# Problems with AE-5, driver from 30. April 2018 and Windows 10 64-bit 1803



## mobiuus (May 2, 2018)

So i've got sound in windows 10 and it is working ok 5.1 setup with my roccat kave xtd 5.1 analog headset but it lacks depth...bass is to low and treble is to high...
and no matter what i set in sound blaster connect2 regarding bass and treble it wont apply, only if i uninstall driver package and reinstall the it works and ONLY
until next pc restart/cold boot!!
i swear to God every major windows 10 update messes further with the sound....just as i expected 2 days ago...those stupid Microsoft people 
tried switching from 5.1 to stereo, hp and back but nothing works only reinstallation of driver and until next reboot
google did not find anything and creative forums...what a cess pool of usefullness
open to any suggestion here...


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## eidairaman1 (May 2, 2018)

DarkStalker said:


> So i've got sound in windows 10 and it is working ok 5.1 setup with my roccat kave xtd 5.1 analog headset but it lacks depth...bass is to low and treble is to high...
> and no matter what i set in sound blaster connect2 regarding bass and treble it wont apply, only if i uninstall driver package and reinstall the it works and ONLY
> until next pc restart/cold boot!!
> i swear to God every major windows 10 update messes further with the sound....just as i expected 2 days ago...those stupid microsoft cunts
> ...



Report findings to roccat and creativelabs and microsoft. Attempt a driver removal for both the soundblaster and the headset. Install older drivers.

Otherwise Go back to Windows 7 or Find a version of W10 LTSB, start completely fresh.


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## mobiuus (May 2, 2018)

there is no driver for roccat headset, it is not usb connected, it's 4 analog jacks...going back to windows 7 is not an option
gonna wait if someone with same sound card comes up...


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## erocker (May 2, 2018)

Is Windows Update installing a different driver for your card? Do you have any other sound devices enabled (video card etc.)?


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## mobiuus (May 2, 2018)

i have disabled onboard sound and no windows update is not installing different driver...


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## eidairaman1 (May 2, 2018)

DarkStalker said:


> there is no driver for roccat headset, it is not usb connected, it's 4 analog jacks...going back to windows 7 is not an option
> gonna wait if someone with same sound card comes up...



Ok look into Long Term Service Branch.


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## jboydgolfer (May 3, 2018)

i have had several different sound issues with windows 10. I dont know what it is about this OS, but i have never had them with earlier OS'. I have found (for my kids issues) that buying an external sound device has remedied the issues i have encountered. For me, the issue was either no sound, or too low sound, etc, not in surround, but 2.1, or headsets. I bought the following, and all was resolved, as it uses an external sound card, and the second i plugged into it, no more problem. I understand it would be preferential to get it to work properly in win10, but after resolving the 1st two sound issues, and having a 3rd develop, i have given up on fixing the issue within win10, and instead i went the external route.


*ITEM LINK*






it claims to support 7.1, but i cant speak to that, all i can speak to is that it resolved my issues, and i havent had another since buying one for each of my kids running win10. 

spending that $10 was WELL worth it....i wouldve paid more


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## eidairaman1 (May 3, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> i have had several different sound issues with windows 10. I dont know what it is about this OS, but i have never had them with earlier OS'. I have found (for my kids issues) that buying an external sound device has remedied the issues i have encountered. For me, the issue was either no sound, or too low sound, etc, not in surround, but 2.1, or headsets. I bought the following, and all was resolved, as it uses an external sound card, and the second i plugged into it, no more problem. I understand it would be preferential to get it to work properly in win10, but after resolving the 1st two sound issues, and having a 3rd develop, i have given up on fixing the issue within win10, and instead i went the external route.
> 
> 
> *ITEM LINK*
> ...



I believe the AE5 is external, just ms is constantly changing stuff in the code and its ticking the hardware devs and users off


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## Batou1986 (May 3, 2018)

Are we talking about the Creative Labs AE-5 sound card ?
I just recently got a gigabyte x470 mobo and it would not work with 2 different sound cards, come to find out a lot of Ryzen boards have the issue where sound cards and capture cards will fail to detect needing multiple reboots and avoiding sleep mode.

If this sounds familiar then make sure CMS is enabled in your bios and any legacy options related to it. It didn't work on my gigabyte board but does on the Asus Prime X470 Pro.


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## eidairaman1 (May 3, 2018)

Batou1986 said:


> Are we talking about the Creative Labs AE-5 sound card ?
> I just recently got a gigabyte x470 mobo and it would not work with 2 different sound cards, come to find out a lot of Ryzen boards have the issue where sound cards and capture cards will fail to detect needing multiple reboots and avoiding sleep mode.
> 
> If this sounds familiar then make sure CMS is enabled in your bios and any legacy options related to it. It didn't work on my gigabyte board but does on the Asus Prime X470 Pro.
> View attachment 100516



Maybe thats why mine worked right off the back because I have CSM enabled


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## RejZoR (May 3, 2018)

Hm, works fine for me, but I'm using 2.1 speakers.

I suggest you contact Creative about it using this form:
https://us.creative.com/contactus/technicalassistance?h=5

They usually respond quickly and they were very helpful so far (even when they couldn't help and the driver fix was required). Was the sound ok with the March 2018 driver though? If that's the case, then it probably really is a driver and you should contact them. Btw, old driver seemed to work fine even for Win10 Spring Update, but I always update anyway.


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## lexluthermiester (May 3, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Ok look into Long Term Service Branch.


Actually, they're calling it Long Term Service Channel, or LTSC, now. But yeah. This whole "Windows as a service" crap is more headache than it's worth..


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## mobiuus (May 3, 2018)

RejZoR said:


> Hm, works fine for me, but I'm using 2.1 speakers.
> 
> I suggest you contact Creative about it using this form:
> https://us.creative.com/contactus/technicalassistance?h=5
> ...


hej deffo will contact them but can u pls try changing ur equlizer settings in sound connect2...no matter what i change it wont stick
I mean after applying it has no effect when listening a song...


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## RejZoR (May 3, 2018)

Not that it won't stick, EQ now literally does NOTHING. I moved bass all the way up and same for treble and nothing changed as far as sound goes. WTF Creative. And everything was working great so far...


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## mobiuus (May 3, 2018)

yap u see... i tryed every single thing it came to my mind but nothing helps...its a windows-driver related issue


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## INSTG8R (May 3, 2018)

It definitely reset my ZX(thanks for making me check) but after setting everything back to the way I want it it's fine. My EQ still works for example. Sorry the AE5 is being troublesome


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## mobiuus (May 3, 2018)

ok


INSTG8R said:


> It definitely reset my ZX(thanks for making me check) but after setting everything back to the way I want it it's fine. My EQ still works for example. Sorry the AE5 is being troublesome


ok but does it keep its setting after a full pc restart?


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## INSTG8R (May 3, 2018)

DarkStalker said:


> ok
> 
> ok but does it keep its setting after a full pc restart?


I’ll check for you.

Edit: yeah everything is sticking. I did do a "Repair" install with the latest driver after reading about your troubles, but it's keeping my settings after restarts. I also use the EQ so I understand your frustration


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## RejZoR (May 3, 2018)

DarkStalker said:


> yap u see... i tryed every single thing it came to my mind but nothing helps...its a windows-driver related issue



I'll make a clean install when I get from work to see if that changes anything...


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## Kursah (May 3, 2018)

Not sure if it'll help or not, but I experience a similar situation with some of the major Windows 10 updates and my Aune T1 using Windows drivers + EqualizerAPO. 

After the 1803 upgrade, I still had sound but it was clearly flatter and less pronounced than I've designed with EQAPO. My solution was pretty easy, I had to open EQAPO and select my AuneT1 as the device to modify the audio output on, tell it I don't want to reboot (though you can opt to reboot), then open command prompt as admin and type:

*net stop audiosrv
net start audiosrv*

That restarts the audio service, and voila my audio is fully restored to it's EQ'd glory. No reboots, Piece of cake and fixed in seconds. I also had to do it after major Windows 8.1 updates as well and iirc I had more issues on Windows 8.1 than I do 10 with concerns to audio.

Doesn't do the Creative guys here any good though right? So that makes me wonder if the way Windows update applied caused the Creative software to no longer have the correct audio output source selected? 

Maybe it is right in the GUI but not in registry?

Anyone able to trace event logs and see if there's anything there that may be helpful in regards to this matter?


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## mobiuus (May 3, 2018)

thx for suggestion, will try that...
audio output is selected correctly in windows and in sound blaster connect2 gui...even tested the channels...
will try ur suggestion after reboot


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## Kursah (May 3, 2018)

A reboot effectively does the same thing as the commands I posted above, which is resetting the audio service. So it might not make any difference. As I explained above, I use that command to circumvent having to reboot for audio issues that updates like this can cause. 

I still wonder if there's a registry issue that even though the GUI shows you having the correct audio device set, that the Creative Audio Console's registry configuration is no longer correct and isn't changing. Any chance you could set it to a different device (like HDMI output on a graphics card to a screen) temporarily? I haven't messed with Creative sound stuff for my systems in years and I'm sure they still have limited access to what devices their software can modify audio streams for but it's worth a shot.


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## RejZoR (May 3, 2018)

Ok, uninstallation of Creative stuff, manually uninstalling devices through Device Manager and selecting "Delete driver" and then reinstalling latest driver clean restored functionality. Equalizer works again and it even remembered all the settings I had before. So, drivers work fine, there was just a mismatch during Win10 upgrade process apparently.


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## lexluthermiester (May 3, 2018)

RejZoR said:


> Not that it won't stick, EQ now literally does NOTHING. I moved bass all the way up and same for treble and nothing changed as far as sound goes. WTF Creative. And everything was working great so far...


Not Creative's fault. Microsoft is making life miserable for everyone who makes hardware.


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## RejZoR (May 3, 2018)

I wish all HW vendors would add "clean install" option to their drivers so you don't have to manually clean stuff and reinstall even when it's MS's fault.


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## mobiuus (May 3, 2018)

RejZoR said:


> Ok, uninstallation of Creative stuff, manually uninstalling devices through Device Manager and selecting "Delete driver" and then reinstalling latest driver clean restored functionality. Equalizer works again and it even remembered all the settings I had before. So, drivers work fine, there was just a mismatch during Win10 upgrade process apparently.


ok so equlizer works even after second pc restart?


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## RejZoR (May 5, 2018)

Nope, it's screwed up again. Holy hell.

Report it here:
https://us.creative.com/contactus/technicalassistance?h=5

I'll also do that. The more users reports this, the faster they'll fix it.

Ok, I've sent them the report about it.

Found a temporal fix. Go to Connect 2 panel, select Dashboard and flip the red switch OFF and again ON for Equalizer. Equalizer will start working again. But only till next reboot...


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