X-fi titanium problem

sylar · 18 Jul 2009 at 13:02

Recentley i brought a creative soundblaster x-fi titanium pci-e sound card, and im having problems.
After uninstalling my current sound card and deleting the drivers, switching on-board sound off in the bios and then putting in the new card,
the hardware manager recognises a `high definition audio device`.
On entering hardware and sound (im using vista 64bit) it says `speakers, high definition audio device not plugged in but it says spidif out is working. I`ve tried the card in a different rig under xp 32 and the sane happens there too.
Am i missing something or is the card stuffed?
Thanks

Uriel · 18 Jul 2009 at 13:21

Have you installed the Creative drivers?

sylar · 18 Jul 2009 at 18:46

Uriel said:
Have you installed the Creative drivers?

The drivers install without a problem, when i open up the creative audio panel it says `no hardware that supports the software` or something simillar.

Supernaut91 · 19 Jul 2009 at 15:45

Try using Daniel K's latest driver set, not only do these sound better as they are optimized for a great listening experience, but they cover many of these problems. I had this problem as you list , when i installed Daniel K's Suppoty Pack 2.0 it all was great

.

These drivers are available in the soundblaster forums section.

sylar · 19 Jul 2009 at 17:12

Bunyan said:
Try using Daniel K's latest driver set, not only do these sound better as they are optimized for a great listening experience, but they cover many of these problems. I had this problem as you list , when i installed Daniel K's Suppoty Pack 2.0 it all was great .

These drivers are available in the soundblaster forums section.

Thanks for the advice Bunyan, will give it a go and post back.
Doesnt Daniel_k help Creative now with drivers for W7?

Heofz · 20 Jul 2009 at 05:58

I'm also having this problem. I don't understand why vista thinks the only compatible driver is the built in "High Definition Audio Device". I can hear sound no problem, but obviously it isn't using the creative drivers.

I've looked on google and found countless threads on many different sites with people having this error, but not a single one contains a proper fix for this. :mad:

They all get as far as "did you install the creative drivers?" and then the threads always end there. :rolleyes:

I uninstalled all creative software and drivers before installing the ones for this card, and I have disabled onboard audio in BIOS.

/edit: Fixed it! :cool:

The steps I took to fix it (I'm using vista x64 by the way):

Open Device Manager
Click View > Devices by Connection (see pic below)
Look for the "High Definition Audio Controller" within the PCI bus
Within this controller you'll see the "High Definition Audio Device". Trying to replace this device with the x-fi driver will not work, because this is like a "sub-level", i.e. windows is treating your x-fi card as a "controller", and is incorrectly trying to apply drivers to an imaginary "device" contained within this controller. Without changing the view setting in step 2, you will not see this hierarchy.
Right click on "High Definition Audio Controller", then select "update driver software".
Choose "Browse my computer for driver software".
Choose "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer".
You should see a list like below:
Choose the creative one, and all should work perfectly (might ask for a reboot)
If the creative driver is not listed (which means you most likely didn't run the driver setup), you could get away with extracting the Creative Driver setup exe using a program like WinRAR, and browsing to the directory via the "Have Disk" button in the pic above.

Let me know how it goes

I think the problem is that the Creative Driver Installer is not clever enough to realise there are multiple tiers of Sound Drivers installed by default (i.e. Sound Controller -> Sound Device), as once you have it installed properly, you should see this:

instead of this:

So, long story short, if windows thinks your x-fi card is a "High Definition Audio Device", it actually thinks there's 2 parts (controller and device), but when using the creative drivers, there is only 1 part (just the device), so without looking at how windows handles the hardware using "view by connection", it is impossible to change drivers for the "device", as its parent is still the high definition audio controller. In other words, from windows' perspective, the controller needs driver replacement, not the device.

Here is the Audio Control Panel and other apps working in all its glory

Supernaut91 · 20 Jul 2009 at 19:24

I'm not certain but i basically think Daniel K, modifies the latest drivers created by CREATIVE and enhances them for us folk, and bundles all the software for a great listening experience, and also fixes many of the problems.

Supernaut91 · 20 Jul 2009 at 19:28

He has released his latest driver set package 20/07/09 - Infact no this is just the singular driver
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=143341

sylar · 20 Jul 2009 at 23:57

Thanks for the help guys, Bunyan, unfortunatley your solution didnt work

.

Heofz, i followed your instructions but the sound card doesnt show in the pci bus section of device manager, but does show in `sound video and game controllers`

cool!. Only now i cant hear a thing

Do i need to install any other software or configure my sound settings?
Sorry if it sounds a stupid question.

Heofz · 21 Jul 2009 at 00:15

sylar, can you post a screenshot of what you see in the PCI bus of your device manager? Your sound card is a PCIe device, it has to be connected via the PCI bus somewhere

sylar · 21 Jul 2009 at 00:45

Not sure how to take a screen shot, sorry.

Heofz · 21 Jul 2009 at 01:07

hit the print screen button on your keyboard, paste it into paint, save as jpg, upload to tinypic.com, paste tinypic link here

sylar · 21 Jul 2009 at 19:49

Thanks for that Heofz, hoppefully the link will work.

Heofz · 21 Jul 2009 at 20:40

sylar said:
Thanks for that Heofz, hoppefully the link will work.
<img>

Cool, looks like you missed Step 2

Do this, then you should be able to find it inside the PCI bus, follow all the steps in my earlier post and it should work (assuming you already installed the drivers and console launcher from the creative site)

:

sylar · 21 Jul 2009 at 21:19

Once again thankyou

here is a screenie of how it now looks. Unfortunatley there is still no sound, maybe i have done something wrong?
Please forgive my stupidity, i appreciate your time and effort to help me.

Heofz · 21 Jul 2009 at 21:32

Hmm, well it looks like your drivers are properly installed now, if you hover over the volume icon what do you see?

sylar · 21 Jul 2009 at 21:50

When i hover over volume panel i see 2- creative sb x-fi. mode game mode.
There is also a speaker icon that says speakers 2-creative sb-xfi

Heofz · 21 Jul 2009 at 22:47

Your sound should be working in that case, assuming you've plugged your speakers into the x-fi sound card properly (using the correct jack sockets) and your speakers are not broken, and all your volume levels are turned up. This is what I have:

Supernaut91 · 21 Jul 2009 at 22:58

hmmm, now you guys have got me wondering becuase my card works fantastically, BUT in the PCI bus section in device manager it shows as High Defintion Audio Device and not SB XFI, also when i go to update the driver i only have the option to choose the High Definition Audio Device.

Strange?

sylar · 22 Jul 2009 at 00:03

I`ve got the same info displayed in `sound` and `speaker properties`. As i will be mainley using headphones i`ve inserted the jack into all the sockets on the card but to no avail. I think the cards time is running out, i hear a bin calling. Lol.