Can an X-fi just die?

metalmackey

metalmackey

metalmackey

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Hi,

Was minding my own business on Youtube when all of a sudden I hear a high pitch whistle from my speakers. Vista doesn't crash and I shut the PC down. Turned it on and no POST (no beeps or display). Took out a graphics card and Vista booted and kept trying to install X-fi drivers over and over till it froze. Took out the X-fi and while I was at it put the 2nd graphics card back.

All is well now using onboard sound. Is it more likely the soundcard died or the PCI slot? The card was between the 2 gfx cards and got quite warm.

Thanks
 
Do you not have another PC to try it in?

I have used my X-Fi card in many many builds now and have never been too careful with it. It has also been wedged between two 8800gtx's .... it never seemed to get hot tho... I have one of the first released XFI xtreme music the ones without the heatsink.

The one with the heatsink iir were redesigned to be produced cheaper but it also meant they produced excess heat and I can only assume it would also mean they would need better cooling?
 
metalmackey said:
I think mine is a cheap oem extreme gamer. It is very small and has no mention of Creative anywhere on the card.
Click to expand...

hmmm tbh I really do not think the PCI slot is dead so check your XFI first in another machine and then treat yourself to a snazzy new top of the range soundcard to match your insane PC :D
 
None of these recent cheap X-FI's (no idea why Creative even made them prob £).

An Extreme Music at least (the Large Black PCB with Gold Connections), has better CAP's/DAC's and Omp-Amps than the Extreme Music/Audio and Gamer. (google if you want info).

You spent a fortune on every part but the soundcard :confused:, thats not to say you should have issues now though.
 
Well why is Creative letting them use the X-FI Chip ? and why do they need want to use it ?

I would stick to Creative, but thats up to you or any others what you buy.
 
I can live with the sound that came with the mobo for now (sounds not half bad as it goes(. Will I lose a lot of performance in games though?

Thanks
 
There is another thread on this, and it has been proven yes in reviews, but nothing to loose sleep over, but I suppose every 1FPS can matter esp in buggy Crysis. :p
 
1 last thing please. How do I uninstall the XFI drivers without the card installed? I uninstalled all the creative stuff from add/remove proggys but Vista is still loading cthelper.exe so the drivers haven't been removed completely.

Thanks again
 
cthelper.exe, is the file that syncs the Windows speakers to your X-FI settings, so if you set to 7.1 Windows will also set it to 7.1.

I would simply kill it in the Task Mananger and uninstall any Creative and SoundBlaster entries in device manager and delete any Creative folders (various places) or run the CD and remove all.

You could also uncheck the start entries using " MSCONFIG " in the RUN box or use CCleaner/Tools/Startup or such to remove startup entires.
 
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I got the soundmax driver from Asus for the mobo sound and even Crysis didn't crash:D Is there any way of adjusting the bass/treble as I can't find any software for Vista for it apart from the driver.

Thanks
 
I have the same high pitched noise that comes out of my speaker when I go onto Steam online! When I play counter strike and TF" online I have to turn the volume practially of. :confused: I have to reset my drivers for the sound to go away. My Fat1ty has awsome sound but it is very buggy!
 
metalmackey said:
Hi,

Was minding my own business on Youtube when all of a sudden I hear a high pitch whistle from my speakers. Vista doesn't crash and I shut the PC down. Turned it on and no POST (no beeps or display). Took out a graphics card and Vista booted and kept trying to install X-fi drivers over and over till it froze. Took out the X-fi and while I was at it put the 2nd graphics card back.

All is well now using onboard sound. Is it more likely the soundcard died or the PCI slot? The card was between the 2 gfx cards and got quite warm.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have had similar issues with my new Xtreme Music OEM. However, the latest driver seemed to fix my problem, although the driver is not what i would call new, its just newer than the one on the disc. XP users have been waiting a while, and a new driver is due very soon apparently.

Also, when the squealing happens, you may find if you change "mode", i.e from Entertainment to Gamer, the squealing stops. Annoying i know, but a workaround at least. I only found this out by accident, but its a lot easier than a re-install.

Before I updated the driver, the problem seemed to always occur after installing a new game/s.

Really impressed with X-fi compared to my P5K sound though. :)
 
Countcussy said:
I have had similar issues with my new Xtreme Music OEM. However, the latest driver seemed to fix my problem, although the driver is not what i would call new, its just newer than the one on the disc. XP users have been waiting a while, and a new driver is due very soon apparently.
Click to expand...
New driver coming soon? Please let it be so. I'm so SICK of my X-Fi Xtreme Music's problems I'm at wit's end. Mic stopping working, high pitched sounds, no sound, crackling etc.

Can't RMA cos they'll just put it in some basic machine and it'll work for 2 minutes and they'll send it back to me.
Can't sell it for fear of selling someone a dud card.

Just need new drivers. Where did you hear this news?
 
I read it on the Creative forums whilst searching for a solution to the high pitched noise. I will see if I can find it.

**** UPDATE ****

New Beta X-Fi drivers now available for XP as of today. (How spooky is that?)

Get them here:

http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp?MainCategory=209&nRegionFK=&nCountryFK=&nLanguageFK=&sOSName=Windows+XP&region=3&Product_Name=X-Fi+XtremeMusic&Product_ID=14066&modelnumber=&driverlang=1033&OS=10&select=0&x=25&y=15

This driver is NOT compatible with the Extreme Audio version of the X-Fi.
 
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I think I've fallen in love with you Countcussy. Well, if they work anyway.
But definitely most spooky. :eek:
I'll let you know if they help me out
 
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