Sound Blaster X-Fi MB 3 ?

Brothers,

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the thread all that well, and I am sorry to hear of users having issues with the software. I hate to say it, but I haven't had any issues with the software other the UI of the software bugging out here and there. However, I really haven't gamed on my 18 either other than a few Titanfall matches here and there. That being said it seems as if this software is shaping of to be a bogus buy for most, which is a shame, as the software does offer some pretty decent enhancements to the sound quality.

 

I don't know if I would call it bogus....I have only had one game have any issues and I really can't blame them as it was never tested on these machines I am sure.

 

I have no regrets for buying it. It's an improvement over the Recon3Di software. It's not perfect, and it did not fix the audio chipset defect, but it does a decent job of improving audio quality.

 

hmmm... So yesterday on my lunch break I wanted to listen to some music... I plugged in headphones and got no sound from them. I only tested one program (media monkey)

Im going to try some other programs today and see what happen... seems its not outputting sound to headphone jacks when I plug in.

EDIT: now the headphones work.... got to play around some more with this. I think that I have to plug in my sound device, then turn on the program thats going to be playing the sound.

EDIT: I now get no sound from my speakers when I unplug the headphones and just get the red x on my audio devices.

Going to uninstall the software and load the factory software to see if its a hardware problem or a issue with the x-fi stuff.

EDIT: OK, so I uninstaled the xfi software, windows auto installed the other audio drivers (dells drivers didnt work to even install)
Headphone jack works, unplug it and sound go right to the speakers. So it seems to be a problem wiht the xfi software... or maybe I played around too much with settings when I first installed it... going to reinstall on lunch.

EDIT: I reinstalled the xfi software, again my headphone jacks dont work. Uninstalled and they work....
got to figure out whats going on with this.

 

I redid it on my end the other day. I had to because something went haywire with my mSATA SSD disappearing and screwing up my cached 4TB volume at the same time that my Recon3Di decided to stop working. Putting it to sleep and waking it up refused to work and interesting enough I could not get the audio chipset to wake up until I disabled the RST caching setup. I was like, "What the heck is going on here?"

This time I installed the stock Dell Recon3Di package, told the Creative Control Panel to NOT LOAD at Windows Startup. I installed the X-Fi MB on top of the Dell package and it's working really great now. Headphone, mic, speakers... everything works flawless again.

I'm a bit concerned about the mSATA having an influence on the audio. I don't know if that has been a related cause with random Recon3Di glitches all this time that was never obvious, or if my motherboard is having something different going wrong with it.

 

So much sound issues....

I restored back to before I put in the xfi software because I couldnt even get any of the stock dell drivers to load up... geforce experience wont load, errors, cant install any drivers, ahhh!!!

At least my new headphones came in today
Got some g430s for 40$ on sale.

 

I don't think any of my problems are related to the X-Fi MB software because it works really well. I think what I ran into is totally hardware defects, and the issues certainly were present before I had even heard of this software package. I wish Alienware had just stuck with the cheapo RealTek audio chipset that was in the M18xR1. It wasn't audiophile grade by any mean, but it was 100% trouble-free for me. I'm past the point in life of caring about having studio-quality listening experience. As long as it is crisp and loud, I can't tell much difference anyway. My ears are too shot from years of abuse.

 

Ran into another glitch, pretty much the same issue as I was having with BF4 and my G930's but when I HDMI out to my TV the sound does not seem to transfer

 

It almost seems like this X-Fi MB software, which I still like very much, tries to use brute force to make the Recon3Di chipset follow orders. When this fickle audio chipset gets in one of its temperamental moods and decides it is going to be uncooperative (as it has always been prone to do now and then) it doesn't play nice at all with the "bigger hammer" approach. The rest of the time (about 90% of the time for me) it works perfectly. It's hard to assess and very strange. It does not act up more frequently with the X-Fi MB software, but when it does I find it more difficult to resuscitate the audio chipset, as the sleep/wake thing doesn't fix it 100% of the time like it does using the Recon3Di software. I really wish they had stuck with the crappy and inexpensive RealTek audio. It's not fantastic if you are an OCD audiophile type, but it's certainly trouble-free, or close to it, on just about every platform that uses it.

 

I installed it on my AW 14 (which I believe has a Realtek chip). Sounds better than the delivered software. However, the speakers on the AW 14 are not the greatest.

 

Welp, giving this software another shot.... dont want good money to go to waste.

This time when I installed it I just set the default software to not run at start-up. Got it all installed again, it works! woooohooo finally I can use this software.... now I just need to figure out what each thing does in it.

 

I've been using it on my 17 for about a month and a half and it's been fine so far .

 

I installed again last night after reviewing some of the newer posts in this thread and so far all seems good....not sure what changed but all the other issues I was having appear to be gone. The software no longer goes into spaz mode when I plug in my G930's and BF4 is working with both my headset and normally through the speakers. I have not tried HDMI out yet but I have picked up a chromecast since I last tried this and that works just fine so I probably won't be using HDMI out any time soon.

 

So it is working in the alienware m18x r2? I know it's buggy but it actually improve?? What could be the steps to installed? Cheers!!

Enviado desde mi GT-I9300 usando Tapatalk

 

I think Mr Fox has it running on an R2 and he has said it runs good although it does not fix the creative drop off on the chip that happens from time to time. I find a huge improvement in sound quality but it could just be me.

 

Well I will try it and see my self Jajaja xD the only thing is that how would be like the best way to installed? I actually read all the topic but I'm a little confuse.. Jeje

Enviado desde mi GT-I9300 usando Tapatalk

 

Uninstall the recon3di software
Run driver cleaner for creative in safe mode
Run installation in win7 with new software

 

I just wanted to point out that most hardware features listed for most soundcard for both desktop and laptop are just licenses. A simple Realtek chip can do 90% of what some fancy card can do, although there are hardware differences in very high-end cards. Things like Dolby Headphone, Razer Surround, SBX Studio Pro, CMSS-3D are not hardware features, but simple software licenses. SBX Studio Pro is VERY important though because it has absolutely the best positional audio effect with the most accuracy. It downmixes 5.1 or 7.1 sound into stereo, but it does so with positional audio cues, so you can actually hear someone heind you, to the side, and how far away they are. Its a must-have in games like CS:GO. So the fact that its just Creative software should not put people off. Realtek chips are still great. Recon3D, however, is crap, but other Creative cards are not. Realtek with X-Fi MB3 is much better than Recon3D with X-Fi MB3 IMHO.

 

The problem is they never update their crap software and the program does not switch between the sound card and USB sound properly. I can't use my G930's with this software installed as it won't auto switch properly at all and just craps out when I try to run my headset. I bought this software almost a year ago and there has not been a single update.

The same software suit runs on my desktop with my creative sound card and that switches just fine.

 

Is there a way to backup the activation files for this?

 

Yes, it worked fine for me. In fact, this software actually works better for my M18xR2 than it does on my Clevo P570WM, which is kind of interesting considering that it is included for free as factory-installed software on the Clevo. But, yeah, unfortunately, it does not fix the problem with the Sound Blaster Recon3Di chip dropping out.

Here is a photo of the burned amplifier chip [ LINK] and here is what a it is supposed to look like [ LINK].

Side note: not sure if I mentioned it, but I recently had to buy a new motherboard from Dell. One of the amplifier chips for Sound Blaster Recon3Di - the one that drives the external audio ports - actually caught on fire. There was a bright flash from behind the left speaker grille and a puff of smoke, LOL. Curiously, nothing was plugged into those ports (I almost never use them). Other than the subwoofer and external ports not working, everything still fan fine, but the chip was arcing and burned off a couple of legs that solder to the motherboard. This caused no damage to anything else and I am going to replace that chip so I can have spare motherboard, but it was a really weird incident. It happened as soon as I powered on the system after it sitting turned off overnight. The new motherboard has the same problem as the previous two, so on my third motherboard and all three have Recon3Di drop-out issues.

Nothing that I have been able to figure out. If you can identify the correct registry keys to export, that might do the trick. I have tried several times to do that and it does not work, so there could be more to it than that. Not sure if activation changes something in the registry or something changes at the file and folder level, or both. I have needed to contact Creative and have them reactivate my key due to using the limit. But, once activated it seems to stay activated if you uninstall/reinstall the software. I don't have to enter the key and activate it online unless I do a clean OS install.

 

I remember it used to be with the older X-FI MB software that you could just essentially copy the Creative folder from the Program Data folder and save it. That was your backup of the activation. Then just restore the folder before installing the software again after a clean install of the OS, and it would install without asking for a key.

I copied that folder from my GT60 Windows 7 image, and copied it back after I restored my GT60 to the 8.1 image I had made previously. It didn't seem to work. Maybe because the activation files had a Windows 7 hash somewhere in them, and because of that wouldn't take on the 8.1 install? Just theorizing.

 

Sorry to revive an old thread. I want to buy this software for my Alienware 15 with Recon3Di. I just wanted to know if this will give you the option to select 5.1/7.1 speaker configuration in Windows Sound. I am not talking about activating SBX Pro surround, but in Windows sound when you right click on your speaker and select configure speakers.

Thanks

 

I caved and purchased it. It doesn't :/

 

I don't have any Creative software installed at the moment, only the updated driver mentioned in this thread. Here is how I access those settings with my M18xR2. Maybe the same process will work for you. If your chassis does not have multiple 3.5mm jacks, this may not work. I don't remember how many there are on the 15 or 17 R2.

(1) Right-click system tray speaker icon, select Playback devices

(2) Right-click Speakers and choose Configure speakers

(3) Switch from Stereo to 5.1 Surround, and click Next to change more options

 

My Alienware 15 only has 2 audio ports. Same sound card but only shows Stereo option

 

While they could be the same audio chip, it appears the supporting hardware and feature set is not the same. With only two external ports, there is no way your system would support anything except stereo or 2.1 output as far as I know. I suspect one is a headphone jack and the other is a mic jack, with no option to configure their I/O for another purpose. The older machines have four 3.5mm jacks that are configurable for multiple I/O including one with TOSLINK (S/PDIF).

 

I thought it would work like Razer Surround.

The only reason I need 5.1/7.1 is because some games dont give you the option to change sound settings and automatically give you what is detected by Windows. In that case, its hard to do virtual surround with them.

 

Yeah that sucks. Many games defer to Windows speaker configuration so virtual surround simply won't work. You oughta stick with Razer Surround then.

FWIW I have the X-Fi MB3 software included on my Clevo and I'm able to set Windows to 5.1. Dunno what's different about your setup. Maybe because I have Realtek ALC892 codec while you have Creative CA0132. Maybe X-Fi MB3 only works properly with Realtek ICs? I read some ppl with other non-Realtek integrated audio chips bought the software and couldn't get it to work.

 

guys, the X-FI MB3 software has been updated recently to officially support Windows 10.
The new package is called XMB3-VDWEB-2-11.exe and has digital signatures that have a date of August 18, 2015.