Fresh Vista x64 install, BSOD HELL

[stinger608]

That is great news!!! The ram should carry a lifetime warranty, so you should be able to RMA that stick.

[owcraftsman]

If you're doing it right that 500GB drive will take quit awhile to zero fill more that two hours i suspect.

GOOD LUCK

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by owcraftsman

If you're doing it right that 500GB drive will take quit awhile to zero fill more that two hours i suspect.

GOOD LUCK

Yea, more like about 6 or 8 hours or maybe more LOL

[Cardy13]

Yea, I didn't end up zero filling the HDD, takes too long (I did one at work once that took 72 hours, lolz)

Anyways, Heres what I did/where I am:

1. Took out the defective stick, as well as another stick (3 sticks would put me in single channel.. well I think it would, so two is fine for now)

2. Quick format on the HDD, carved it up into a 70gb, and a 430gb partition.

3. Reinstalled vista with a SATA optical drive (Didn't need to bust out the old PATA, I was pretty sure the ram was the only issue) Disconnected the CAT6 cable prior to this.

4. Got into windows, no BSOD thus far. downloaded latest nforce, video card, and sound card drivers from my laptop, and then transfered em over via external HDD to my desktop, installed them.

5. Connected the CAT6, downloaded most of the updates (left out the nforce updates that it said I needed) Still no BSOD.

6. Restored my back up, and I am now good to go! Thanks for the help guys, although I'm still having an issue that maybe someone could help me with...

My Created X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-E won't detect my microphone. I had this issue before on vista, but I fixed it some how, don't remember how. It works fine on XP.

Basically what happens is It detects my microphone as a line in, and it says the microphone isn't plugged in. Attached a picture to this post.

I've got the latest drivers from the website, turned off onboard audio, tried plugging the mic into many different ports, even tried the front ports on my case because in mic properties it says the jack is 3.5mm Front Panel (But I'm using a soundcard? weird right?)

I googled the crap out of it, no dice really. Thanks for any info.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Cardy13

2. Quick format on the HDD, carved it up into a 70gb, and a 430gb partition.

I usually try to avoid the "quick" format option when installing Windows. Glad you got your problem solved, but I just thought I would toss that in for what it's worth.

[owcraftsman]

Glad your back up and running.

In cases whereby the Microphone is not recording or not being detected by the soundcard, it is advisable to run the soundcard installation once again with the bundled cd and selecting repair to ensure that the installation is now complete and proper. Do also check that the soundcard has been selected as the default device for recording:

• Ensure that the microphone and headsets are connected to the proper jacks on a sound card
• Ensure that microphone is selected as the preferred device or default device if there are multiple audio devices in a computer
• Mute microphone playback to reduce noise or echo

Note: Muting microphone playback will not mute the microphone. This will only prevent the soundcard from sending the signals picked up by the microphone to the speakers.

• Enable Mic Boost or increase Microphone level in Windows Vista adjust to suit.

Did you install the board audio drivers before the X-Fi? Was it in place during install?
I hope not. BTW the newest Realtek drivers are newer than the ones from EVGA site I think it's ver. 2.07 tha I'm using

[Cardy13]

which realtek drivers do I need? That site is very... confusing.

Nvm, think I found them. ALC885. Giving that a go right now.

[owcraftsman]

Originally Posted by Cardy13

which realtek drivers do I need? That site is very... confusing.

Nvm, think I found them. ALC885. Giving that a go right now.

Realtek

If you have a problem checking the "I accept the above" go to "Quick Links" and click on "HD Audio Codec Drivers" link it will take to the download page.

You are looking for Vista 2.07 beware this site will time you out quickly so don't linger.

You didn't answer my Q's either....

[Cardy13]

Sorry, forgot to mention that I've gone through all the troubleshooting, faqs, and knowledge base solutions from the creative website. Most of them tell me to make sure my mic is set as Default, when I can't even set it as default because the button is grayed out.

The on board sound was disabled when I installed X-Fi. Maybe that is an issue?
I installed realtek drivers and enabled onboard audio now, so I'm using my X-Fi for output and my onboard for input.

Contrary to creatives solution, the CD that came with my soundcard does not have a "Repair" option... So the most I can do is uninstall creative drivers then reinstall via CD or Latest drivers on line.

Do you think I should try reinstalled X-Fi now that the latest onboard audio drivers are installed?

[owcraftsman]

unplug all from onboard then don't use again at all.

Yes uninstall>Restart>F8>boot safe mode>Run Driver Cleaner Pro> Creative X-Fi drivers only>Delete Programs File Folder Creative>Reboot>Install latest Drivers from Creative Down Loads Site.

Download drivers from Creative first place on desktop to be deleted when complete.

DriverCleanerPro