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Creative SB X-Fi has no Sound on Windows: 6 Ways to fix
This can be caused by issues with the onboard sound card
4 min. read
Updated onAugust 2, 2024
updated onAugust 2, 2024
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To fix various driver issues on your PC, you will need a dedicated tool to find the freshest and the original drivers. You can use PC HelpSoft Driver Updater to do it in 3 easy steps:
Users who like their sound to be as crispy, and especially professionals, will go for anexternalsound cardfor a variety of reasons. The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic series are top-of-the-linesound cards.
However, they seem to have an issue on Windows, as either the sound is distorted or there’s no sound at all. We tried to shed some light on this problem, so check our solutions below.
How can I fix Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound issues?
1. Run the Sound troubleshooter
For the majority of affected users, issues started after a major Windows update. And it looks that some system changes made after the update broke the Creative SB X-Fisoundcard.
The first step to try is running the built-in troubleshooter. This helped some users address both problems with sound quality and the complete absence of the audio output from Creative SB.
2. Disable and re-enable the device
If the previous step didn’t help you get the sound back to normal, we suggest navigating to Device Manager and disabling the device. Once you reboot your PC, you can re-enable it again, and hopefully, the sound will get back.
There seems to be a slight problem with certain external soundcards after system updates. This should deal with that.
3. Reinstall or rollback sound drivers
The next applicable solution is to stick with system-provided drivers. The thing is, you can either reinstall them, and the system will install drivers again, or roll back to a previous version.
One of the two options should work for you, so try them both and look for improvements or resolutions.
For a quicker process, you also have the option to use dedicated driver update software. It will automatically find the best driver versions for your sound hardware and install it in just a few moments.
⇒Get PC HelpSoft Driver Updater
4. Change the bitrate
Another frequently mentioned solution is to change the default bitrate. Namely, it seems that the standard 16-bit bitrate doesn’t work well, but as soon as you change it to 24-bit Studio Quality, everything starts working.
Even though we can’t say with certainty what exact bitrate will work for you, you can try multiple options until you find out which one works.
5. Disable onboard sound
Even though, theoretically, the onboard and Creative SB X-Fi should work together, we can’t be sure. Therefore, some users found a way to resolve the issue by disabling the onboard sound.
This might or might not work, but we suggest giving it a go. If it doesn’t work, you can always enable it again and try something else.
6. Uninstall everything and install the official driver
Finally, if nothing worked, you can ditch all you have and install a fresh set of drivers and associated applications. We can say that this is the last thing we could think of.
The exception is, of course, rolling back to the previous Windows 10 version or just waiting for Microsoft/Creative to deal with it.
With that said, we can conclude this article on the Creative SB X-Fi Windows with no sound. IfSound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme music is not working, check our detailed guide to fix it.
In case you have any questions or suggestions, be so good to share them with us in the comments section below.
Aleksandar Ognjanovic
Aleksandar’s main passion is technology. With a solid writing background, he is determined to bring the bleeding edge to the common user. With a keen eye, he always spots the next big thing surrounding Microsoft and the Windows OS.
Focused on Windows errors and how to solve them, he also writes about the OS’s latest features as well as its interface.
In his free time, he likes to read, listen to music, and enjoy the nature. Hiking is one of his newly found passions.
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