Windows 10: Installing Creative SoundBlaster Live! 1024 in Windows 10 64-bit

Hello!

I have an old test PC where I recently installed Windows 10 Pro 64-bit to check the performance and compatibility with devices and applications. The onboard sound card is a Realtek AC'97 which as described in this thread will cause a BSOD if you try to install the latest Realtek drivers. The solution was to manually install an older version of the Windows XP 64-bit driver. Since the driver is meant for Windows XP 64-bit, as you may guess is not 100% compatible with Windows 10 64-bit. It installed the playback devices (Realtek AC'97 audio Speakers and Realtek AC'97 Digital Output) and I can play any sound perfectly, but it didn't install any recording device, so I cannot record any sound.

I have an old Creative SoundBlaster Live! 1024 PCI card (model CT4832), so I decided to install it and give it a try. For each attempt I restarted in Test mode (Disable driver signatures) just to make sure the driver will install whether is signed or not. The official Creative BETA driver for Windows XP 64-bit installed "successfully", but no sound was produced from the speakers! There was no official driver for Vista 64-bit or newer (not even for Vista 32-bit or newer), so I tried the SB_Live_SupportPack_2_5 (unofficial SB driver by Daniel_K). The same again, it installed "successfully" but no sound came from the speakers.

I wasn't so happy that I couldn't use a Creative driver (either official or unofficial), so I got my last resort, the third-party KX Project audio driver. It installed "successfully" but again I could not hear any sound from the speakers (connected to the green speaker output which normally is for the front speakers). I opened the KX mixer and tried to test the speakers, when I got an error that "Failure to produce sound"

I was about to give up when I opened the Playback devices and I noticed 5 devices instead of 2 (Speakers and Digital). These were strangely named "Master Mixer", "Wave Out 2/3", "Wave Out 4/5", "Wave Out 6/7", "SPDIF/AC3 output". So I kept my speakers connected to the green output (front) and then right-clicked on each device and selected "Test". Finally I was able to hear sound from "Wave Out 4/5" device, so set that default. I can perfectly play any sound now. I haven't tested recording from "Recording Mixer" device yet, but I hope it works.

EDIT: I just noticed a setting "Swap front and back speakers" in KX mixer. It was enabled (swap). When I disabled it, the sound now comes as expected from the "Master Mixer" and "Wave Out 2/3". So I set "Master Mixer" default as it should. I think that's one step forward. I'll let you know if recording works once I get the chance to test it. Just for the record, the KX mixer still gives an error "Failure to produce sound" when testing the speakers, but I don't care if sound works in all other applications.

So it is possible to make an old Creative SoundBlaster card work in Windows 10, even on Windows 10 64-bit, but I'm not very satisfied with the way it is done. I would prefer using Creative drivers for best performance/compatibility. Anyway I'll live with that. *Wink

PS: The KX Project is available for Mac OS X, for all of you wanting to use a Creative SoundBlaster (and Audigy) card in a Hanckitosh (regular PC running Mac OS X)

:)

 

Creative SoundBlaster Zx recognized as Recon3D and stopped working

Is Creative supporting the SoundBlaster Zx on Windows 10?

If Creative is supporting the SoundBlaster Zx on Windows 10, they will help you to get it working properly. If Creative is not supporting that device, there's nothing you or Microsoft can do about it. Microsoft can't force a manufacturer to update their
hardware for Windows 10.

 

windows audio service is not responding AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

Hi

From your information it appears that you are trying to install a Soundblaster driver from Creative.com for a SoundBlaster audio card? (File Name : SBRP_CD_L13_1_02_03.exe)

The Onboard audio chip for the Gigabyte Motherboard requires a special driver from Gigabyte.

G1.Sniper 5 - Support & Downloads: Creative Audio driver -
RC1.11


OS:Windows 10 32bit,Windows 10 64

G1.Sniper 5 (rev. 1.x) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Regards