BIOS Update for X-Fi compatibility?

[mrsaturn]

I'm sure anyone reading this knows about Creative's X-Fi problem that prevents some NF4 board from working nicely with the soundcard. DFI is square on that list as one of the only manufacturers that has not released a fixed BIOS. I've heard they cannot reproduce the problem. I fully believe it is creatives problem, but..

 

Since creative just wants me to send this bloody card back, what is the chance of a modded/official BIOS being released that will fix this horrible problem? I'm at my wit's end here. The more I read about this damn X-Fi, the more I want it (aside from this incompatibility problem).

 

It is an enumeration problem with the X-Fi's firmware, but if a BIOS fix can remedy the problem perhaps a mod is possible. Of course a team of engineers may be required to figure this one out, it *is* creative after all..

 

Anyway, thanks for hearing me out. I hope someone has some information.

[Sharptooth+]

What X-Fi card do you have?

 

--Fernando

[mrsaturn]

Oh, sorry! It's the Xtreme music.

[Sharptooth+]

I'm surprised to hear that no bios *fix* has been released officially or unofficially from either DFI or Creative Labs. As far as the modding community is concerned, did you try the 'Bios Factory' in the 'Overclocking' section of this forum?

 

I'm curious about this because I have the same card and am going to be using it on my DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-DR 'Venus' I recently got.

 

--Fernando

[red930]

*sigh*

 

Its not a Bios issue. The card has issues with the nf4 chipset in general, and you can send your card in for a firmware update, I don't believe you can do it yourself. Newer versions shouldn't be having any problems.

 

Basically there is no reason for DFI to fix sometihng that isn't their product.

[mrsaturn]

Okay, I can understand that. But other mobo manufacturers have released updated bioses that fix the problem. I'm not blaming DFI in any way, believe me, but I feel if all those other motherboard owners can get the blasted thing to work with a simple BIOS update, why not DFI owners?

 

Shipping it out is an option, but there must be an easier way. Besides, I've had horrible RMA experiences. It's either BIOS update or return for this disgruntled Creative customer (one of many, after reading the 70+ page topic at Creative's board).

[kam33mitch]

I too am one of those 70 page plus readers. The problem lies with NVidia at the root and they did send a notice out to M/B manufacturers on how to fit it which many have. As far as I can tell, DFI grabbed one of the more expensive models of the X-Fi and found they could not "Reproduce the problem." It definately is a problem and is very re-producable with the extreme-music model.

 

I feel your pain as I was in the same boat.

 

I had partial sucess turning the ACPI off or playing with the ESCD settings but in the end I was able to trade X-Fi cards with my brother in law. He had a newer version with the new CL firmware and it worked fine with my M/B and my old one worked OK on his M/B (Asus) because they came out with a BIOS that fixed it.

 

I was not able to get DFI to budge and CL refuses to let customers flash their own BIOS. The only looser in this game of finger pointing is us unfortunately. All we can do is remeber the crappy service and support we got from certain companies when it is time to buy some more hardware.

 

In the end, the X-Fi does sound great and all I can suggest is to use the M/B sound while you send the X-Fi in to CL to get it flashed. Or trade with your brother in law :-).

[red930]

Meh, X-Fis are overrated anyways, get an M-Audio.

[mrsaturn]

Hi kam33mitch, I've been following your posts on this board and the Creative thread. I believe you've been the most help to me (much more than Creative). Do you know what the revision is on your box? It has it on the bottom above the serial number. If I know this then at least I know what to hunt for. I've also heard that anything above 541 (or something like that) in the 9th, 10th, and 11th digits of the serial number will have a new firmware, but I proved this wrong

 

Anyway, thanks for the info. Hopefully I can get my hands on a working X-Fi soon.

[computertechy]

all m audio soundcard and all soundcards for that matter dont match the X-Fi

[KimTjik]

This is a quote from a statement by Creative Lab:

We've determined that the cause of this incompatibility is an issue in the motherboard's BIOS, relating to its PCI enumeration of devices with 2MB or less of cache memory.

 

My post is totally unnecessary, since this has been discussed many times. Anyhow I still don't get the logic in the statement above. I thought, as stupid as I am, that manufacturers of PCI or PCI-e devices would have to make sure for compatibility, and not the other way around. No big deal... still they accept to exchange or fix the card.

[NEOAethyr]

I think it's just an irq issue myself, not a bios issue at all.

 

It's most likely to show up with apic enabled probably because of how windows sets stuff up when you install windows with it enabled.

 

 

That creative lab's quote seems like bs to me.

The pci spec is pci spec, there is nothing to change that has'nt been done allready over the years.