5.1 Speakers + Vista + Creative X-Fi Soundcard = Mono/Stereo only?

Heofz · Apr 5, 2007, 02:28 PM

I don't know why nobody has posted a thread concerning this singular particular issue, as I've seen several scattered cases of people having the same problem all over the net. What I'm trying to do here is to establish a thread for this SINGLE problem, which is this, and this alone:

After successfully installing the latest drivers for my X-Fi card on Vista 32bit (I have the Fatal1ty Pro one, not that those specifics matter). My sound works... "nicely". There are no audible problems (i.e. pops/squeaks/etc). HOWEVER: When trying to run any kind of surround sound test, where each individual speaker in my 5.1 system is tested (i.e. you hear the voice sound: "Front Left.... Front Center....blah blah....Rear Left...Rear Right...blah...blah"). Everything is hunky dorey except the "Rear Left" and "Rear Right" come out of my front speakers instead of rear ones. No sound comes out of the rear speakers at all! I have tested my speakers by playing around with the front/rear/center jack plugs, and trust me, they are not the problem.

I checked all my settings in my creative software, everything is how it should be, i.e. set to 5.1, synchronise with control panel turned off, etc, HOWEVER: when looking in the Speaker Configuration in Vista's control panel, there are only options for Stereo and Mono, see screenshot below:

I suspect the root of the problem lies here, does this suggest Windows Vista does not support 5.1 sound? Or is it only the case for my sound card?

I have noticed a lot of people were quick to announce their x-fi sound cards are working perfectly correct in vista, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they never thoroughly tested each individual speaker channel, in particular the rear ones. Can all of you who claim to have FULLY WORKING vista creative x-fi drivers in 5.1, please double check this, and if it works for you... how on earth did you fix it?

Or if you are having the same problem as me, please make your presence known!

[COLOR=red]Just to clarify and ensure we don't get a bunch of useless posts in here please read below before you post:[/COLOR]
If you are having problems with your sound "squeaking" or "popping", this thread is NOT FOR YOU
If you are having difficulty installing drivers (i.e. BSODs, no sound, etc), this thread is NOT FOR YOU
If you are NOT running Windows Vista, this thread is NOT FOR YOU
If you are using a speaker system that is less than 5.1 (i.e. 2.1 or Stereo/Headphones), this thread is NOT FOR YOU

GutterPunk · Apr 5, 2007, 03:29 PM

I am having so many problems with vista sound. My onboard sound sounchs choppy and squeaky and sounds echo'eeeee. Its horrible same with the soundblaster 5.1 LIVE! digital. I will have a new card on the way but I have been completely dissapointed. Especially with the onboard sound on the 680i being pushed to be really good. My friend had the same situation but i don't remember what card he got but it cleared it up nicely. that really sucks for a nice card like that.

dipstick · Apr 5, 2007, 03:45 PM

Looks like a bad driver install. I'm running an XGamer Pro and I haven't had any problems with this latest set. Make sure you are setting it up as 5.1 int he creative console first. This is what my options look like;

Heofz · Apr 5, 2007, 05:46 PM

when u say XGamer pro, do you mean the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 ? If so, thats the same card as mine

Are you running the latest drivers? Or just the ones from the CD?

Heofz · Apr 5, 2007, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GutterPunk

I am having so many problems with vista sound. My onboard sound sounchs choppy and squeaky and sounds echo'eeeee. Its horrible same with the soundblaster 5.1 LIVE! digital. I will have a new card on the way but I have been completely dissapointed. Especially with the onboard sound on the 680i being pushed to be really good. My friend had the same situation but i don't remember what card he got but it cleared it up nicely. that really sucks for a nice card like that.

very funny

dipstick · Apr 5, 2007, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heofz

when u say XGamer pro, do you mean the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 ? If so, thats the same card as mine

Are you running the latest drivers? Or just the ones from the CD?

Yup that's the one; I think its the same card minus the front I/O drive. You should uninstall your current drivers and install the latest set off creative.com. (The drivers on the CD are not for Vista)
Grab the driver from here and follow their directions to uninstall the drivers which you can get by "Show Details.." on the driver page.

Edit- Also may I ask why you disable "synchronize with control panel" ? I don't even see this option on Vista and I always left it enabled on XP.

Heofz · Apr 5, 2007, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipstick

Yup that's the one; I think its the same card minus the front I/O drive. You should uninstall your current drivers and install the latest set off creative.com. (The drivers on the CD are not for Vista)
Grab the driver from here and follow their directions to uninstall the drivers which you can get by "Show Details.." on the driver page.

Edit- Also may I ask why you disable "synchronize with control panel" ? I don't even see this option on Vista and I always left it enabled on XP.

sweet

I'll try that now

I had the CD drivers installed because none of the funky software came with the web released drivers. All makes sense now

i disabled the sync with control panel merely in attempt to somehow get vista to use the 5.1 settings from the software instead of the stereo settings. in xp I never really touched it, as it never really did anything.

dipstick · Apr 5, 2007, 07:17 PM

That's probably your problem. I have yet to see a Creative CD with Vista drivers on it-you are probably running XP drivers and old ones at that

It should be fine once you update the drivers but you will not be able to use any creative apps that came with the card

Heofz · Apr 5, 2007, 08:26 PM

it worked!

now everything is working perfectly mwuhahahah!

i just assumed from the start that the cd came with vista drivers, as they installed without any hiccups, oh well lesson learned.

many thanx!!

Apr 5, 2007, 02:28 PM	#1
Heofz DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	5.1 Speakers + Vista + Creative X-Fi Soundcard = Mono/Stereo only? I don't know why nobody has posted a thread concerning this singular particular issue, as I've seen several scattered cases of people having the same problem all over the net. What I'm trying to do here is to establish a thread for this SINGLE problem, which is this, and this alone: After successfully installing the latest drivers for my X-Fi card on Vista 32bit (I have the Fatal1ty Pro one, not that those specifics matter). My sound works... "nicely". There are no audible problems (i.e. pops/squeaks/etc). HOWEVER: When trying to run any kind of surround sound test, where each individual speaker in my 5.1 system is tested (i.e. you hear the voice sound: "Front Left.... Front Center....blah blah....Rear Left...Rear Right...blah...blah"). Everything is hunky dorey except the "Rear Left" and "Rear Right" come out of my front speakers instead of rear ones. No sound comes out of the rear speakers at all! I have tested my speakers by playing around with the front/rear/center jack plugs, and trust me, they are not the problem. I checked all my settings in my creative software, everything is how it should be, i.e. set to 5.1, synchronise with control panel turned off, etc, HOWEVER: when looking in the Speaker Configuration in Vista's control panel, there are only options for Stereo and Mono, see screenshot below: I suspect the root of the problem lies here, does this suggest Windows Vista does not support 5.1 sound? Or is it only the case for my sound card? I have noticed a lot of people were quick to announce their x-fi sound cards are working perfectly correct in vista, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they never thoroughly tested each individual speaker channel, in particular the rear ones. Can all of you who claim to have FULLY WORKING vista creative x-fi drivers in 5.1, please double check this, and if it works for you... how on earth did you fix it? Or if you are having the same problem as me, please make your presence known! [COLOR=red]Just to clarify and ensure we don't get a bunch of useless posts in here please read below before you post:[/COLOR] If you are having problems with your sound "squeaking" or "popping", this thread is NOT FOR YOU If you are having difficulty installing drivers (i.e. BSODs, no sound, etc), this thread is NOT FOR YOU If you are NOT running Windows Vista, this thread is NOT FOR YOU If you are using a speaker system that is less than 5.1 (i.e. 2.1 or Stereo/Headphones), this thread is NOT FOR YOU __________________ wee.

Apr 5, 2007, 03:29 PM	#2
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,949 Rep Power: 71	I am having so many problems with vista sound. My onboard sound sounchs choppy and squeaky and sounds echo'eeeee. Its horrible same with the soundblaster 5.1 LIVE! digital. I will have a new card on the way but I have been completely dissapointed. Especially with the onboard sound on the 680i being pushed to be really good. My friend had the same situation but i don't remember what card he got but it cleared it up nicely. that really sucks for a nice card like that. __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

Apr 5, 2007, 05:46 PM	Thread Starter #4
Heofz DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	when u say XGamer pro, do you mean the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 ? If so, thats the same card as mine Are you running the latest drivers? Or just the ones from the CD? __________________ wee.

Apr 5, 2007, 08:26 PM	Thread Starter #9
Heofz DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	it worked! now everything is working perfectly mwuhahahah! i just assumed from the start that the cd came with vista drivers, as they installed without any hiccups, oh well lesson learned. many thanx!! __________________ wee.

Apr 5, 2007, 03:45 PM	#3
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Looks like a bad driver install. I'm running an XGamer Pro and I haven't had any problems with this latest set. Make sure you are setting it up as 5.1 int he creative console first. This is what my options look like;

Apr 5, 2007, 07:17 PM	#8
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	That's probably your problem. I have yet to see a Creative CD with Vista drivers on it-you are probably running XP drivers and old ones at that It should be fine once you update the drivers but you will not be able to use any creative apps that came with the card