card works in XP on a Sager but I can't vouch for it's Vista performance. If you use surround audio systems or need optical out I don't recommend you get the newer card. If you only use headphones you may try to get your old card replaced with the new card. The other option is the USB version that has full support for 5.1 surround and optical.

[Zatara214]

Vista support for Creative Sound cards is not as good as for XP.

The main reason for this is that Vista doesn't use the same sound API that XP uses. Microsoft has removed the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) for Vista. This is why game audio performs much better under XP than Vista. Any game that uses DirectSound3D (part of the DirectX application programming interface), such as Battlefield, Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft, etc. will have no surround sound or advanced hardware audio features as a result. This means no surround sound and no fancy EAX special effects when gaming in Vista.

The Creative Vista drivers and Alchemy software use software emulation to re create the audio effects of Direct X and convert it to OpenAL for Vista and that causes a performance hit. Alchemy software's performance is sketchy and doesn't always work. It also only supports the latest Creative X-Fi audio cards. Since the notebook X-Fi card does not actually use a X-Fi chip it may still have different issues than the desktop version.

Microsoft has never explained why they removed these features in Vista and Creative has never explained why they won't support older hardware in Vista but it seems like simple economics. It also means that you can't enjoy surround audio in these games in Vista at all unless you purchase a late model Creative audio card designed for gaming. This is one of the major reasons why many gamers, such as myself, refuse to use Vista even to this day on gaming computers.

You can argue all you want that it's unacceptable but I doubt Microsoft or Creative will care much since they planned it this way. There is evidence to this in how harshly Creative came down on their estranged former employee, "Daniel K," who released modified drivers that allowed older Creative cards such as the Audigy 2 ZS to provide full support in Vista. This proved that the there was no technical problem involved in the release of such drivers and since the drivers clearly existed and worked it also proved that Creative was deliberatly withholding support for legacy hardware in Vista to force customers to buy new sound cards.

The audio card that you have is discontinued so it may be difficult to get a replacement even from Creative. That card had many known issues under Vista which may be hardware related and part of the reason the product was discontinued after such a short life span. I can vouch for how well the new version of the card works in XP on a Sager but I can't vouch for it's Vista performance. If you use surround audio systems or need optical out I don't recommend you get the newer card. If you only use headphones you may try to get your old card replaced with the new card. The other option is the USB version that has full support for 5.1 surround and optical.

Right, I knew about the replaced API in DX, and I knew about the Daniel K incident. I read about it after someone here said they used the modified drivers, and read how many customers they lost because of it. Unfortunately, that was after I purchaced my card, and so tough luck there.

Even if it is the older card, and even if it is discontinued, I got it about a month and a half ago, and so I'm sure if I yell at Creative enough, they'll overlook the extra 10 days that I've had the card and give me a refund for it.

That being said, there's no way I'm going to switch operating systems because of hardware compatibility, not just because of how long they've had to develop these drivers, but because, as you said and I read, they are purposely dumbing the drivers down in order to make people buy new sound cards. I'm not one for recoding drivers, and so my only option is to give the card back, which sure as I'm typing this now I will do. I don't accept products from companies that try to trick me out of my money, I call that scamming.

[Woody]

Don't get me wrong. I agree with you completely that Creative should resolve this issue for you. I am convinced of this being a hardware issue for you but if they replace the card you may still have the same trouble due to a compatibility problem with your notebook's hardware or just a general problem in the card itself. The Internet is full of threads posting problems with your card in Vista. It's possible Creative pulled it for that reason and came out with the redesigned model.

I was looking for the exact card you have but was unable to find it so I bought the newer one thinking I had found a great deal on the older one.....

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=17988&WT.cg_n=Campaigns&WT.mc_id=17395

I picked mine up for $65 shipped from a company that mistakenly was shipping them prior to the U.S. release date (probably thinking they were the old stock) so I got lucky. At first I wanted to return it because it wasn't what I ordered but then I decided to keep it.

Like I said, if you use two channel headphones, speakers, or the on board speakers, this card is great and it emulates surround sound extremely well over standard headphones. If you need the optical out or the 5.1 channel analogue out, this card won't do that. BTW I have a spare 5.1 speaker dongle for your card that I can't use if you want to buy it. The Audigy2 ZS Notebook card came with the dongle included but the X-Fi card that you have expects you to buy it separately for $35. It's the exact same dongle.

I'd like to reiterate to anyone else who may be following this thread.....If you play 3D DirectX sound games in Vista the only way to get surround sound or EAX is with Alchemy software and a Creative X-Fi audio system. The on board audio in any notebook will not support Direct X surround sound in Vista. Because the notebook ExpressCard X-Fi I linked above is 2 channel only the surround sound will be emulated but is still superior to any on board system.

If you do get a refund for your existing card or the replacement has the same problems, you may consider trying the one I have.

[Zatara214]

Don't get me wrong. I agree with you completely that Creative should resolve this issue for you. I am convinced of this being a hardware issue for you but if they replace the card you may still have the same trouble due to a compatibility problem with your notebook's hardware or just a general problem in the card itself. The Internet is full of threads posting problems with your card in Vista. It's possible Creative pulled it for that reason and came out with the redesigned model.

I was looking for the exact card you have but was unable to find it so I bought the newer one thinking I had found a great deal on the older one.....

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=17988&WT.cg_n=Campaigns&WT.mc_id=17395

I picked mine up for $65 shipped from a company that mistakenly was shipping them prior to the U.S. release date (probably thinking they were the old stock) so I got lucky. At first I wanted to return it because it wasn't what I ordered but then I decided to keep it.

Like I said, if you use two channel headphones, speakers, or the on board speakers, this card is great and it emulates surround sound extremely well over standard headphones. If you need the optical out or the 5.1 channel analogue out, this card won't do that. BTW I have a spare 5.1 speaker dongle for your card that I can't use if you want to buy it. The Audigy2 ZS Notebook card came with the dongle included but the X-Fi card that you have expects you to buy it separately for $35. It's the exact same dongle.

I'd like to reiterate to anyone else who may be following this thread.....If you play 3D DirectX sound games in Vista the only way to get surround sound or EAX is with Alchemy software and a Creative X-Fi audio system. The on board audio in any notebook will not support Direct X surround sound in Vista. Because the notebook ExpressCard X-Fi I linked above is 2 channel only the surround sound will be emulated but is still superior to any on board system.

If you do get a refund for your existing card or the replacement has the same problems, you may consider trying the one I have.

Right, agreed completely.

Creative sent me an RMA link last night, but they said that if they find nothing wrong with it, they'll just sent it straight back. Now, based on what people have been saying, Creative is a bit notorious for trickery... so how do I know they'll be testing it in a system like mine? If they're testing it in a year old desktop running XP SP3 then it won't do me any good lol.

Do you think I'd be able to exchange the card? I didn't buy it through Creative, and I figure that's the only problem, considering my version of the card was more expensive than the new one...

[Woody]

I sent my first Audigy 2 ZS back and they sent a new replacement. All you can do is ask but I'm guessing they don't have a lot of spare models like yours laying around to exchange it with. I strongly suspect that even if they send you a different one you will have the same issues. It doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with the card but the card might still simply not work in your setup.

Let us know how it works out when you get it back.

[Zatara214]

I sent my first Audigy 2 ZS back and they sent a new replacement. All you can do is ask but I'm guessing they don't have a lot of spare models like yours laying around to exchange it with. I strongly suspect that even if they send you a different one you will have the same issues. It doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with the card but the card might still simply not work in your setup.

Let us know how it works out when you get it back.

No I think you're absolutely right, I'd say it's a compatibility issue with the OS. I'll send it to them and tell you of my adventures, but I highly doubt that I'll even recieve a replacement, never mind a repair.

Whatever, it's not a HUGE deal, it's just annoying when I have to pause my music or movies every 5-10 minutes because the volume turns itself up, or because the sound gets distorted, or both at the same time (which is the usual case).

[Zatara214]

No I think you're absolutely right, I'd say it's a compatibility issue with the OS. I'll send it to them and tell you of my adventures, but I highly doubt that I'll even recieve a replacement, never mind a repair.

Whatever, it's not a HUGE deal, it's just annoying when I have to pause my music or movies every 5-10 minutes because the volume turns itself up, or because the sound gets distorted, or both at the same time (which is the usual case).

I have officially solved the problem with the volume turning itself up by switching from iTunes to Media Monkey. Media Monkey comes with a volume normalizer, and so, even though I can still occasionally hear the card TRY to turn the volume up, the program stops it and normalizes it again. It still however, has the same issue with video playback (I use KMPlayer for that), and still has the issue with repeating sound.

The RMA was no good, they tested it and found nothing wrong, so they sent it back.

[Woody]

People were selling them on eBay for over $100 used. I sold my more than two year old Audigy2 ZS notebook PCMCIA card used for over $88 a couple months ago.

One guy on eBay is selling a card like yours claiming it retails for $267. That's a load of crap of course since Creative listed it for about $79 when they had them but people were selling them for much more when they had been discontinued and you couldn't find them. Now there's a new one out they've dropped a little but since they have features not found in the new one they're still in demand.

I'm tempted to offer to swap you mine for yours since I run XP.

[Zatara214]

People were selling them on eBay for over $100 used. I sold my more than two year old Audigy2 ZS notebook PCMCIA card used for over $88 a couple months ago.

One guy on eBay is selling a card like yours claiming it retails for $267. That's a load of crap of course since Creative listed it for about $79 when they had them but people were selling them for much more when they had been discontinued and you couldn't find them. Now there's a new one out they've dropped a little but since they have features not found in the new one they're still in demand.

I'm tempted to offer to swap you mine for yours since I run XP.

That would be amazing of you to do, except I couldn't guarantee it'd work. I ran XP for about a day before installing Vista. It worked perfectly in that time, but all the same, it's risky business. I'm going to use another laptop to test it with XP.

Also, I can't guarantee it'll work with Windows 7 (actually, it's more likely that it will, since Microsoft seems to be forcing drivers before the release this time)

Otherwise that'd be great.

[Woody]

LOL! I'm not willing to bet much will work with Windows 7. By the time WIndows 7 comes out I might start using Vista a little more.

Although they say Windows 7 will basically be an evolution of Vista and driver compatibility should be pretty much the same we will have to see for ourselves.

XP is almost completely trouble free these days. Vista still has enough annoying little bugs for me to keep it restricted to limited experimental use. Not to mention Vista is a battery killer. Any laptop running XP on battery will last noticably longer than using Vista still. Someone recently figured that OSX runs about twice as long on battery as Vista on the same machine (a Mac of course) and that comparing it to a similarly equipped Windows Vista PC confirmed the results. It just proves Vista is a resource hog and hogging resources requires power.

[Zatara214]

LOL! I'm not willing to bet much will work with Windows 7. By the time WIndows 7 comes out I might start using Vista a little more.

Although they say Windows 7 will basically be an evolution of Vista and driver compatibility should be pretty much the same we will have to see for ourselves.

XP is almost completely trouble free these days. Vista still has enough annoying little bugs for me to keep it restricted to limited experimental use. Not to mention Vista is a battery killer. Any laptop running XP on battery will last noticably longer than using Vista still. Someone recently figured that OSX runs about twice as long on battery as Vista on the same machine (a Mac of course) and that comparing it to a similarly equipped Windows Vista PC confirmed the results. It just proves Vista is a resource hog and hogging resources requires power.

Well I've never personally been one to complain about battery power. I mean, especially being a Sager owner, I don't expect much lol. But the fact that the OS would make such a difference is surprising to me. I suppose I haven't run my external HDD copy of Ubuntu long enough to deplete my battery, I may have to test that out later.

As for XP being more stable, Vista was pretty much dead before it was released. I only use it because it's newer, and because of DX10 (which, presumably, is the only reason ANYONE uses it). I plan on switching to XP at some point though. Shame the Alky Project was torn to pieces.

[Zatara214]

So just a quick update on this:

Creative released new drivers at some point this week, and I got them trough Windows update yesterday. I restarted the computer and all of the problems that I described to you were solved. Life was good.

Then, I enabled playback through notebook speakers, and it went back to the way it was before. Apparently there is some kind of bug in the software that screws up the sound no matter how stable the driver is. Unless it's still the driver, but you'd think they did something in the new release.

Anyway, for those purchasing this card in the future and planning on using it with Vista, do not enable playback through your notebook speakers... either that or enjoy your ears getting blown out.

Also, for those too lazy to read the whole thread (I probably would be), this issue has nothing to do with XoticPC and is entirely Creative's fault.

[Woody]

.....Anyway, for those purchasing this card in the future and planning on using it with Vista, do not enable playback through your notebook speakers...
The card is discontinued so I don't think anybody has to worry about purchasing it in the future. I haven't heard any reports on the newer card in Vista.