X-Fi Woes

Slogan · 12 Jan 2008 at 01:17

Hey all,

I'm really at my wit's end with this one, so thought I'd make a thread on it before I throw the card against the wall.

I have:

Q6600
4gb GeIL Black Dragon 800Mhz (2x2gb)
Vista Home Premium x64
and the problem, an X-Fi XtremeMusic

Simply put, the machine is working completely fine when the soundcard isn't in. As soon as I put it in - all I get is a black screen and have to hard-reset the computer.

I have flashed the bios (x38-DS5) to the latest version and tried to get into Vista by removing one stick of Ram and nothing is happening. I have also disabled the onboard sound in the event that there may have been a clash. As well as varying the PCI slots.

I can't install the Creative drivers because it has to detect the card first and have no idea where to turn next.

Any suggestions at all? Selling it may be a good one.

Thanks

Slogan · 12 Jan 2008 at 01:42

As mentioned, I have already tried that.

Slogan · 12 Jan 2008 at 13:55

It's a brand new build, mate.

Decided to get rid of it (well, it's for sale) and get an Auzentech X-Plosion instead. Getting tired of Creative's junk.

Hopefully the problem is just with the Creative.

Slogan · 12 Jan 2008 at 17:35

Thanks for your help.

I've disabled the onboard audio and tried a different PCI slot as mentioned in the original post.

I downloaded that patch and when I went to install it said it didn't apply to me. (I did pick the right one).

It's an unusual problem, not really sure what it could be.

Slogan · 13 Jan 2008 at 06:58

Unbelievable.

Plugged it in at random (didn't change a single thing) just to see if the problem was still the same and it booted up with it first time.

Trust that to happen after I've bought a Auzentech X-Plosion at £80. Why me.

Should I keep the X-Fi or is the X-Plosion a significantly better card?

-- edit --

Okay this card is having a great laugh with me.

When I put it back in at random, I didn't screw it down so it was just sitting in the pci slot. I thought great, installed all the drivers and they picked it up fine - was playing music on it too. Restarted so I could screw it into the pci-bracket and when I did, back to the black screen and non-start...ness of Windows.

Puzzled isn't the word. Any ideas?