# X-FI Xtreme Music / Windows 7 problem



## bassplayer769 (Jun 24, 2009)

i cannot get my x-fi XM card to work properly on win7, the sound is bitty/fast or makes crazy sounds (works perfect when i boot XP)

i have tried the latest drivers 2.18.0013 which support win7 and have tried the win7 beta drivers 2.18.0013 but still the same problem

first off i had to deactivate win7's auto driver update/install feature which is deactivated by default yet it still tries to update/download. solved this by disabling the network connection.

have tried re installing both drivers using the various compatablity options in win7 (vista sp2, vista sp1, vista) as mentioned on other sites but still no luck

the weird thing is though is after the drivers have installed, the sound works fine. its when i reboot it all goes crazy. this happens with both drivers i downloaded and also with win7's driver download???

prior to installing the drivers i always uninstall all creative software (driver, console, launch panel, x64 properties) and uninstall the device (manage) as well as remove the 'current' driver

i have had my X-Fi working fine in Vista x64 Home premium (as well as XP sp3)

My Rig:

AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 6000+
4GB Dual channel DDR2 800Mhz
Nvidia 8800GT
X-Fi Xtreme Music (grrrr)
HD's: 500GB (Win7) 300GB(XP)

any help would be cool!


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## bassplayer769 (Jun 24, 2009)

*Re: [SOLVED-ish]X-FI Xtreme Music / Windows 7 problem*

i dont belive it!

found out what the prob is, read in a forum about a possible cause of the problem

the problem is using 4GB Ram (2x2) with Nvidia nForce 4 chipset (my mobo is an Asus M2N4-SLI)

so took out one of the mem sticks and vola! sound is perfect with the audio console working. the drivers i used were 2.18.0013

so im thinking wether this could mean a bios update???


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## bassplayer769 (Jun 24, 2009)

ok i've kinda find a work around which basically involves not using a Creative X-Fi card...

but first what i've noticed:

Win7 + 2GB Ram + X-Fi (xtreme music) = perfect sound

Win7 + 3GB Ram + X-Fi = perfect sound

Win7 + 4GB Ram + X-fi = total sound corruption

Win7 + 6GB Ram + X-fi = total sound corruption

Win7 + 2/3/4/6GB Ram + AC'97 Onboard sound = perfect every time.

so im not sure what the exact problem is but it seems its either Win7 or something to do with the chip set...

although i never had this problem when using Vista x64......?

My Rig:

AMD Athlon X2 6000+
ASUS M2N4-SLI nForce4 chipset (which is nForce 5 series)
6GB DDR2 800Mhz Dual channel
8800GT
XP SP3 - VISTA Prem x64 - Win7


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

I have deleted your duplicate Vista/ Windows 7 forum thread.

Are you sure there is no compatibility problem?

Run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15

`


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## bassplayer769 (Jun 24, 2009)

just ran the Windows 7 Beta advisor and it says:

Creative X-Fi Audio Processor(WDM) - This Device is compatible with Windows 7

have just came across a thread from another forum where everyone is having the same porblem as me, relating to Win7 + X-Fi + Nforce4 + over 3GB Ram

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/3060-creative-sound-card-problem-thread.html


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## metadojo (Oct 3, 2009)

Dude join the club.. ive been having this problem since i bought my XPS 710 early last year ( or the year before? )

anyway.

I was receiving the same crackling popping hissing noise from my 
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
I had been running Vista64
Ive have 8 gigs of ram

I recently installed Windows 7 and got the same problem.

The Dell Drivers are really old ( i dont know if they even support Vista64 )

But anyway
I first updated my chipset.
NVIDA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition Rev C1
southbirdge: nForce 570 SLI

Again Dell driver is old.
I went to Invidia and they dont even have a Windows 7 version yet so i installed the latest Vista64 they had...

nForce Driver Version 15.25 WHQL 15.25 March 16, 2009 
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_vista64_15.25.html

I then went and got the latest Creative Driver
but that didnt work still..

I then downloadd something called
XFI_SupportPack_2_0.exe

I saw an improvement but not nirvana...

i then took out a stick of memory 2gb and that left me with 6gb.

That worked.

I wish i knew the technical reason why other than Creative's programmers might need to get alittle more creative. lol.

Hopeing this problem is solved at some point.
ill stick the 2gb when i really need it (probably when im doing alot of VM and not alot of music )


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## metadojo (Oct 3, 2009)

ooops my bad. im confusing the 8gb on my laptop with 4gb on the desktop.
doh!

XPS 710 Intel® Core2 Duo Processor E6600 (4MB L2 Cache,2.4GHz,1066 FSB) 

Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs 
Sound Cards Sound Blaster® X-Fi XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card 
ATI Theater 650 PRO Combo Analog/Digital TV Tuner with Remote Control

what do you think could be the root cause?
seems like something is overloading the sound card with information?


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## k0pimi (Dec 4, 2009)

so i had the no sound problem after just getting the xtrememusic for $30 off amazon... specs are as follow:

gigabyte ga-ma790fx-ud4h
amd phenom 9950BE
ocz plat. rev 2. ddr2 4gb RAM
x-fi xtrememusic
asus DK 1gb 4870

tried cd that came with, no go.
tried 3rd party drivers w/ great reviews, no go.
tried web drivers from creative made for windows 7, no go.
tried web drivers from creative made for windows 7 IN VISTA SP2 COMPATIBILITY MODE. WORKED!!!!

the difference was that the install kept seeming to stall out while installing. like taking 30 minutes to install, at that point i knew something was wrong, but i gave it a chance.

ran that in compatibility mode, took less than 60 seconds (what im used to). worked. best of luck. sounds amazing. LOUD AS CRAP!!! cant put the speakers past halfway due to apt neighbors complaining.

GOOD LUCK!!!


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## DasMouser (Jan 22, 2010)

lost one gig of ram gained an awesome soundcard, amazing fix that i would have never thought of. thanks a lot!


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## parsifal (Jan 25, 2010)

I solved the issue with W7 
Asus AM2-NE-Sli
SB Xfi Extrem Music
AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 6000+
4GB Dual channel DDR2 800Mhz
I manually downloaded SB driver
I manually downloaded chipset driver
I installed all.
I removed the Creative SB X-fi driver checking the delete box (please note: I did not unistall the audio card, I just unistalled and deleted the driver!) from control panel - System - Audio device.
I restarted and it's working :jackson:


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## parsifal (Jan 25, 2010)

But today is not working again! :upset:


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## DarknessS3 (Oct 26, 2008)

Kind of off-topic, but i have an X-Fi XtremeGamer and i was so lazy to get the CD that i decided to get the drivers off the website, and they would work, however, they'd stop working around 15 minutes of using the computer, so i had to reinstall, and this would happen everytime i restarted. Gave up and came back to XP.

Note: Only 1GB RAM.


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