Sound Blaster X-Fi and Windows 7 64-bit

Anonymous
2009-10-23T03:31:55+00:00

I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi on a Dell XPS 710.  Installed Windows 7 64-bit.  Everything went great.  Downloaded and installed the new drivers from Creative for this sound card and Windows 7/64.  It installs but I get a staticy echo sound to everything.  Is there a fix?  The drivers are dated 6/2009.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2009-10-29T22:07:34+00:00

: WORKAROUND:

I claim NO responsibility if you mess this up but you can use this as a temporary work around until it is resolved by creative labs without removing memory... physically.

First run MSCONFIG

select the boot tab

select advanced options

under max memory select 3990 (or any value under 4 GB is fine IE anything less than 1024 * 4)

This will reduce the amount of memory that the PC uses which will allow you to hear the audio.  There is also BETA testing of newer drivers from Creative (the most recent batch of BETAS did not resolve the issue) that I am a part of.  When there is a working beta I will respond so we can all utilize our 64x machines.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-02-27T19:15:18+00:00

    Well, I did the install, removed the "Max memory 3990M" config (thanks again for the tip, 1Stonewall01) rebooted my XPS 700 Win 7 64 bit and the problem is still there. Static and no sound. I'm going back to msconfig and reduce the memory to 3990.

    I am seeing a long delay in the Win 7 starting when I do this configuration, I didn't associate it initially but with Max Memory selected the startup time is upwards of 5-10 minutes.

    I will continue to wait for a software solution but this is not looking good. Dell seems to have washed their hands from any hardware or driver support for my machine and when I last visited their site I left believing that the best solution was for me to buy a new Dell (that's not going to happen).

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-02-26T05:38:15+00:00

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-02-23T01:49:12+00:00

    RC_from_NorCal, you are a life-saver! I wish your post was the first option in every search engine, as this took me three days to find. Before reading, I was considering everything from pulling my SB X-Fi Card, shelling out another $300 for the max 8GB in my XPS, or even purchasing a new computer system. Thank you very much.

    Given the logic you presented, and the fact that the boot options were blank (max memory), one could try similar with their memory settings to fix this issue (example: if you have 8GB RAM, try 1024 * 8 in the option and see if that works). If it does indeed work, this would actually be a Windows 7 issue, not a sound card manufacturer. Not really sure how you all see it, but as a Program Manager, this is a product where the fix was implemented to meet expectation, as opposed to modifying the sound card. Before this, I was swearing (with every known word since 1st grade) off Creative for life.

    Thanks again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-02-12T10:35:04+00:00

    staticy echo is an issue with your speakers being setup as a mic. Go under your sound settings and under "speakers" settting under "Levels" tab, make sure to MUTE the microphone. 

    http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/5189/soundsettings.png

    I am running windows 7 64 bit with x-fi extreme gamer and I got the drivers from creative's website, they work fine for now. Hope this helps someone!

    Currently running Windows 7 64bit with a Sound Blaster Audigy LS. I tried a number of things to try fix this static/scratchy noise problem. This is what seemed to fix it..

    • Messed around in audio playback devices settings disabling all my microphone settings. Fixed it a little bit! Still does it not as much tho..
    • Went into "my computer" management settings and uninstalled my SB Audigy LS Drivers and installed my on board Realtek HD AUDIO Drivers. Fixed the problem! (whats the point of having a sound card tho) :(

    Please bring out a fix!!!

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