Sound keeps cutting off [dual sound cards]

[firefiber]

I have a Crosshair V. It came with the Thunderbolt LAN/Audio card. The motherboard also has onboard sound. So I figured, I'd use the onboard to keep my headset always connected, and use that as the default communication device (Control Panel > Sound > Realtek > Default Communication Device).

The ROG audio, I use for everything else, games, movies, etc. The thing is, the sound keeps cutting off. I can't pinpoint where the problem lies. For instance, if I'm playing a movie (audio from Thunderbolt), say I pause it, and start Skype, it gives me an error saying the soundcard is not detected. So I have to quit VLC, Spotify, Steam and basically everything that uses the Thunderbolt audio. And then start Skype again.

I thought it was because of the Creative drivers installed (came with the mobo disk). So I uninstalled them. It's still the same. Sometimes, it doesn't even have to be a clash between the sound cards. Say I'm watching a Youtube video, and then I pause that, and open Spotify, it'll say "Error with soundcard". Even when I'm using the same device.

Any ideas, guys?

 

[gamerk316]

What you are attempting to do works (hell, I have two soundcards plus onboard installed right now), but Creative drivers typically do NOT work well in such configs. Creative likes to assume they are the only sound device on teh planet, and tend to break in various ways when another sound device is detected.

 

[firefiber]

Yeah, I read that somewhere. Which is why I uninstalled the creative drivers. But it's still the same.