Sound Blaster Issue, extensive details inside.

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Alexandrious1

Honorable
Sep 11, 2012
105
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So I been doin same ole same ole one day when all of a sudden, sound just decided to stop working. My setup is this, I use a Triton AX 720 pro, it has a decoder box which I hook up into my PCs Titanium SB card via its optical. I tried reinstalling drivers, still nothing, all I get is a machine like sound now no matter what. I try to play some sound videos, what I get in my playback settings, is, for Speakers Creative SB X-fi, Default device, just get the green lines, but no sound comes thru like it used to. I changed nothing. But if I change default device to the AX Headset itself, sound does come out, though not the preferable sound, I get stereo.

Does this mean that my Sound Card blew up somehow yet its still able to give sound thru to the decoder? Again the Decoder is hooked into the optical, and it uses a USB to get power from the PC.
 
Solution
B
I can't say, but from experience, there are times when the only way I can fix audio corruption with my X-Fi is to open the Creative Audio Control Panel, go to the Restore Defaults tab, and click the Restore Defaults button.

I apologize, and feel I should have suggested the Restore Defaults feature, but it didn't occur to me until now.

I've also found the speaker configuration to reset itself from time to time as well.

Over the years, I've come to the conclusion, Creative makes fine hardware, but their software support of said hardware is bad at best.

I've had to stop using some of my older Audigy 2 boards, as with more than 4 GB or RAM in Windows 7 they just don't work right. It's a shame as there's nothing wrong with the audio...
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B

bigpinkdragon286

Splendid
Oct 3, 2012
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You may need to go into the properties for your playback device and verify that Enable Digital IO is checked on the Custom tab page, although not all sound card configurations will have that option available.

To get to the properties for your playback device, right mouse-click the speaker icon in the System Notification area by your computer's clock on the lower right corner of your screen and select Playback devices from the context menu.

To find the Custom tab page for my X-Fi, I have to double-click the Speakers device, not the SPDIF out, and then I can click the Custom tab and make sure there is a check in the Enable Digital IO checkbox.
 
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A

Alexandrious1

Honorable
Sep 11, 2012
105
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I tried, couldnt find any Enable. Again I changed nothing, it just stopped giving sound. I went and removed the optical thru it, making only the USB that powers it be the only connection, and I still receive sound. Probably from onboard. Everything shows the device is working but it just will not give sound anymore. gonna try another headset.
 
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A

Alexandrious1

Honorable
Sep 11, 2012
105
0
10,690
I tried, couldnt find any Enable. Again I changed nothing, it just stopped giving sound. I went and removed the optical thru it, making only the USB that powers it be the only connection, and I still receive sound. Probably from onboard. Everything shows the device is working but it just will not give sound anymore. gonna try another headset.
 
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bigpinkdragon286

Splendid
Oct 3, 2012
4,648
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USB? You are using a USB connected, external X-Fi soundcard? If that's the case, I would again remove all drivers, then unplug the sound card, reboot the computer, and once your computer has finished booting into Windows, plug the sound card into a USB port that it has never been plugged into before. It should appear as a brand new version of the device to Windows, at which point proceed to install the most current drivers from Creative Lab's website:

http://support.creative.com/Products/Products.aspx?catid=1
 
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A

Alexandrious1

Honorable
Sep 11, 2012
105
0
10,690
No no no no. The Soundcard is internal. The Decoder is external. See, its a Ghost Recon 720AX headset from Triton. The encoder is connected to the PC via a USB which powers it, and the Optical cable is connected to the Internal Soundcard.

I did a sound test with the SPDIF Out Creative SB X-fi and I got sound. Im still trying to get the Speakers Creative SB X-fi to work again. The decoder box now doesnt show the light for the dolby.

I took away the optical from the soundcard to do a sound test of the SPDIF, no sound, I put optical in, do another test, got sound. So the Soundcard is ok. Maybe the Decoder box is somehow at fault?

Another update. I turn off the decoder box, no sound, I turn on, get sound. I try to mute volume on the inline controller. It wont mute. What on earth...

Update again: I now set it to the SPDIF Out as Default, and now it works, can adjust volume on the inline, and on the decoder. but the Dolby Digital light will not come on, however the PLIIX light, Movie icon light and the headset mic does.

Update Last: Ok....I now set it again in the encoder to SPDIF out and it all works again, all lights all....now I gotta wonder, what caused this problem to happen in the first place. Damn...
 
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bigpinkdragon286

Splendid
Oct 3, 2012
4,648
35
28,590
I know from my own experiences, I do not use the SPDIF out as my default audio device if I want proper Dolby Digital or DTS encoding to work, as the X-Fi uses the SPDIF out internally to perform this function. I have speakers set as the default audio device, and in the properties for those I have the option to Enable Digital IO on the Custom tab.

I only have that tab on my computer with X-Fi installed, however.

Provided those settings are where they should be, I can then in the Creative Audio Control Panel, choose the Encoder tab and enable Dolby Digital or DTS for my encoding type, which will correctly output through the SPDIF, whether I'm using coaxial or TOSLINK. I've used both, but find the TOSLINK to have a distinguishable audio hiss.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

bigpinkdragon286

Splendid
Oct 3, 2012
4,648
35
28,590
I can't say, but from experience, there are times when the only way I can fix audio corruption with my X-Fi is to open the Creative Audio Control Panel, go to the Restore Defaults tab, and click the Restore Defaults button.

I apologize, and feel I should have suggested the Restore Defaults feature, but it didn't occur to me until now.

I've also found the speaker configuration to reset itself from time to time as well.

Over the years, I've come to the conclusion, Creative makes fine hardware, but their software support of said hardware is bad at best.

I've had to stop using some of my older Audigy 2 boards, as with more than 4 GB or RAM in Windows 7 they just don't work right. It's a shame as there's nothing wrong with the audio cards, but Creative never bothered to fix driver support for systems running over 2 GB of RAM.
 
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