X-Fi Xtreme music..............

[flexkill]

OK, against my better judgement, I went and got one of these card. First let me say you have not heard BF2 until you have heard it through an X-Fi!!! It's truely amazing! Now for the bad part and the question.....I am getting a very annoying popping sound while gaming and watching any type of video!!!! Forget creatives support it's none existent:irk: So it looks as my only fix is going to be figuring it out on my own! Any help would be awesome....thanx guys.:beer:

[RotorHead]

Hey flex, have you checked the usual suspects.......PCI latency, IRQ shareing.........:scratch:

[sodface]

Flex, I couldn't get my onboard sound to interface with my midi keyboard so I reinstalled my Audigy (1). After that I got pops when typing and during other activity.

The step outlined here (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=46767)fixed it for me:


NOTE, Back up all your important DATA as this fix will do 1 of 2 things.
1: Work.
2: Require a reload of your OS.
Try at your OWN risk. Although Hardware will not be damaged in anyway.
Going through the IRQ lists, and looking through Device Manager, Is your Computer listed as Uniprocessor PC, change it to Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), the crackling and popping may be corrected.

I don't know if this will help or hurt or do nothing. Also if you are dual core than maybe you shouldn't change it??

[John64]

i am getting that with my X-Fi Platnium, though its not a steady problem, its there sometimes, and not others. I found that a mainboard bios update has done a lot to help, as well as raising my PCI Latency, not using USB headers, moving the card around until it had its own IRQ and disabling the FireWire that shares the same PCI Bus.

If you have a dual core, you have to use ACPI for the second core to show up, so you are allready using ACPI.

I have had an early revision XtremeMusic that did not seem to have the same symptoms, but its the one thing that is anoying me more than anything. I too think that the sound quality out of this thing is phenominal when there are no pops and crackles!

[BB_One]

Ummmmm....me think I will pull my bid out of this.....

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6854555652&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Edit: Ha.... even better was only on watch so no headache on horizon...

[sodface]

If you have a dual core, you have to use ACPI for the second core to show up, so you are allready using ACPI.

My AXP board defaults to "ACPI Uniprocessor PC" - I changed that to "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC" and it fixed my particular problem. I took the above screenies on my P4 so it's not the best visual aid...

I forgot to look at Flex's handy rig specs... so with a 3000+ venice this change may be worth a shot?

//also my problem was with an Audigy so it may not apply to you at all...

[John64]

huh, so there is a diference between ACPI Uniprocessor, and the long-winded version? Was that P4 an HT P4?

[sodface]

huh, so there is a diference between ACPI Uniprocessor, and the long-winded version? Was that P4 an HT P4?

I'm confusing the issue here because the problem I had with my Audigy was on my DFI Ultra Infinity (nforce 2) with an Athlon XP 2500+.

I'm not using that PC now so my screenies I took above are from a HT P4 machine...

[John64]

ohhhh, ok. I tried it and it took away one of my Opterons, so back to Multiprocessor. I am going to try MPS instead of ACPI, i dont really know what that is, oh well

[flexkill]

Ya , its not sharing anything its alone on it own IRQ RH:(

Sodface I have tried that one before didnt help...but i may give it another go....just really dont want to reinstall OS again:(

John I'm right there with ya bud....Creative needs to get off there arse and get these things right.:irk: M Audio makes a 5.1 surround card for 99 bucks and it supports EAX for games....I'm seriously thinking about getting that card....as i'm about fed up with CL products!:| :rolleyes: :beer:

[BB_One]

M Audio makes a 5.1 surround card for 99 bucks and it supports EAX for games....I'm seriously thinking about getting that card....as i'm about fed up with CL products!:| :rolleyes: :beer:


BEWARE - EAX belongs to Creative and all audio cards that support EAX will support EAX 1 and EAX 2 ...Creative has not and will not licensed for the foreseable futur EAX 3-4 and 5 ( last time I read up on this )

BF2 has you know is EAX 4 and 5....


Was thinking going DDL audio card from Turtle until I found that out....

[flexkill]

BEWARE - EAX belongs to Creative and all audio cards that support EAX will support EAX 1 and EAX 2 ...Creative has not and will not licensed for the foreseable futur EAX 3-4 and 5 ( last time I read up on this )

BF2 has you know is EAX 4 and 5....


Was thinking going DDL audio card from Turtle until I found that out....
well, i dont care ...because i don't care if it has EAX2000 if it Cracks and Pops all the damn time!!!:irk: :beer:

[flexkill]

Just read some of this crap....CL forum link (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=31426) CL forum link#2 (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=26289) and no answers what so ever....CL even whent as far saying they have never heard of a popping sound issue before and that they tried in vein and couldn't reproduce that on any of their in house systems!!!:eek: :rolleyes:
821 posts on Crak&popping sounds on their OWN site forum and they never heard of it!!!???:rolleyes:

[John64]

DonT instatall mPs br0Ke Computer:smash: :smash: :smash: (KB DEAD)

[flexkill]

DonT instatall mPs br0Ke Computer:smash: :smash: :smash: (KB DEAD)
:scratch: what are you talking about mPs???:scratch:

[John64]

ohhhh, ok. I tried it and it took away one of my Opterons, so back to Multiprocessor. I am going to try MPS instead of ACPI, i dont really know what that is, oh well
:smash: :smash: :smash: (KB DEAD)(KB DEAD)(KB DEAD)

[flexkill]

:smash: :smash: :smash: (KB DEAD)(KB DEAD)(KB DEAD)
Oh crap!!!:yikes: what happened???:hide:

[John64]

hahaha, forgot that i have my Athlon setup :doh: oh well. I went from ACPI to MPS for the computer type, and it basically caused my Windows Install to take a giant dump on me! Also its limited to 15 IRQ's, and none of my hardware, including my PS/2 keyboard work in it. I have to reinsatll, luckily i have my Nlite image still!

[BB_One]

Just read some of this crap....CL forum link (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=31426) CL forum link#2 (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=26289) and no answers what so ever....CL even whent as far saying they have never heard of a popping sound issue before and that they tried in vein and couldn't reproduce that on any of their in house systems!!!:eek: :rolleyes:
821 posts on Crak&popping sounds on their OWN site forum and they never heard of it!!!???:rolleyes:


Long but true story 2 weeks ago - Audigy warranty 3 days to go before expiration - have always had this low hummm in Home Theater system - Coax or analog cable...so trouble shot this - that - to the tune that I took everything out of system including removing processor and resetting all....same problem.

Fine connect to other sound system I have - same problem..Ok send email to Creative and ask for RMA. The heck on this forum stuff...

Surprise next day got an answer - kindly refer to this and that and try this...fine - dear dude did all that and still same problem - second day receive email we apoligize blah bla send following detail rma will follow.

Great I said to meself - go to bed we do that next day..in my sleep I say to meself only one element not tried ....have u tried different coax cable or different rca cables? No tweety bird in my dreams said. So in the morning I try different coax cable - ummm no hummn noise. Plug RCa cable I was using humming noise is back - try different RCA cable humming noise was gone.

moral of this story - my wonderfully 100 pounder companion named Tox, had evidently found a way to chew on said cables when I was not looking and sure enough theeth marks could be seen upon close inspection of the cables!

Needless to say I never did answer the email requesting details to RMA the card.

Ok ok so what you say...simple ...shot an email and ask for a RMA - you'll see them move rather quickly A to fix problem or B to RMA card !:deviltail

[John64]

well, i have reinstalled, and the crackle is worse then ever! i cant take this any longer! I am starting to think that at least part of the problem is electromagnetic interference with the cord that connects my livedrive.

[DaveT]

good luck john, i would say shooot em an email too, couldnt hurt

[flexkill]

RMA'ing the card will not fix the problem.....as I have returned this card for another and exact same problem.:(

[joeMan]

You know, I have not really thought of it as a problem, but I have heard some popping too. Mine does not make the high-pitched squeel/chirping/crackling that my 2ZS made during HL2 (btw - cutting back my OC solved that one). What happens with this Fatal1ty X-Fi is maybe 2 or 3 times a day I will hear a quiet little "pop" or "thump" through the speakers - other than that it rocks the house seriously hardcore man.

Now, this just a completely unfounded joeMan theory, :o :wave: but I don't think it's the hardware or the drivers at all - I think it is uniquely related to each system and other components, data flow, power fluctuation, etc. in each users PC. Every guy may have a different crackle or pop for different reasons - rather than a one solution wonder that fixes all. :hide:

[BB_One]

RMA'ing the card will not fix the problem.....as I have returned this card for another and exact same problem.:(

Nor here nor there my dear friend - even better if you've already RMA'd it once - ask again and RMA it again - if still same problem with replacement product....

You now have legitimate and legal grounds to insist on refund of full retail price of the product + your shipping expenses to them for the various RMA !

Simple really......:thumbs:

[John64]

but i am not interested in my money, i am interested in this sound card. I dont see a point in 50 RMA's, the last time i did that i was screwed out of $200 USD! (Crucial, the bastards)

[BB_One]

but i am not interested in my money, i am interested in this sound card. I dont see a point in 50 RMA's, the last time i did that i was screwed out of $200 USD! (Crucial, the bastards)


Ever heard of small claims court in Canada ? Such a pain for the likes of Crucial they prefer to give you the money and the HOT HOT secretary to make you go away !

Now you prefer a broken product that works 85% of the time..well that's your decision and for you to live with I guess... I would not - but that is me.

[John64]

it works well, except sometimes there is crackling. I am allmost at my wits end. I think i will give that a shot with crucial. I like the sounds of that secratary!

[BB_One]

Back in the summer of 05’, Creative announced about a new revolutionary X-Fi audio processor that was supposed to change how our games sound. They said it would be a very powerful audio processor with a 51 million transistor chip. They also introduced many new features and claimed that it would be a breakthrough in multimedia audio. After Creative released their new X-Fi lineup many users complained about the following issues:

* Popping and crackling noises.
* Incompatibilities with nForce3/4 based motherboards.
* Blue screen of death.
* Hard lockups and strange behavior.


Obviously does not qualify has new NEWS, but does seem to be upsetting many more people and sadly, comments of less then usefull support to put it mildly often encounter - in other words unhappy customers galore it seems...

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Articles&go=read&arc_id=76

http://www.ngohq.com/showthread.php?t=6045&highlight=Creative+X-Fi

[flexkill]

Ya i know...but as long as creative has the monopoly on EAX...they wont care or listen!:(

[BB_One]

Encouraging in the sense that Creative now seems to acknowledge the problem and has been able to reproduce it - not so encouraging they seem to have some fixes and/or point the finger in another direction, depending on ....umm...who knows what.


We have been working extensively with a large number of systems and the vendors of those systems to diagnose and find remedies for reported symptoms of audio crackling and distortion, particularly during game playing. Thanks to the extensive and accurate reporting of these issues, approximately two months ago we were able to reproduce the crackling and distortion symptoms on some systems. All of those that exhibited the symptoms were high-end spec gaming systems. We have since been identifying other systems that exhibit these symptoms as well as working hard to identify the causes of these symptoms.

Fresh off the press.... (http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=61926)

PS: Pci-E x1 X-FI anyone ?

[CyberX1800XT]

there's a driver issue here. i have a audigy x-fi platinum with live drive. the day i bought it,,i installed it,,had no real issues ,,,yet. soon as i used audigy's auto-update,,and got the latest drivers,,i had noticed the sound in quake 4 had spots of crunchyness. then sometimes booting into a game,i had no sound at all. creative had acknowledged there were drivers not playing nice with each other. so i'm willing to bet you had the same problems i did. i did my best to uninstall all the audigy updated drivers,,and just use what came on the installation disc.then for the most part,quake 4 audio came back. and my mp3's didnt sound like 30 year old 45's that had been played 10 million times a day. i hope this helps.
and this is not in creative labs best interest to leave this situation as is. i'm shure they know about it,and are doing there best to remedy the situation. i chucked out over 200.00 for my x-fi platinum,knowning my a8r-mvp has 6 channel built-in realtek a1986 audio. not to mention i had compatibility issues with the card and mobo itself. my suggestion,,run the drivers on the install disc,and don't get the updates till creative straightens this big driver debacle up,and posts new drivers that fix these issues.

i wish now i had just ran the on-board realtek hi-def audio:bonk: :beat: :bonk::beat:

CYBERX1800XT

[Forsaken1]

Card performed well in P4P800-E.Nothing but head-aches with A8R32-MVP.Creative drivers?:scratch:

[BB_One]

Card performed well in P4P800-E.Nothing but head-aches with A8R32-MVP.Creative drivers?:scratch:

Might be the other issues they are still investigating as suggested in the CL forum thread I posted today. Nvidia behavior on the pci bus...dunno...:scratch:

[Forsaken1]

Might be the other issues they are still investigating as suggested in the CL forum thread I posted today. Nvidia behavior on the pci bus...dunno...:scratch:By Nvidia,do you mean the uli chip?Cant wait to be free of anything green in my rig.:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:SB 600:na:

[BB_One]

Since it's introduction there have been a lot of people reporting crackling and popping caused by their SoundBlaster X-Fi making games unplayable. In an effort to fix this problem Creative released a new X-Fi driver (beta) and wrote a technical analysis. If both failed, which still seems to be the case for many X-Fi owners, here is a new update straight from Creative.

http://xfi.blogspot.com/2006/06/soundblaster-x-fi-crackling-and.html

[flexkill]

More BullSh*t from CL!:rolleyes: Reminds me of the holy grenade from that MP movie. Turn thrre times then walk ten paces then jump up and down ......then it will work right!? :rolleyes:

[Killer Munkey]

Overclocking of nVidia based graphics cards has been found to cause crackling issues in Battlefield 2 and other gaming titles. Our internal testing has found that it is the card’s Memory Clock Speed that most directly affects the intensity and frequency of the crackling in Battlefield 2.

Possible Solution: Installing the nTune application from nVidia’s website will give you individual controls for memory clock speed and GPU clock speed. The slower the Memory Clock Speed, the fewer and more subtle the crackles. When turning the Memory Clock Speed down as far as the application would let us, the crackling disappeared entirely. We recommend that you reduce any overclocking and if necessary underclock your graphics card no more than necessary to resolve any audio crackling issue.

Underclocking the video card! Its a new trend :P :D :D Man who'd want to cut their frame rate to fix a sound problem.

[BB_One]

Creative Labs has finally released a production quality driver update for its X-Fi XtremeMusic, Platinum and Fatal1ty lineups. The driver release address some (but not all) issues with crackling, corrects a number of issues with popular games and adds full support for OpenAL 1.1.


http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3131