Strange behaviour breakout box x-fi elite pro

[Skybuck Flying]

Hello,

The following events lead to strange behaviour for breakout box for x-fi
elite pro:

1. Mute the sound. (blue led starts blinking)

2. Shutdown the computer.

3. Boot the computer to a new windows installation which doesn't yet have
x-fi drivers or so ?

4. Restart the computer.

5. Boot to a another windows installations which does have the drivers
installed.

Results:

The blue led keeps blinking.

Normally this can be solved by:

6. Press the mute button to mute the sound.

7. Press the mute button to unmute the sound.

This is because windows assumes the sound is unmuted while the hardware is
apperently muted.

However if steps 1 to 5 are performed before steps 6 to 7 are performed this
no longer works ?!?

Somehow the drivers at step 3 confuse the breakout box ?!?

I am now guessing that a full system shutdown/cold reset is needed to bring
back the led to a stable situation ?

CreativeLabs can go fok themselfes, I am not going to tear down my computer
with cold resets just to fix a blinking led, instead I placed something
before so I don't see the blinking led.

Just another nice example how complex software and hardware can behave weird
in unimagined situations ?!?

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Paul]

Hello,

The following events lead to strange behaviour for breakout box for x-fi
elite pro:

1. Mute the sound. (blue led starts blinking)

2. Shutdown the computer.

3. Boot the computer to a new windows installation which doesn't yet
have x-fi drivers or so ?

4. Restart the computer.

5. Boot to a another windows installations which does have the drivers
installed.

Results:

The blue led keeps blinking.

Normally this can be solved by:

6. Press the mute button to mute the sound.

7. Press the mute button to unmute the sound.

This is because windows assumes the sound is unmuted while the hardware
is apperently muted.

However if steps 1 to 5 are performed before steps 6 to 7 are performed
this no longer works ?!?

Somehow the drivers at step 3 confuse the breakout box ?!?

I am now guessing that a full system shutdown/cold reset is needed to
bring back the led to a stable situation ?

CreativeLabs can go fok themselfes, I am not going to tear down my
computer with cold resets just to fix a blinking led, instead I placed
something before so I don't see the blinking led.

Just another nice example how complex software and hardware can behave
weird in unimagined situations ?!?

Bye,
Skybuck.

It's purely up to the hardware designer of that box, how decoupled
the breakout is from the rest of the sound card. The fewer control
signals you put on the I/O connector, the cheaper the I/O connector
is when you buy it.

http://connect.creativelabs.com/mar...o/Prod_Box Shots/SBXFi_ElitePro_PBS_Right.jpg

You would need to find a pinout diagram for the I/O connector, to be
able to understand the limitations of the design.

Paul