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
    2009-12-25T23:50:45+00:00

    My profound thanks to "1Stonewall01". I moved from XP Pro on a Dell XPS 710 with the SB X-Fi XtremeMusic card. Finally getting OS access to the additional RAM Dell recommended and I installed under XP only to hit a system announced RAM availability of ~270GB. I moved up to the 64 bit W 7 and have been very pleased with the exception of the absence of sound. I initially tried Creative s latest drivers but to no avail. Next came the new audio cards, one from Creative and another from ASUS (hardward incompatable with board slot).  Lot s of time on the web until I got this work around.  It all makes sense now but what a learning experience!  Thanks again and I am awaiting the fix so I can get back my "34" GBs of RAM :-)

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-12-10T00:59:26+00:00

    Worked like a charm....XPS 600 Windows 7 8gb of ram Thank you for the post

    I have had the same problem with an XPS 600.  I found that installing driver 2.14.0025 (2.14.0001 on some sites) corrected the problem.  This driver does not appear to be available from Creative.  It installs driver 6.0.1.1283.

    I found this information at http://forums.creative.com/t5/Sound-Blaster/SB-X-Fi-Series-driver-2-14-0025-Prelude-Beta1-08-07-2009/td-p/533305.

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-12-02T03:28:32+00:00

    I can testify that the beta drivers fixes the sound issues. Windows may tell you that you are already using the latest drivers when you try to run the setup.exe process. I ran through the setup software, and then updated the X-Fi driver manually using the device manager. In any case, sound is crystal clear now. Thanks to those that recommended the beta drivers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-11-19T13:44:36+00:00

    Dave, The post proposed as answer from you by 1STONEWALL01 was most helpful. You believe I spent thousands of dollars to MS for uprades, Operating Sytems, and software/ thousands to Dell for p/cs, warranty support, etc.? MS told my to d/l latest driver from Dell when available: Dell to me to check with Creative for latest driver, and Creative said check with MS.   Hmmmmm.

    Now, Creative says to check with computer mgf for (OEM) sound cards...I am about ready to throw in the towel. I hear tell that Linix Red Hat or Mac is a possible solution.

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