Problem with Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer-bad sound, surround not working

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luciferi7

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Apr 7, 2010
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Hi, I'm finally seeking help for my relentless problems with my Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro sound card.

I'm running Vista 32bit, and I've got a Logitech Z-5500 surround system.

Ever since I first reinstalled Vista on my computer, I haven't gotten the surround on my computer to work properly. I've had my go at Creative support without much luck, and I've spent hours trying to figure out what's wrong by checking various support and troubleshooting forums.

The problem began with the surround not working properly, meaning, when I did the various tests (vista surround test, creative channel/noise tests) only the front left and front right speakers gave sound. However, when playing movies and music, sound did come from all speakers, but I doubt the sound output I got was what it should have been. The sound output from the rear left, rear right and center speakers was rather low and muted compared to front left and right.

Back then I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem was, but I gave up and settled with the sub-par results.

A month or so ago I reinstalled my creative drivers, because I started getting problems with the sound turning to a horrible stuttering, dry, low-quality mess. This occured both on my speakers and my USB headset. The problem came and went at random intervals, and I figured I might as well upgrade the drivers. So I did, and ever since I did, the stuttering, dry, low quality messy sound has made using my speakers pointless as the problem is permanent. Only now, the sound level also fluctuates at the same time as producing horrible sound. The problem with only the front left and front right speakers producing sound on the surround tests is still there. This problem is causing me much grief at the moment, especially since the speaker system and the sound card were rather expensive.

I've ended up only using my USB headset running on its own drivers, which works fine. However I cannot settle with having a soundcard and speakers that aren't giving me what they should, so I hope somebody here could help me out.

If any additional information is required, I'll be glad to provide it.

Cheers for all assistance!

 
G

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^

Everything is fine, the reason surround doesnt work is because the speakers can only output its original channel stream. MP3s are typically only two channels (stereo) and hence why only the front left and right speakers work.

However movies are usually pre-encoded in 5 decrete channels by default (DD/DTS) and hence why surround sound works in movies but not in any other situation.

hoped this helped.
 

luciferi7

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Apr 7, 2010
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Cheers, should have known that I guess. Anyway, that's not really the issue anymore. That only means that it used to work allright before, however the problem now is that the sound alternates between fine and horrible randomly. Crackling, spitting, low quality, fuzzy sound. This makes any sort of audible entertainment impossible, as you don't know when the sound is going to mess up. It happened after I installed the latest drivers, a few weeks ago, and from what Creative autoupdate tells me, there are no new drivers available since the one I got.
 
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