Creative X-Fi Elite Pro

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Poika

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Sep 20, 2009
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Hey guys.

I've recently installed Windows 7 64-bit to take it for a test drive and I'm having an issue with my soundcard.

First off, my specs.

CPU: Q6600 @ 2.4ghz
VGA: Radeon HD 4850 (1gb)
RAM: 4GB
Sound: Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
Motherboard: Asus P5N MX

I'd also like to add that the configuration worked fine in XP, so I'm not likely to believe it's a hardware conflict.

The issue is static and popping with my soundcard. I've tried tried the modded drivers by Daniel_K, and still couldn't shake it.

This problem is mostly noticeable whilst listening to music and browsing the web at the same time. When a page loads (particularly when there are a lot of graphics on the page) I will get relatively subtle (but annoying) pops/crackles. The same thing occurs when I scroll down on a graphic intense website. A perfect example would be deviantArt.

Most games (not all) perform without any issues, some will occasionally crackle but not as badly, even if I'm listening to music.
I've followed almost everyone's advice, with things such as:
- Wiping the drivers clean, and reinstalling
- Trying older drivers
- Using Daniel_K's pack
- Disabling unneeded ports in bios (e.g: Parallel/Serial)
- Updating chipset drivers, and all other devices
- Disabling any power saving features
- Disabling exclusive mode
- Disabling any sound effects
- Flashing the bios
- Reducing the strain on the graphics card

And still nothing

I've also noticed that there's an issue with nForce 4 motherboards. This shouldn't apply to me as I've got an nForce 610.

As I said, everything worked fine when I was on XP. I'd rather not go back to XP so soon, as I truly love using Windows 7.

Please, if anyone has any information on the matter I'd be over the moon to hear it!

Thanks,
Nathan.
 
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It's called Creative's lack of proper driver support. There were a lot of problems when Vista was first released, so it won't surprise me if you have to wait for decent Windows 7 drivers. I abandoned Creative back with the Audigy 2... I had a Via chipset board at the time and nothing but issues with crackling in games. I still have the card, but I haven't bothered installing it in my new rig. I was hoping to eventually get a Xi-Fi card... but until I'm sure that Creative has it's issues sorted, I'll stick with my onboard sound.
 
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I've tried that exact Daniel K pack, and no dice

The beta drivers listed are the exact same version as the released drivers (2.18.0013) Which I've tried.
 
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Try switching the PCI slot it's in. My Audigy 2 ZS did something similar a while back - unplugging the card and putting it in a different slot (uninstall and reinstall drivers when you do so) fixed it.

Edit: You might also want to leave the card out of the case for a few hours to let the caps drain. That might also help. I know you only have 2 PCI slots, and that the one you probably aren't using is riding up on your 4850, but just try it for a bit - you might be able to get it working again in the bottom slot by reseating it.
 
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Hey, I'll give this a go. But I can't seem to understand why this would only occur in Windows 7 and not in Windows XP/Vista.
 
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Well, I took out the graphics card, and placed the Soundcard in the other PCI slot, obviously to see what'd happen... annnd there's no crackling in the other PCI slot. No matter how hard I try I can't make it crackle. So this leads me to believe it could be my VGA drivers for my ATI card. :S Or it still could be Soundblaster drivers bein' dodge.
 
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I placed it back in the original PCI slot (without the graphics card in) and still no crackling whatsoever.

This blows. =P

So obviously it's in an incompatibility with drivers between Creative and ATI somewhere, whilst on Windows Vista. As the same drivers versions worked together in XP. Has anyone heard anything like this?
 
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When I placed it back in the original slot, I didn't put the video card in. Just to see what'd happen, and there was no crackling. When I placed the video card back in, it continued on as it was, cracklin' popping and whatnot.
 
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Ahh, you have onboard video, I see. Well, it could be software, but it could also be a bad board design, too. None of the caps on your motherboard are looking bloated, are they?

And you said this only occurs in Vista? Have you tested it on XP recently, or just replaced XP and now it doesn't work right?
 
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Ahh, no I said this only occurs in Windows 7, on both 32bit + 64bit editions.

It definitely doesn't occur in xp as I was just using it on xp two or three days ago.
 
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Do you still have XP installed on a hard disk? If so, you can put it back in and see if XP crackles or not - perhaps, for some reason, this is in fact a hardware failure that happened when you started installing 7.

Else from that, it has to be a strange software/hardware incompatibility with your GPU.
 
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Nah, i don't have XP installed anymore. I'm usin' the onboard for now. I'll be purchasing a new motherboard and seeing if that helps it at all. Creative (I think) might be releasing the next set of drivers after the official release of windows 7. So fingers crossed the issue gets rectified then. If not I'll just have to yell at them some more. I agree that the hardware issue sounds bizzare, which is why I think it's a driver issue on one or both parties.
 
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