Sound card will not install.

[Andy_1995]

Hi, I just bought a new set of 5.1 speakers so i decided to use a sound card with them.

It is saying it cannot find any sound device, I have turned off the onboard sound and still nothing, also when i try to install the drivers it says it cannot find any hardware that matches the drivers,

Any advice?

 

[.Griff.]

Which soundcard?!?

 

[Andy_1995]

its a sound blaster x-fi fatal1ty

 

[.Griff.]

Creative drivers are notorious for having issues like this.

Does the OS detect the sound card? (Device manager > it may be listed under a generic name until the drivers are successfully installed)

 

[Andy_1995]

yes the OS detect the sound card but it does not let me upgrade or install the drivers, I tried
the drivers on the creative site and they do not work, then i tried to use windows to update the drivers but it could not find anything .

 

[.Griff.]

I used to have a similar issue with my old X-Fi card. Windows would detect the new card but when it came to installing the drivers I'd get an message saying no compatible hardware detected.

Removing/re-installing the card itself, removing all traces of the drivers and starting the process from scratch normally resolved the issue.

 

[Andy_1995]

thanks i will try that.

 

[Andy_1995]

do i need to disable the onboard sound before installing the actual card itself?

 

[.Griff.]

I don't think it matters whether you disable onboard audio (in BIOS) before physically install the new card or not as long as the onboard audio is disabled before you boot into Windows.

 

[Andy_1995]

I tried taking out the card and putting it back in and also un-installing the drivers.

Starting all over again has fixed the problem I now have my 5.1 speakers running on the sound card, and I must say the difference in quality between the on-board and the sound card is out standing. I am very pleased about it

 

[philyb]

I've had the same problem with the 7.1 audigy that I've recently installed, seems and most solutions are from 2009 with dead links. Might be a refund job and buy a bit more expensive one at the end of the month.

 

[Marsman]

Creative are useless. They have not released any drivers in 3 years for the Audigy SE, yet they still manufacture it.

If that's the card you have, then you'll more than likely have to try Daniel K drivers, if you haven't already.

I don't know why they don't retire it. Maybe some half baked attempt to compete with the Xonar DG in the budget price bracket.

 

[Andy_1995]

I had to use a different driver from a different type of sound card but apparently the drivers are just the same

 

[philyb]

yeah, tried for hours with lots of different drivers but no luck. just sending it back today, will probably go for a non-creative more expensive option. same, i used to use an x-fi a few years ago and it was great for the price i paid.

 

[Marsman]

You could probably get a used X-Fi Xtreme Music for £20 odd. Great card, I still have mine. No troubles at all with it.

Or, you could for a Xonar DG, if you want to keep the budget low. Much better card than the Audigy SE. DG isn't as good as the X-Fi though, but it's still a good budget card.