Windows 10: Has any one else had their Sound Blaster Z card just suddenly stop working?

I have a brand new Antec GX200 (purchased in September 2018 - with Windows 10 64bit Home pre-installed) with 16GB RAM into which I installed (on my one and only PCIe x1 slot) a Sound Blaster Z audio card (SB) to accomodate my brilliant Logitech Z960 5.1 speaker system.


At first, I could not really have hoped for better but suddenly one day (after only a few weeks), there was no sound. Looking in "Sounds" in the hope of finding the culprit mis-setting the problem got very curiouos when the SB card was nowhere to be seen (although in Device Manager it was there and reported to be operating normally). I uninstalled my SB software (hoping a reinstall might sort things) but to no avail. On re-installing, despite the Device Manager stating the card was there and working Creative's own SB software refused to reinstall on the grounds it could not detect a product.


SB support suggest I set my ROM Priority in my BIOS to "Legacy Only" (switching it away from UEFI only) which did nothing. Then they suggested I set my Erp in my BIOS. That did not good.


In the end they, at my request, they suggested their Omni Surround 5.1 card as a better alternative because it, "has a higher chance of getting detected that the Sound Blaster Z". They stated their SB Z card, "was released on 2012 and the GA-A320M-S2H was released on 2017" but do not state same for the Omni 5.1?


Anybody find any of this familiar? Anyone found a work around? Would I be best to dump the Z card (and take the loss) and if so, what is the best card I can have (bearing in mind I already have a fairly complicated speaker system with its own control panel). It must be a PCIe x1 as I have no other spare expansion slots. I am not a gamer so I want a good card (to do justice to the speakers) but preferably not one I have to spend a fortune on. I would like a modern card so that these (age related?) issues do not re-occur for some time?

:)

 

Sound Blaster Z does not work after lastest windows Update

After the lastest Major windows update to windows 10 My Sound Blaster Z no longer works. I have tired uninstalling the driver and reinstalling it. I have ran the troubleshooting program. Nothing works. I have the latest drivers from the Sound blaster
website. None of the fixes listed on this site work for this issue and If I choose the Nvidia sound, the NVidia sound works. I have tried disabling that to see if there is a conflict and still no sound. What did Microsoft change in the last update the
messed up sounds cards and how do I fix it.

 

Sound Blaster Z - No Sound


Thanks for the answer fireberd!

I tried this without sucess:
-check playback device
-check volume
-check onboard soundcard disable
-reinstall Sound Blaster Z driver

The stranger thing is working, so I started having some problems and after reinstall stopped working...

 

Sound Blaster Z does not work after lastest windows Update

Hi Robert,

I appreciate the troubleshooting steps you have tried to resolve the issue.

Please answer these questions to assist you better.

• Do you get any error message?
• Which is the latest build installed in your computer?
• What troubleshooting steps are you referring to?
• What is the make and model of your computer?
• Are you able to hear sound from internal Speakers?

I suggest you toRun the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
and check the status.

Windows 10 has a built-in troubleshooter to check and fix issues with hardware and devices. I would suggest you to run this troubleshooter to check if the issue is with the Bluetooth adapter. Refer these steps:

• 
  Press Windows key + X, select
  Control panel.
  
• 
  Change the view by option on the top right to
  Large icons.
  
• 
  Click on troubleshooting and click on the
  view all option on the left panel.
  
• 
  Run the Hardware and devices troubleshooter.
  
• 
  Restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.
  

Do let us know if Sound Blaster Z works as it should. Thank you.