Windows 7 X-Fi Extreme Audio

[Styphon]

Introduction​

You're encountering issues with your X-Fi Extreme Audio 7.1 PCI-E OEM card while running Windows 7 x64. This is a common problem, especially when dealing with drivers from older hardware. Let's go through some troubleshooting steps to resolve the problem.

Current Situation​

You initially used the Vista 64 drivers which allowed basic functionality but caused issues with the microphone and the Creative Volume Panel. After reverting to the original disk and then updating to the new 64-bit drivers, you now have the mic working but are limited to only the front speakers in a 5.1 setup.

Suggested Troubleshooting Steps​

Here are some steps you can take to potentially resolve the issue:

• **Check Speaker Configuration**:
  - Go to **Control Panel** > **Sound**.
  - In the **Playback** tab, right-click on your playback device, select **Set as Default Device**, and then click **Configure**.
  - Ensure you've selected **5.1 Surround** as the speaker setup.
  
• **Update the Drivers**:
  - Visit the [Creative website](https://support.creative.com) to check for any newer drivers that may work better with Windows 7.
  - Consider uninstalling the current drivers completely before re-installing the latest version.
  
• **Check Audio Settings in Creative Software**:
  - Open the Creative Volume Panel and navigate to the settings.
  - Make sure that the correct output format is selected and that no options are muted.
  
• **Sound Card Settings**:
  - Sometimes the sound card itself has its own configuration tool. Check if there is a specific tool provided by Creative for the X-Fi series that can configure speaker settings.
  
• **Check Connections**:
  - Ensure that all speaker connections are correctly plugged into the appropriate jacks on the sound card. Verify the speaker functionality by testing them on another device if possible.
  
• **Windows Update**:
  - Ensure that your Windows is updated. Occasionally, compatibility can be improved with system updates.
  
• **Test with Different Software**:
  - Sometimes the software configuring audio settings can be non-compatible. Try different media players or sound-testing programs to ensure the problem isn’t software-related.

Conclusion​

It seems like a configuration or driver compatibility issue preventing your X-Fi Extreme Audio card from fully utilizing your 5.1 surround sound setup. Following the suggested steps should help in diagnosing and, ideally, resolving the matter. Please feel free to reach out again if the issue persists or if further assistance is needed.

 

[HP Deskjet]

Bladeripper
Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 8
Rep Power: 2


well i tryed to instal the drivers which they did. but my creative control panal only shows 2 icons one for the conections it recognises and the other being microphone options.

Windows recognises the sound card and the 4 speakers im playing it of with the test sound(quadraphonic setup)
virtualy all aplications fail to play quadraphonic.

However i noticed my VLC player plays quadraphonic fine

cnt seemt to figure out why. and i feel like ripping out my hair lol. .

I have exactly the same with my installation of the 64-bit Creative X-fi Extreme Audio drivers & Creative Console Launcher. No real control over settings, it's all exceptionally basic. No graphic equaliser, Crystalilizer, EAX, 3D, etc. All are missing. Is this normal for the 64-bit drivers?

By the looks of things, and as has been mentioned earlier in the thread, Creative have obviously leaned nothing from the utter mess they experienced when Vista came out. It looks like it'll be same Creative disaster when Windows 7 is released later this year.

 

[CURaven]

I'm not sure how the X-Fi Extreme Audio differs w/ my X-Fi Fatality, but I just downloaded:

1 - Vista x64 driver
2 - Vista x64 Console Launcher

Then I chose Vista compatibility and ran both setups as admin. Drivers and Console launcher work fine. I then installed the volume panel off of the x-fi CD and that works fine too.

For the most part, going the "turn on vista compatibility" and "run as administrator" route has worked for all my system drivers. I was afraid the x-fi would give problems like it did w/ Vista at first..but so far so good.

Excellent post! That was what finally worked for me.

PEACE!

 

[prazvt]

Glad it helped. Hopefully that's all that is preventing some of you guys from getting your drivers to work in Windows 7. Presumably the whole line of X-Fi cards should install assuming they use similar drivers...not sure what the cheaper cards lack (aside from the x-ram).

 

[donsno]

To my knowledge the Xtreme Audio card differs from the other X-FI cards. Thus far, I've not found any "workaround" for getting sound.

Don

 

[Survivor61]

I've run into the same issue regarding surround sound, however, I've discovered that it only applies to the playback of audio files from within Windows itself (including movies), but in games surround sound works fine. I installed and played Gothic III and set the game to \"5.1\" and thats exactly what I got. Yet when I play any MP3 in Windows, its only in stereo. I'm still looking for a solution myself.

EDIT: Solution is found here = Working Sound Blaster X-Fi series Support Pack 1.0 - Windows 7 : Windows 7 Hardware Compatibility : Windows 7 Beta : Microsoft TechNet Forums

Anyone get this to work with a X-Fi ExtremeGamer? Audio works fine but when I run any of the applications I get the "the audio device with this application is not supported" error