[Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

[Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS
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JIGA @ 1st Nov 11:58PM:
[Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

*This may be hardware and software related, wasn't sure which forum to drop it into.*

Hey guys,

Got a pretty annoying issue here and have been working on it for the past 3 days. When using Teamspeak or Ventrillo after about 10+ minutes of use and when playing AA3, the sound from Teamspeak will go static. The sound in AA3 will remain fine except for voice comms in game, they go static as well.

Running on Windows 7 64bit 7600 with all updates.
EVGA LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 512MB
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Creative Audigy 2 ZS
2x SATA WDC

Here is what I have done regarding the sound problems:

1. On initial Win7 install used Windows Update installed driver. It automatically installed a sound driver for my card without asking... Ran into problems with BSOD.
•Removed Driver File Repository for the Audigy 2 driver.
•Booted to safe mode and used Driver Cleaner to clear all Creative entries
•Booted back to windows and installed Official Creative Audio Audigy 2 ZS driver from Creative's website.

2. On the Official driver my game sound in AA3, Arma 2, CS:Source, etc. would start looping and eventually BSOD.
•Booted to safe mode and used Driver Cleaner to clear all Creative entries
•Booted back to windows and installed Daniel K's Win 7 Support Pack Drivers.

3. On Daniel K's drivers »forums.creative.com/t5/Sound-Bla···p/538381 the in game sound is fine but I get static over Teamspeak/Ventrillo.
Also, upon bootup I have to go into Sound Devices>Speakers>Properties and unmute mic then mute, then go into Recording Devices>Microphone>Properties mute/unmute just to get it started... seems like it needs a jump start or some crazy shit. They nic needs to stay muted in Sound Devices or it will reverb back to me through my speakers. Recording devices is where my mic needs to be unmuted. I have also tried with the mic boost on and off to no effect.

Here is the $100,000,000 question. Is there currently a fully supported Windows 7 sound card? I see 3 on Newegg that "state" to be Win7 ready/compatible, but are they really?
»www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi···%3A31935

If so I'd like to get the ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card - Retail $89.99
If not I may look into the X-Fi
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···29102019

Thanks for any help.

*EDIT* Well, I looked around at all the cards on the market and their reviews. Some say they got them working, others say they didn't. It looks like their is hardware acceleration from a Vista driver, so I'll try that one out on Win7. If that doesn't work I'll just try my onboard audio and see how it works since Vista/7 moved to OpenAL. Ughhh what a headache....
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pnjunction @ 2nd Nov 12:46AM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

That sucks to hear you're having problems with your Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 7, I plan on continuing to use mine after I upgrade.

Have you tried the beta driver from Creative? Who knows maybe the some of the issues you've been seeing were resolved?

Is there a 'hardware acceleration' setting like there is in XP? Maybe sliding that down will help, although it's not really a solution since turning that down disables most of the benefits of the card over onboard audio.
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JIGA @ 2nd Nov 12:50AM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

said by pnjunction :

That sucks to hear you're having problems with your Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 7, I plan on continuing to use mine after I upgrade.

Have you tried the beta driver from Creative? Who knows maybe the some of the issues you've been seeing were resolved?

Is there a 'hardware acceleration' setting like there is in XP? Maybe sliding that down will help, although it's not really a solution since turning that down disables most of the benefits of the card over onboard audio.

Yes, I have tried the beta driver from Creative. Gave me BSOD.

I have not found a hardware acceleration setting. I recall that setting in WinXP but have not seen one in Win7. Vista/Win7 run audio differently than XP did and the Audigy 4 and below do not support 64 bit addressing. Not sure if those are related to the hardware acceleration.
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kw @ 4th Nov 06:30PM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

This is a well-documented problem with 64 bit drivers. I have the same card on a nearly same-setup. The work-around is to change the "Default Format" sample rate on the Microphone:

1. right click on sound icon by the clock and choose "Recording Devices"
2. Find your microphone, click properties
3. click the advanced tab
4. change the value to something else
5. rinse/repeat

Again, this is only a quick fix, and it'll come back eventually. The best way to "fix" it is to just plug it into the onboard sound port if you have it, then set that device as the default Mic.

Edit: This is where I found it:
»www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1422288
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JIGA @ 5th Nov 01:16AM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

said by kw :

This is a well-documented problem with 64 bit drivers. I have the same card on a nearly same-setup. The work-around is to change the "Default Format" sample rate on the Microphone:

1. right click on sound icon by the clock and choose "Recording Devices"
2. Find your microphone, click properties
3. click the advanced tab
4. change the value to something else
5. rinse/repeat

Again, this is only a quick fix, and it'll come back eventually. The best way to "fix" it is to just plug it into the onboard sound port if you have it, then set that device as the default Mic.

Edit: This is where I found it:
»www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1422288

Hmmm, that might work but what I am experiencing is their voice goes static, not mine. They can still hear me fine, it's just voice chat from Ventrillo/TS or ingame voice goes static.

I wouldn't think using my onboard audio for sending voice would fix a problem with receiving voice through my speakers.

I have already uninstalled my sound card and used onboard audio which works pretty damn good, I was surprised. I'd still rather use my sound card since it can process more and better.

I'll go ahead and try your suggestion, thanks.
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kw @ 5th Nov 08:18AM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

I overlooked what you said your problem was, I apologize. You may have broken something when you removed the Windows 7 driver. If I'm not mistaken, my Windows 7 install didn't even come with a driver...I had to do the legwork to go get it from the Creative site.

1. Uninstall the drivers from Control Panel (if you can)
2. Make sure all of the devices are uninstalled in device manager
3. Install the drivers from here: »support.creative.com/Products/Pr···+Blaster

"out of the box" it should work. If it has always done this you may have a bad card...did you have issues in other OS's?
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JIGA @ 5th Nov 11:26AM:
Re: [Windows 7 64] Audigy 2 ZS

said by kw :

I overlooked what you said your problem was, I apologize. You may have broken something when you removed the Windows 7 driver. If I'm not mistaken, my Windows 7 install didn't even come with a driver...I had to do the legwork to go get it from the Creative site.

1. Uninstall the drivers from Control Panel (if you can)
2. Make sure all of the devices are uninstalled in device manager
3. Install the drivers from here: »support.creative.com/Products/Pr···+Blaster

"out of the box" it should work. If it has always done this you may have a bad card...did you have issues in other OS's?

The Windows 7 initial driver never worked and when I did remove it I made sure it was gone, that's why I removed the file repository for it. I booted back to windows to make sure it again didn't try to install. My card remained as unknown device and I then booted to safe and verified with Driver Cleaner then booted back and installed.

Since I moved back to onboard I really haven't looked at it that much, but will this weekend.
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