Soundblaster xfi titanium acting quite funny. help me?

clemmerson

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My issue im having started yestarday...
my sound just stops working randomly.

my specs are
i7 960 not O/C
big bang xpower mobo - bios updated
250 gts bfg graphics card
sound blaster xfi titanium pci-e 1x
6gb corsair dominator - XMP enabled.
500gb WD hdd
haf 932 full tower
win 7 ultimate

iv done all these steps to replicate my problem

play a video game
watch a movie
listen to music
run dolphin emulator
and leave the computer alone for a few hours.

no matter what i do it still stops randomly (dolphin is the only program that makes it quit faster, after 35 minutes or so.) everything else is about an hour.

restarting the computer temporarily fixes it and uninstalling the drivers in device manager temporarily fixes it. so its got to be a driver issue.

what iv done to try and fix the issue is uninstall all creative software and drivers, restart my comp, and make sure no onboard audio is enabled (big bang is weird cause it has a chip on the mobo but comes with a pci-e 1x card that works with the chip for pretty decent audio.) and reinstalled all audio drivers and software manually (disconnected from the internet) then reset all audio setting to default. still didnt work. iv checked all my sound setting, used creative diagnostics on it, and checked the drivers. There is no problem detected by windows 7 or device manager or the diag. iv even run MRI on my rig ( i work at geek squad so i can use a copy on my own computer). i checked my speakers with my ipod and they work. even my headphone jack in the front of my comp doesnt work when the sound goes out. i also let the win update auto install the driver and that didnt work. i even reseated the card and then reseated my cpu and neither worked.

MRI does a full HW diag on hdd/ram/cpu/mobo. it also does 7 different up to date virus scans.
everything passed and i only had 2 generic Trojans. my mobo also has an on board error code lights and panel and it doesnt show anything.


iv been using this card for the better of six months now and never had a problem.. i just built a new rig and its been in the new one for 2 1/2 months now.


I haven't done any changes/installed anything for the last 4 days.
i checked reliability history and it doesn't show anything.

the driver i am using is
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Driver 2.17.0008

i always find solutions to my problems in this amazing forum but this is my first time having to ask for help.

its actually quite amazing. i found a question Google didn't know the answer to!
hopefully you guys/gals will!
 
Yep Creative drivers are a PITA.
I would uninstall everything again in ADD/REMOVE
Make sure Azalia is disabled in bios.
Download and install DriverSweeper
http://phyxion.net/Driver-Sweeper/Driver-Sweeper/Driver-Sweeper-285
Restart in safemode and click Creative in DS
analyze and clean
Restart normal
Download latest driver suite and whatever else goes with that card
Also make sure you mute your sound when switching modes
Creative hardware has issues if you don't
 

clemmerson

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Do creative have forums? This is getting ridicilous. Sure one bad driver you fix it but for how long is this issue been going on. Those cards give all sorts of problems. Creative is just going on without attempting to fix it. Cant believe it.

A lot of users had problems with the card but I noticed it behaves differently from person to person who complained. So that would lead me to think its the chipset---->soundcard------>drivers issue .

OP please do me a favour go to even viewer and post the error messages you received in it.

Then go to your power management and disable everything in it

hmmm, i dont quite understand your dialog.
is it sarcasm, flaming, or are you serious?
i didnt go to creative because theres a tomshardware forum just for issues like this.
i have already said its been happening for 2 days, and it just started happening for no reason. ie, didnt install/remove/change anything for 4 days.

also there are no errors. none. nada. its like there is no problem at all.
all my error logs check out fine.
i already have everything in power manager disabled.
 

clemmerson

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It did not work.
I dont have azalia in my bios.
hmmm, this is pretty weird.
instead of the sound going out this time it started to make a loud high pitched annoying bzzzzz noise.
i could mute the noise tho.
i did a restart and sound came back. then after about an hour it cut off again...

anymore ideas?
 

Yep! try reseating your card in a different slot.It's pcie x1 so it will work in any slot.
Also double check your device manager to see if your device is listed under Sound/Video
If it isn't it means the install was unsuccessfull
Azalia is onboard sound in your bios= make sure it's disabled
Always use DriverSweeper when changing drivers for sound or gpu's.
I've found the method i posted earlier provides the best results in both instances.
Good luck!
 

clemmerson

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so iv tried everything you guys suggested and nothing has worked.
i just restarted my comp and i finally got a bsod.

bad pool caller
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x000000c2 (0x0000000000000060, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 020611-22573-01.

i would upload the mem dump but i dont know how.
also my mem dump file is 233mb oO
is that normal?
 

Well that error could be either a hardware or software related one.
As i mentioned before you can seat the Creative card in any slot.
I don't have your mobo or manual but i just read the manual.
I would follow the manuals recommended population guide for pci slots.
That means don't put the card in the pcie x1 slot(specifically made for the msi sound card)
Don't put the card in a pcie x16 that's labelled for gpu's.
Follow the guide.Read your manual.
Disable onboard sound in your bios
if you don't know how to do that uninstall all the Realtek sound drivers
I would start in safemode
Run driversweeper
Remove the Realtek and Creative sound drivers
Restart normal
Download Creative driver package for your card
Install as Admin
i'm seriously out of suggestions if that doesn't work
 

clemmerson

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i believe what i have here is a very uncommon issue caused by
By allocating or freeing a memory pool at an IRQL that was too high
my pci-e 16x and 1x slots share the same irq's.

i believe my GC is going bad. prolly bad resistors or something of the such because there are no common errors (over heating) or driver error to be seen.
so that random bsod was cause by both cards crapping out at the same time. one physical and one software.

anyways, i dont really know a whole lot about this kind of stuff in computers cause im only 18 :)
butt i have 3 bsod dumps and will post all 3 here. the first one is the only one iv seen with my own eyes,the bad pool caller dump. (others prolly happend when i wasnt at home, my gf uses my comp sometimes.)
__________________________________________________________________________________

2/6/2011
dump 1: mv91cons.sys mv91cons.sys+649b fffff880`00e5c000 fffff880`00e66000 0x0000a000 0x4ca55585 9/30/2010 9:29:09 PM

ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+168c9a fffff800`03009000 fffff800`035e5000 0x005dc000 0x4c1c44a9 6/18/2010 10:16:41 PM Microsoft® Windows® Operating System NT Kernel & System 6.1.7600.16617 (win7_gdr.100618-1621) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

______________________________________________________________________________________
2/1/2011, 1/30/2011
dump 2 & 3:hal.dll hal.dll+12903 fffff800`033f0000 fffff800`03439000 0x00049000 0x4a5bdf08 7/13/2009 7:27:36 PM


ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+186593 fffff800`02e14000 fffff800`033f0000 0x005dc000 0x4c1c44a9 6/18/2010 10:16:41 PM Microsoft® Windows® Operating System NT Kernel & System 6.1.7600.16617 (win7_gdr.100618-1621) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe


pci.sys pci.sys+9aff fffff880`00e00000 fffff880`00e33000 0x00033000 0x4a5bc117 7/13/2009 5:19:51 PM

________________________________________________________________________________________
 
IRQ problems should frankly not be a problem since we moved to automatic IRQ management...

Whenever I see "BAD_POOL_XXXXX", I automatically assume drivers, as a crappy driver is the easiest way to produce a BAD_POOL stop code.

That being said, as you are reporting seeing no consistency in the stop code, it COULD be bad memory causing the issue. Run either memtest86 or (If you have Vista/7) the Windows Memory Diagnostic and check for errors.
 

clemmerson

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iv run a bunch of mem tests. and tested all my hardware to boot too!
there is nothing physically wrong with my machine.
my ram, motherboard, and cpu are all working 100%
my gpu passes fur mark stress test and my cpu passes prime 95 and Intel burn in stress test.



now i keep getting bsod:

020711-17378-01.dmp 2/7/2011 9:00:59 PM SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED 0x1000007e ffffffff`c0000005 fffff880`00eede3d fffff880`0357dd98 fffff880`0357d600 pci.sys pci.sys+8f46 x64 C:\Windows\Minidump\020711-17378-01.dmp 8 15 7600 291,808


pci.sys pci.sys+8f46 fffff880`00ee5000 fffff880`00f18000 0x00033000 0x4a5bc117 7/13/2009 5:19:51 PM

what is pci.sys?
 

clemmerson

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ok i just went through and did a full update on all my drivers.
and i got the latest bios update. (didnt know 1.4 came out yet.)
so hopefully ill be good.

i think the pci.sys bsod is linked to my realtek pcie ethernet lan drivers. so updating them should have helped.
 

Ejohrik

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Apr 11, 2012
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This might be a horrible bump, but I will do it anyway.

I have had this soundcard (SB XFI Titanium) for about 2 months and I have had this EXACT problem myself for a few weeks. The only difference is that I very rarely get blue-screen. The sound dissapears, every kind of playback (spotify, WMP, YouTube) runs in slow-motion. The computer freezes if I enter "Recording devices", where I always see an out-of-place "Line-In" being active even though it is never active when the sound works. I can temporarily fix the problem by restarting the computer or de-activating and activating the sound card.

I even handed my computer to the shop where I bought the sound card. After one day of testing (running streaming for a few hours at a time) they called back and said the sound had never dissapeared for them. Well, it did for me just 20 minutes after getting home, getting the computer plugged in again, and starting it . I feel like I have tried everything except updating BIOS. I'm afraid of ruining my computer in vain.

So... Did you find any solution to the problem?

 

Ejohrik

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I have already tried PAX drivers. Made no difference.

I don't really feel like buying a new soundcard when I recently spent 1200SEK (about 180 dollars. Swedish taxes, local shop etc. brings up the price) on this soundcard, which actually worked flawlessly from the start.
 

Ejohrik

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Thank you very much for responding. I guess I will try that, after trying to update the BIOS.
 

Ejohrik

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I updated BIOS, had no problems for a few hours and then the same happened again. I have no idea of how to prove to Gigabyte or the shop that it's the motherboard which causes it. I have no way of testing the sound card in another computer. :(

Feels like all I can do is buy a new motherboard and hope for the best.
 

Yautja Hunter

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Hi there! After having SB X-Fi Titanium for 3(!) years working just fine, now I am having the very same problem: the sound just disappears randomly. More often if I watch a video via media player, less often when playing a game or listening to mp3 via Winamp or something. Have tried PAX drivers - no changes. And I can't actually track how this problem developed. Haven't changed or upgraded any hardware for a while now.

Has anybody found any solution? I can't put the sound card into another PCI-E slot as I am running a SLI configuration and there is simply no room to move the video cards.

My specs are:
i7 920 2.6Ghz O/C 4.0Ghz
Asus Rampage II Extreme - bios updated
2xMSI GeForce GTX 570 (SLI)
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series PCI-E with front bay panel
RAM 6Gb
Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit