Just last week I purchased a new creative sound card. I believe it was the top of the line model (hard to believe they could charge much more for one) the Fatal1ty Champion X-FI Soundblaster. I got the card, installed it and everything was happy. Until...

Last night my computer locked up. I wasn't able to free it up using the common methods so I hit the reset button on the case. When the computer came back up, windows 7 stated that there was no default sound device. I have the installation disk handy, so I did a repair on all the software related to the sound card and rebooted. Windows came up and again said no default sound device. I then removed all creative programs including the driver and shut down the computer. I pulled the card and reseated it before restarting. The computer came up and windows recognizes a card in the slot. However, windows will not install the proper drivers so the device goes into code 10. The install disk I have will not work for drivers either saying that "Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system". In desperation, I tried moving the card to another slot on the motherboard but it reacts the same. Windows still recognizes a card in the slot but the drivers will not install.

I loved the sound that I could get with this sound card when I could get it. Now the only thing coming in loud and clear from it is silence.

Cliff notes:
PC
Windows 7
Creative Fatal1ty Championship X-FI Soundblaster
"Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system"
Device manager detects a device, but shows it in code 10 status.

Creative has had a rather nasty time putting out quality drivers for the last few years. Windows 7 has only served to highlight the lack of talent they have on their software teams. They failed for years to be able to produce quality x64 drivers and it's only getting worse.

Unfortunately for you, it's entirely possible that there is a hardware fault and you truly have done all the LOGICAL troubleshooting one should do in trying to diagnose a driver/windows issue.

My only last thought would be to check Creative Labs' website for the latest/greatest sound app/drivers and try to install them and see if it makes a difference, but I have the sinking feeling you may be dealing with their tech support to see if they'll swap the board for you soon =(

Good luck!

--Micah

You can isolate windows/windows drivers as the issue by booting to a linux Live CD/USB. Linux distros will typically have all of the necessary drivers already built into the OS so you should see the device setup automatically and have sound as the desktop environment loads. If it works from a Live CD, you know your issue is Windows/WinDrivers specific and not a hardware failure.

www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

Well I tried a few things to no avail, so the entire thing went back into the box and is on it's way to RMA-ville. Thanks to everyone who gave me hints, I appreciate all the feedback I received.

I had a few creative labs cards over the years. I bought one 'higher end' card, the audigy 2. It was decent, and it allowed me to do some sound recording. The sound for games and music was fine.

Then...it started having a crackling noise. At first, only with certain settings, then all the time. This was a common issue with these cards that creative pretty much ignored. They released more drivers, and there are hundreds of 'fixes' which did nothing, and thousands of pissed off customers, some of whom tried to start a lawsuit.

I don't think I will buy another creative labs card again. I'll go with MAudio or ASUS I think next time, with some monitors which can be used for some more serious recording.

For games...I'm just using onboard sound. It works fine and sounds great. I would need a card though if I wanted to get back into recording or fruity loops stuff.

I had that cracking noise through a creative card a few years ago too, it was very annoying. Creative does do one thing very well for me though, and that is providing directional sounds through the headset. It's very helpful in games to be able to pinpoint where a sound is originating from. My motherboard sound isn't able to do that.