Sound Blaster Connect 2 (AE-5 software 3.1.13.0)

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31 Dec 2004
Posts
49
Well, this software had been working ok for me, but it seems to be broken now, meaning that I can't use the headphone jack - or the fancy pants headphone amp.

I used to get the option to switch between speakers and headphones on this screen, I think it was below "select speaker configuration" (edit: like this:https://ibb.co/hoyGek) . But now, I just see this on the setup screen:

ZzcqE7a.png

I'm unable to switch the card over to headphones.

In fact it appears that the bindings on this screen are completely broken. If you click the Custom button, then it gets a red border but it should also show the controls to set the crossover frequency - it doesn't do that until you switch to another screen and come back. The controls then magically appear thusly:

eHyPKnF.png

But they don't respond - you should be able to flick the bass redirection switch over to on and then adjust the frequency slider, but when you try this, the bass redirection thing still says Off and the slider doesn't slide:

R6wmruE.png

If you then switch to a different screen and return then it will say On, and the slider will function properly. It seems that when one control's events fire then associated controls do not update until the screen completely loads again from scratch.


The Mixer tab looks like this, I can't get anything to appear here.

tTiyZZ3.png

It also looks like all my predefined settings on the Dashboard tab are broken, compared to this: https://ibb.co/i6uBC5
I'm not seeing the Equalizer, BlasterX Accoustic engine, Voice clarity or voice morph tabs. The swtiches on the Lighting and Scout controls can be flipped, but do nothing, even when you switch to somewhere else and return.

I'm running the latest version of the software: 3.1.13.0 (edit: 3.1.22.0 now)

Windows 10 x64 is up to date.

It was previously working. Since that time I've not done much - I installed Kodi and spent a short time at a lower screen resolution. I messed about ripping blu-ray discs with a variety of software (but ended up just buying a dedicated blu-ray player instead of trying to stream it from my PC). I was using the optical output for a while, but switched to using the normal line out. At the moment I can get normal line out to an external amp and plug headphones in there, which means all the fancy shmancy headphone amp stuff on the card is not being used.

Reinstallation of the creative software didn't help. I might reinstall windows if I can be bothered, which presumably will fix it, and I then might then be able to work out how to break it again.

It's a .Net application, using mvvm, with a whole load of COM stuff underneath. Why would part of a .Net app just die though? The incredibly important RGB screens work ok. I can only think that it's saved some dodgy state somewhere in a config file which it keeps loading when it starts up.

I emailed creative support. I didn't hear back yet, it might be in my spam.

Can anyone see something blindingly obvious that I've missed?
Is anyone else with the card suffering with this problem?
 
Last edited:
Associate
OP
Joined
31 Dec 2004
Posts
49
Speak of the devil, they got back to me and said to...

1. Perform a clean boot in Windows. The steps are available in below Microsoft KBase article.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-sg/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

2. Once the system is restarted in clean boot environment, install the below software package.

Driver
Sound Blaster Connect for Windows
Filesize : 82.93 MB
Release date : 29 Aug 17
File Name : BXAE5_PCDRV_L13_3_1_22_0.exe

Download link:
http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=100192

Temporarily, disable the onboard audio either through the system’s bios settings or the Windows device manager.

If your operating system is booting up from a solid state driver (SSD), temporarily disable the SSD enhancement tools (if any).

Disable the ‘Turn ON fast startup’ option in Window Control Panel > Power Options.

Steps:
a. Type Control Panel in the search box.
b. Click Control Panel.
c. Click Power Options.
d. Click Choose what the power buttons do.
e. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
f. Scroll down to Shutdown settings and uncheck Turn on fast startup.
g. Click Save changes.

If the sound issue still persists, kindly send us the following information.

A copy of your system information file (nfo) with the Sound BlasterX AE-5 sound card installed on your computer.

To obtain the System Information file (NFO):
1. On the keyboard, hold down the WINDOWS key and then hit R.
2. In the Run window, type MSINFO32 and then click OK.
3. In the System Information window, click the File menu and then Save.
4. Set the desired folder to save to, enter a file name, and then click Save.
5. Email the NFO file to us.

This will allow us to identify / isolate the problem, to provide the resolution.

---

This didn't help. I'll carry on talking to support.
 
Last edited:

NrG

NrG

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Joined
1 Sep 2017
Posts
1
Hi,

i found out, that when i installed the "BXAE5_PCDRV_L13_3_1_22_0.exe" from http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=100192 in safe mode (Windows 10 64bit), it works as it should (Uninstalled all old Creative Programms and Driver before).
But the other Problems like the headphone jack dont work for me, are still there. The only Solution for me is to use the 5.1 Sound Option with Surround Level 100 and use another jack. All other Options brings me no Sound.
I think both, the Sound Blaster Connect Software and the Drivers are very Bad at this Point.

https://picload.org/view/rwpioclw/51.png.html
https://picload.org/view/rwpiocli/surround.png.html
https://picload.org/view/rwpioccr/version.png.html

Sorry for my bad English :D

Greetings
NrG
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
6 Jun 2008
Posts
11,618
Location
Finland
Or Microsoft once again introduced updated tortures and broke something in Wintoys 10/force installs some other conflicting drivers.

Month ago neighbour needed reinstalling drivers/software of both Canon and HP printers to get them print again and in last winter update screwed TCP/IP settings.
At summer both Asus and Creative card users had problems.
I'm almost starting to miss Windows 95...
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Jan 2010
Posts
2,966
Location
London
This isn't a windows problem, it's a very well documented issue that reviewers of the ae5 have run into.

My mate ended up returning the card because all creative had to say was "do a clean install and try again" they were zero help.

I'm sure someone will release custom drivers for this device, but untill then I wish you the best of luck.
 
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OP
Joined
31 Dec 2004
Posts
49
After reading through a few forums, I got mine working again.

Make sure you uninstall:
Creative Alchemy
Connection Service Version x.x.x.x
Sound Blaster Connect 2 Version x.x.x.x

reboot
delete everything in C:\Program Files(x86)\Creative

reinstall the sound blaster connect software.

I think the main difference here is that I did a proper uninstall before reinstalling the driver.

I also noticed that Direct HP through my headphones sounded like a dull rumble until i turned off the Blaster X Accoustic Engine in the dashboard. It now sounds great.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
6 Jun 2008
Posts
11,618
Location
Finland
reboot
delete everything in C:\Program Files(x86)\Creative
Some settings files etc not getting removed by uninstall actually isn't that rare so when removing something it's always good to make sure there's no directory and some files left behind.
 
Associate
Joined
6 Sep 2005
Posts
1,084
I am a bit disappointed with mine which I bought mainly for fps games. Using my old X-FI XtremeMusic card and headset, I could pinpoint exactly where footsteps e.t.c came from.

Not so well with this card and yes I have got it in Scout mode.

I think the drivers have a long way to go. I'll give it a while and see how it pans out but I can't see Creative doing much. This is going to be a job for Daniel K.

Anyway sorry for the moan gents, interesting thread though and I will be keeping an eye on this one. Hopefully I will be able to contribute something positive sometime down the line.
 
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