X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 soundblaster seems to be dead.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skybuck Flying
  • Start date Start date
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Skybuck Flying

Hello,

Lately every day I turn on my computer I fear another disaster and low and
behold today another tragedy:

It seems the X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 soundblaster has died.

I opened the case and I noticed a little dust particle on metal pins of the
soundblaster PCB.

So it seems highly likely that the little dust particle caused a short
circuit, if so then pretty amazing that electrical people/designer think
it's no problem to let metal pins be unprotected ?!?

Even when I was a 13 year old kid did I know that would be a bad idea.

Anyway this makes me wonder if I should buy a laptop so it's closed, though
laptops nowadays have airflow/fans in em too... so doesn't change much.

I also tried changing windows 7 settings, msconfig seems to crash when
trying to set normal configuration, only selective configuration seems to
work.

I also tried "diagnostic configuration", this seemed to disable all services
which is dangerous.

Fortunately I could re-enable the services by chosing "enable all from
msconfig tool" and rebooting which brought back some services.

So I am starting to fear that leaving the dust filters out has now caused
the death of another component. This means little good for the antec 1200
case, with dust filters it overheats, without dust filters it might even be
worse and electronics fail because of dust.

Bad situation.

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
Hello,

Lately every day I turn on my computer I fear another disaster and low and
behold today another tragedy:

It seems the X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 soundblaster has died.

I opened the case and I noticed a little dust particle on metal pins of the
soundblaster PCB.

So it seems highly likely that the little dust particle caused a short
circuit, if so then pretty amazing that electrical people/designer think
it's no problem to let metal pins be unprotected ?!?

Even when I was a 13 year old kid did I know that would be a bad idea.

Anyway this makes me wonder if I should buy a laptop so it's closed, though
laptops nowadays have airflow/fans in em too... so doesn't change much.

I also tried changing windows 7 settings, msconfig seems to crash when
trying to set normal configuration, only selective configuration seems to
work.

I also tried "diagnostic configuration", this seemed to disable all services
which is dangerous.

Fortunately I could re-enable the services by chosing "enable all from
msconfig tool" and rebooting which brought back some services.

So I am starting to fear that leaving the dust filters out has now caused
the death of another component. This means little good for the antec 1200
case, with dust filters it overheats, without dust filters it might even be
worse and electronics fail because of dust.

Bad situation.

Bye,
Skybuck.
Click to expand...

I've opened them up and there's an inch of yellowish-brown fluff over
everything. And they're working. What's it's doing is applying a
thermal blanket over everything, helping to wear down the atomic
micron-die pathways over the design life of chips.

If you want to coat exposed metal pins, use clear women's nail
polish. I personally prefer shocking pink when labeling vacuum tubes
for easy insertion into my amplifiers.

I knew an engineering type, though, and as part of his QC routine:
Every year, he totally disassembled all the parts, (hell, go for the
thrill and take down the power supply, too, w/out first making a
lightbulb capacitor discharge unit), find a wall, put some newspapers
next to and behind it, where each board is laid up vertically
against. Now get a spray bottle with alcohol and a toothbrush and
soft-bristle parts brush. Spray liberally and clean thoroughly. Your
elbows will tired when everything is spiffy. Take an rubber ink
erasure (arts or office supply store) and clean the slotted insertion
contacts before applying WD40/60 or TV tuner with a soft cloth.

I've got a 60gal compressor for cutting through thick, the first part,
which is where I'd stop unless someone wants to pay me to rebuild/
condition a machine. If all else but an accumulative horror of filth
is fine, yes, it'll come back *as new*.

Ever worked on a someone who wears toxic-grade, pungent perfume, a non-
smoker's machine that's sat underneath a bird cage at least for an age
or more?
 
I have some very strange results to report:

I tried the knoppix 6.7.1 live cd and when it boots this female voice says
something and it also says it on shutdown.

So apperently some parts of the soundblaster are still working.

However when I try to play an MP3 in knoppix no sound plays.

I am starting to suspect that it's either:

1. Something strange with the breakout box, I suspended the sound, and it's
some kind of software/hardware problem, it tries to remember it setting and
it gets confused ?!?

2. It also feels like some kind of malware attack, perhaps aimed at
services, but this wouldn't make sense for knoppix, and perhaps hardware
attack against x-fi, though this seems hard to believe.

Mostly likely:

3. It's either some kind of weird hardware-based-memory error for the x-fi
elite or it's breakout box.

or

4. It's some kind of hardware damage but still allows to play sound somehow
? perhaps the onboard audio is being re-routed through soundblaster outputs
is such a thing possible ?!?

It's very strange...

5. Maybe the breakout box is simply dead or something... I shall try power
down the computer, and disconnect the breakout box to see if that helps.

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
I tried to repeat the sound that Knoppix produces by booting again into
knoppix after disabling one harddisk and also disconnecting the breakout box
(or maybe not ?).

This time I did not press enter during the Knoppix boot screen, no sound was
perceived.

Perhaps the sound was disabled by the breakout box, or perhaps not.

Perhaps the sound I thought to be perceived was just a fluck of luck from
the soundblaster before final death.

I am not that familiar with Knoppix so maybe I imagined the female voice,
but I don't think so ;) why would I imagine a female voice ? :)

Also during shutdown there was no female voice anymore...

Pretty strange, I also googled a bit, some people write also having these
problems, and some of them wrote they unplugged their soundblaster, booted,
and then shutdown and then rebooted... perhaps strange bios or strange
windows issues.

There is also some slight brownish on the x-fi pcb near the edge, but I
think I have seen that before... there is also a somewhat strange faint
burning smell in my house, probably car fumes, but I am not sure... I also
put some extra tape on vents to keep stuff outside...

I have turned down the fans on antec 1200 a little bit, there was something
else I wanted to mention but forgot... hmmm.. what was it ? hmm...

Oh yeah now I remember, here is some whacky theory: Some strange mobile
devices wireless signals inteferred with the breakout box's
infared/signalling and caused some kind of lock up/mis configuration ?!?

When I zap the TV with the remote control sometimes the breakout box blue
led turns RED to indicate an invalid signal was received... so it does seem
to receive signals not ment for it...

Also the breakout box still seems to respond to pushes against it's knobs
which are used to enable/disable sound.

I also wonder if perhaps a windows shutdown/system update has sometime to do
with it, but there are no logs of that in the event logs... last update was
from 13-ocotober-2011.

Oh yeah there is one more thing I wanted to write:

I have done some pretty heavy gaming the last few weeks, so perhaps the GT
520 with passive cooling still managed to FRIE the X-FI which is directly
below it... the GT 520 temperature is about 45 to 47 degrees or so... so
perhaps still to hot ?

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
Ad why do you think I am dumb ? You give no reason... very convincing...
NOT...

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
I was thinking manual lightning rod tester.
Click to expand...

NO!

It's electrical. Just his presence will mean that the lightning will
malfunction.



--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum
 
"GooseMan" wrote in message

Ad why do you think I am dumb ? You give no reason... very convincing...
NOT...

Bye,
Skybuck.
Click to expand...

"
Because you think that someone hacked your soundcard.
"

Perhaps you should then read up on programmable chips.

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
Hello,

Lately every day I turn on my computer I fear another disaster and low and
behold today another tragedy:

It seems the X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 soundblaster has died.

I opened the case and I noticed a little dust particle on metal pins of the
soundblaster PCB.

So it seems highly likely that the little dust particle caused a short
circuit, if so then pretty amazing that electrical people/designer think
it's no problem to let metal pins be unprotected ?!?

Even when I was a 13 year old kid did I know that would be a bad idea.

Anyway this makes me wonder if I should buy a laptop so it's closed, though
laptops nowadays have airflow/fans in em too... so doesn't change much.

I also tried changing windows 7 settings, msconfig seems to crash when
trying to set normal configuration, only selective configuration seems to
work.

I also tried "diagnostic configuration", this seemed to disable all services
which is dangerous.

Fortunately I could re-enable the services by chosing "enable all from
msconfig tool" and rebooting which brought back some services.

So I am starting to fear that leaving the dust filters out has now caused
the death of another component. This means little good for the antec 1200
case, with dust filters it overheats, without dust filters it might even be
worse and electronics fail because of dust.

Bad situation.

Bye,
Skybuck.
Click to expand...
With the antec 1200, you usually clean the filters once a month. if you are
going 6 months to a year between washing out those filters, then no shit its
going to overheat.

Leave it to you to take one of the best designed cased to ever exist and
****itallup.
 
I've opened them up and there's an inch of yellowish-brown fluff over
everything. And they're working. What's it's doing is applying a
thermal blanket over everything, helping to wear down the atomic
micron-die pathways over the design life of chips.
Click to expand...

If you are seeing yellowisgh brown stuff all over your components in your PC,
stop smoking!!!!!
 
Paul Hovnanian P.E. said:
Ever think about giving up on the whole computer thing and just take up
making wooden shoes?
Click to expand...

Wooden shoes? Don't think so. Making wooden shoes requires craftsmanship
that's way beyond his capabilities. (As well as mines.)

petrus bitbyter
 
Paul said:
Skybuck Flying wrote:




Ever think about giving up on the whole computer thing and just take up
making wooden shoes?
Click to expand...
I was going to say "basket weaving".

Jamie
 
With the antec 1200, you usually clean the filters once a month. if you are
going 6 months to a year between washing out those filters, then no shit its
going to overheat.

Leave it to you to take one of the best designed cased to ever exist and
****itallup.
Click to expand...

You dead wrong about the antec 1200 case, it's a very bad case.

I have come to learn some lessons: if it's not a total system builder
then don't do bussiness with them, antec doesn't give a shit if your
electronics die.

There are 5 enemies for pc's:

1. dust
2. overheat
3. electric shock
4. physical shock
5. bugs

It shouldn't be to hard for you to figure out why antec 1200 is bad
based on the top 5 above.

Cleaning a PC on the inside is one thing which should not be
necessary, concerning the antec 1200 case here is a hint: bad
sectors ! ;)

You've been warned.

Bye,
Skybuck.
 
You are a complete idiot.
Click to expand...

As well as that, he's changed his id to get past all the filters. Had to
add his new id to my filter list and will add each and every new id he
creates. He'll get sick of creating new ids long before I get tired of
adding them to my filters.

I used to think no one could be as stupid as skytard. Now I'm not so
sure. He's setting a new low standard of idiocy.
 
I have come to learn some lessons: if it's not a total system builder
then don't do bussiness with them, antec doesn't give a shit if your
electronics die.
Click to expand...

In your case, anybody who makes anything is *your* enemy.

If I was Antec, I'd PROUDLY put up the above on their site as testimony,

It's funny how "some people" get the reputation of doing and saying
everything "bassackwards".

I was fired years ago at an electronics manufacturer. When I started
looking around for a new job, I was amazed at how many times I was told:

"You were fired by (ex-boss' name)? Hell, that's a good recommendation
all by itself!"

--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum
 
Thank god,

The soundblaster is alive and well.

My DreamPC is one bad fighting machine !

It's fighting against it's own DEATH !

It has resurrected itself !

I connected all 4 harddisks, I also ran some Microsoft Repair tool from the
harddisk itself.

It mentioned it did not ran completely successfull it mentioned it did not
find a boot manager, it mentioned an OSFailOver or something.

I send the report data to Microsoft for further improvement.

Today I boot the computer and I forgot to press F11 to boot from Knoppix
DVD... and amazingly Windows 7 came back alive !

Apperently enough bad sectors have been repaired so it can now function
properly.

It's pretty damn amazing.

However I have experiences with machine deaths lol... and I know it could be
a fluke of luck ! ;) =D

So I am enjoying my music to the max at the moment ! LOL.

Me so happy that the soundblaster still alive and kicking ! ;) =D

I am also convinced Hitachi harddisks are pretty good, they managed to
recover from death ! ;) =D

The first thing I am going to do now that my Windows 7 has come back alive
is to burn more Linux Distro so I can enjoy my Creative X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1
Soundblaster from Linux Distro's like Ubuntu and Linux Mint. (both debian
based.)

After having used Knoppix 6.7.1 for a few days I am now convinced that Linux
is pretty usuable, stable and has valuable tools which I don't know if
Window's world has an equivalent.

For example Linux has "disk management tool" which can read "S.M.A.R.T."
data from harddisks... I would not be surprised if there are perhaps windows
tools which can do this, so I will have to google that sometime.

However the nice thing about Linux Distro is I don't have to search and find
it... it's already there... However by burning a couple of Linux Distro's to
DVD you can't go wrong.

I think "LIVE CD's and DVD's is the best way for Linux to make inroads into
Windows world and try to lure away windows users". At least people can run
Linux from DVD and don't have to worry about it.

Maybe I will even install linux on a harddisk, but with Live DVD's there
might be no need to do that and simply continue using DVD's. So Linux could
be a second-hand/second-option operating system and I am perfectly fine with
that ! ;) =D

I also tell you the reason why I am going to burn more Linux Distro from
Windows 7 now that it has come back alive:

I CANNOT BURN DISTROS from KNOPPIX ?!? (Because knoppix probably needs the
DVD to remain inside... and I only have one DVD drive).

Perhaps running a virtual machine inside knoppix might make burning possible
but I don't count on that ! ;) =D

Today is a happy day ! I do feel my Dad felt sorry for me and shine some
light from heaven on me and make my computer work again ! LOL.

Bye,
Skybuck =D
 
As well as that, he's changed his id to get past all the filters. Had to
add his new id to my filter list and will add each and every new id he
creates. He'll get sick of creating new ids long before I get tired of
adding them to my filters.

I used to think no one could be as stupid as skytard. Now I'm not so
sure. He's setting a new low standard of idiocy.
Click to expand...

What makes you think I changed my id ?

Get a clue dude.

Do you really think people have just one e-mail account from their
ISP ? What is the ISP stops functioning ? You that dumb ?

Did you really think people give a **** about their names on
usenet ?!?

Stick your filter up your ass it's useless and stop bitching about it.

And lastly: I am always called Skybuck, learn to create a filter on
the word: "Skybuck"

And your that stupid ?: NO, Nobody can be that stupid, not even you.

YOU JUST BEING A BIG FILTHY PRICK AND EVERYBODY KNOWS IT BUT YOU.

Bye,
Bye,
Skybuck
 
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