Vista SP2 and X-Fi xtreme audio notebook problems

2-3 days ago my soundcard decided it was finally time to go head to head with my operating system and disable some of its normally working features. I can no longer access my console launcher, audio console and diagnostics problems.

When I try to open the console launcher I get the following: "The Creative audio selection module cannot be launched. The module could be missing from your system etc." Trying to launch the other 2 programs gets similar messages of the module either running in unsupported mode or not being detected at all.

I've done a repair installation of the X-Fi drivers and a reupdate but no luck. I've disabled my onboard sound codec with no effect. My Device Manager shows the X-Fi drivers working properly with no conflicts. Looking for solutions online hasn't borne much fruit. I'm suspecting the problem lies in a borked registry entry somewhere but I don't have any idea where to start.

Problem basically started when I left a video I was watching on Windows media player on pause for too long and on play the sound came out highly distorted with the sound drivers failing to work properly. I've actually had this problem in the past but they weren't long-term since a simple restart used to fix it.

 

Have you tried doing a recovery to sometime about a week ago? Should fix anything wrong with the registry.

 

Have you tried unistalling hte drivers, then restarting th computer and left Windoes to search for drivers?

 

I'm out of luck with system recovery since I did a couple of major updates in the space of time my sound card went south so that's a pass for now.

A complete uninstall and reinstall is my last resort and a method which I have little confidence in. Still I could use a quick guide on how to do it thoroughly without missing any steps or leaving unwanted registry dregs behind. I do have CCleaner if it helps.

 

Just go into the device manager - pick the soundcard, right click it and unistal it - make sure you also unistal the drivers - if the drivers are well programmed you won't need CCleaner.

 

Do I need to reboot to safe mode or the like just in case something is missed out? I'm taking into account the hassle I have to go through to update my video drivers.

 

Worked without in my case.

Also, audio drivers are non-essential - your computer will run fine without audio too.

 

True, but the ability to use the inbuilt software to change equalizer settings and provide a bass boost is always welcome.

I'll probably give this a crack in a while, hopefully it will work. The replies are appreciated.

 

I just unistalled the driver - I kept the rest of the creative stuff when I had my little X-Fi Go issue...

 

Update: Did a reinstall twice and updated the drivers, even defragged the HDD to make sure. However I still have the same problem in that the Creative programs which depend on the Creative audio device selection module just won't start (Volume Panel, Console Launcher and Diagnostics).

I think System Restore won't help since it seems something in my system is preventing the programs from recognising the device automatically, I still get sound but am unable to get EAX in some of my games and cannot launch any of the software enhancements either.

 

Did you disable any startup applications or services?

 

I've gone through my services log so many times now, the Creative Audio service always starts up automatically and there are no dependencies which are holding it back.

I don't see any startup applications stopping me either, none of the entries which I've stopped are related to the audio service selection module.

Thinking back, the trigger for all my current programs was pausing a show I was watching on windows media player for over 10 minutes, after that everything went to pot. I'm certain it's a registry entry somewhere that's been corrupted when I tried the replay.

 

This sounds like a strange error source - it may be - although registy values should be rewritten when yo reinstal the programme...

About the services - do they actually run?

 

Oh they certainly do, I even tried restarting the creative audio service and trying the problematic programs. As usual no effect whatsoever.

 

This is interesting.

Can it be a fault in the programme you try to run?

 

I was watching one of my shows on Windows Media Player, frankly I don't see how pausing the show for too long can cause a catastrophic driver failure.

Everything seems to hinge on this "Creative Audio Device Selection Module" that for some reason can't be detected and which I have no idea on where it's stored or what registry entries it depends on.

 

I just plugged it into Google... two other forums:
Have a look here - I just briefly scnaned it - my eyes start to hurt... (and no, I won't leave my laptop screen )

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1324807
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?action=printpage;topic=120216.0

There is an older NBR thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=256922

Not sure if it helps - similar issue on head-fi...
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/auzentech-prelude-trouble-323345/

 

Thanks for the links, unfortunately they all seem regrettably familiar to me since I searched the web for solutions before trying this thread. I don't think dual-booting to XP is a great solution considering everything was fine until a few days ago.

It's late where I am now and I need to sleep, thank you for the help so far and I'm hoping others can contribute to what is becoming an increasingly exasperating problem for me.

 

Hmm - too bad it doesn't help

You're welcome - let's hope someone has a good idea.

Sleep well!
_______________________

If you are willing to play in the registry... you can theoretically delete all Creative keys if you unistal the software first - however, I wouldn't recommend it, and only as a last resort.

Creative Keys are under:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software

and:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE

in the second, follwo on:
-> Creative Tech -> Creative Audio Device Selection Unicode

-> 1.01

For me both these folder are empty apart from something with name "standard" and "no value selected"...
Oh, and type "REG-SZ" - whatever that is...

I would advice against playing with the registry...The potential for damage is too great. But it may be informtive to just have a look.

You can start the registry editor by typing "regedit" into the "run-window" - but I'm sure you kenw that.

 

Do I delete these registry entries before or after I uninstall the drivers?

I've just noticed something interesting in Device Manager, when I look under "Devices by connection" I noticed my X-Fi sound card is not listed. The disabled onboard sound codec is detected amongst a myriad of other devices but not the X-Fi yet the driver is reportedly working fine. I can still remove the X-Fi manually using remove hardware as well. Is there a registry entry that signals to the PC that my card is actually attached to my computer and isn't working on "unsupported mode"?

 

I don't know.

If you ever manually fumble around in the registry then only do it after the fact.
i.e. after you unistalled the software.

The fact that it isn't listed in the device manager is odd.
Check other devices to make sure (under USb, ect.)

If it still cannot be found - unistal all creative software - restart -run the CCleaner registry cleaner - at yur own risk, read every item, select just the creative ones. After this, at your own risk, delete any other creative entries.

Restart and reisntal all creative software - if that doesn't help - unless someone figures it out, the only thing I could think of is reinsalling the whole system, which isn't an option.

Back up your registry if you can - this may be a good idea.

(late here.. I'l try and get some sleep... again, after failing for 1 hour)

 

Under devices by connection I've expanded the entire list and did not see the X-Fi listed. It appears under devices by type.

For some entirely unknown reason my PC's internal modem shows up in the same category as the onboard sound card under devices by connection. I'm wondering if this is related to my problem.

 

Update: I tried updating the driver via the device manager before work this morning, curiously enough it seems to have fixed my problem, I found out later that Digital Output SP/DIF was reset as my default output device but all other programs run fine now. I'm hoping this isn't a one-off fluke.

Thanks for all the help, since no one else bothered to post in this thread.

 

Hmm.
I've had a strange graphics problem which resolved itself by going into battery saver mode.... pretty random too.

The key thing is it works now - let's hope it stays that way