Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card won't play...

[Jason]

I have the subject card in an Alienware PC that's about 3 months old. It
plays audio ok, but most of the Creative apps that came with it don't
work. When I start one, it complains that there is no audio device found.
It shows up in the Device Manager. I have tried every download I can
find, including those from Dell that allegdly match my system. None
works. All I can do is adjust volume. Any ideas?

TIA
Jason

 

[charlie]

I have the subject card in an Alienware PC that's about 3 months old. It
plays audio ok, but most of the Creative apps that came with it don't
work. When I start one, it complains that there is no audio device found.
It shows up in the Device Manager. I have tried every download I can
find, including those from Dell that allegdly match my system. None
works. All I can do is adjust volume. Any ideas?

TIA
Jason

Did you properly install the correct drivers?
It sounds like you are using the generic windows sound drivers.
For whatever it's worth, I stopped using CLab products some time ago.
The main reason was software and driver lack of updates, making
perfectly good products obsolete.

 

[Paul]

I have the subject card in an Alienware PC that's about 3 months old. It
plays audio ok, but most of the Creative apps that came with it don't
work. When I start one, it complains that there is no audio device found.
It shows up in the Device Manager. I have tried every download I can
find, including those from Dell that allegdly match my system. None
works. All I can do is adjust volume. Any ideas?

TIA
Jason

Is it this card ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102007

I would try to match the exact model, then read the reviews
to see if these issues are known or not. I haven't looked
at sound cards in some time, but seem to remember some of the
OEM cards don't have good software. Such cards shouldn't be
put in machines, if all the software isn't there to do the job.

A secret about hardware, is it's useless without software.
There are plenty of electronics items, which you can find
cheap for sale, and the weakness they have, is the wrong software
CD, bad software, or the software is missing entirely.

Some so-called "OEM" hardware devices, ship without a CD. In such
cases, it pays to read reviews first, to find out if others found
working drivers. Without the drivers, the hardware is
virtually useless (unless you're like the guy in the article
down at the bottom of this post).

Some electronics items, like a whole category, suffer from inferior
software. Just about every TV tuner card you can imagine for a computer,
the software sucks for it. The hardware companies don't do their own
software any more, they contract some outfit in a foreign country, and
the result is always a disaster. So there's a lot of this
kind of thing going around.

In the case of Creative, we know they can do a good job, when
they put their minds to it. It's pretty hard to explain,
why some of their stuff gets the treatment it does. Especially
when some of the chips are used on multiple cards, it should be
easier to make a set of drivers for all of them (one design
effort covers multiple products).

There was a stink a while back, where some guy fixed drivers
for a Creative card, and Creative went after him. I think the
issue was, the software he was providing, worked better than
the Creative provided stuff. Maybe you'll find this article
amusing.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/04/daniel_k-who-fi/

Paul

 

[Char Jackson]

Some electronics items, like a whole category, suffer from inferior
software. Just about every TV tuner card you can imagine for a computer,
the software sucks for it. The hardware companies don't do their own
software any more, they contract some outfit in a foreign country, and
the result is always a disaster. So there's a lot of this
kind of thing going around.

One notable exception is the HDHomerun series from Silicondust. Their
tuner products are simply outstanding. They work with Windows 7 Media
Center, SageTV (what I use), BeyondTV, MythTV, and others. Easily one
of the best hardware purchases I've ever made. I use mine daily and
couldn't be happier. Highly recommended.

<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...nd&SpeTabStoreType=0&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100>

Your overall point may be valid, though. I have crap here from
Avermedia and Hauppauge that's been gathering dust since about day
two.

 

[Shoe]

One notable exception is the HDHomerun series from Silicondust. Their
tuner products are simply outstanding. They work with Windows 7 Media
Center, SageTV (what I use), BeyondTV, MythTV, and others. Easily one
of the best hardware purchases I've ever made. I use mine daily and
couldn't be happier. Highly recommended.

<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...nd&SpeTabStoreType=0&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100>

Your overall point may be valid, though. I have crap here from
Avermedia and Hauppauge that's been gathering dust since about day
two.

I am using that card and running Windows 7, 64 bit with no problems.
Finding the proper drivers on Creative's web site can be a challenge,
but your description sounds like lack of drivers is the issue.

 

[Jason]

I am using that card and running Windows 7, 64 bit with no problems.
Finding the proper drivers on Creative's web site can be a challenge,
but your description sounds like lack of drivers is the issue.

I have tried everything I can find, both on the Creative site and using
the Alienware/Dell driver update service. There are forums @ Creative
that make it clear I am not the only one with this issue