BIOS 0802 Killed My Dedicated Audio

[jacks12345]

So, as the title says, as soon as I updated my BIOS to 0802, my Creative Sound Blaster Zx starts to have problems. I have had no problems with it on any previous BIOS versions. Now, the service stops in Windows because for a moment, it doesn't seem recognize the card. I can get it to work by restarting the Sound Blaster Audio Service.

The card is installed in the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot, and to note, I did reseat the card and reinstall the Creative Sound drivers.

Now, I could revert back to an older BIOS version, but BIOS 0802 has basically fixed any and all of my other issues, mostly stability related issues with the RAM.

Any thoughts?

[Chino]

jacks12345 wrote:

The card is installed in the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot, and to note, I did reseat the card and reinstall the Creative Sound drivers.

Are you referring to the second slot of sixth slot?

[jacks12345]

Sorry, the third slot from the top. The PCIE_X4_1 slot. I would put it in the PCIE_X1_1 slot, but the second GPU covers it. But again, didn't have any problems until the BIOS update. Since VCCSA also supplies voltage to the PCIE controller, I wonder if it has anything to do with it.

I like Creative cards, but they can be a pain, though in this case, it seems to be a BIOS change of some kind. Right now I'm playing with different VCCSA voltages to see if it fixes the issue. So far, no luck.

[jacks12345]

Just an update:

I think I partially figured out the issue, but I will test for the next few days. If I select the SPDIF option for the sound encoder, it crashes the Sound Blaster Audio Service. It didn't do this until I updated the BIOS, but since I don't use the SPDIF out I turned the encoder off, and so far, the issue hasn't returned. I'm not sure what that part of the sound card has in common with the motherboard, but it may be something to look into for the next BIOS release.

In addition, I changed the VCCSA back to auto, and the system seems stable.

Again, I will update this post only if the issue returns.

[jacks12345]

Just an update:

I think I partially figured out the issue, but I will test for the next few days. If I select the SPDIF option for the sound encoder, it crashes the Sound Blaster Audio Service. It didn't do this until I updated the BIOS, but since I don't use the SPDIF out I turned the encoder off, and so far, the issue hasn't returned. I'm not sure what that part of the sound card has in common with the motherboard, but it may be something to look into for the next BIOS release.

In addition, I changed the VCCSA back to auto, and the system seems stable.

Again, I will update this post only if the issue returns.

[Praz]

jacks12345 wrote:
Sorry, the third slot from the top. The PCIE_X4_1 slot. I would put it in the PCIE_X1_1 slot, but the second GPU covers it. But again, didn't have any problems until the BIOS update. Since VCCSA also supplies voltage to the PCIE controller, I wonder if it has anything to do with it.

Hello

VCCSA is an internal CPU voltage. As the PCIE_X4_1 slot uses lanes from the PCH VCCSA will not have any influence on its operation.

[jacks12345]

Ya, I didn't think about that. I forgot the manual stated that this slot shares lanes/power with the M.2 (or something like that), and more broadly what you stated. Maybe it is mostly on the sound card side after all, or both. It works as long as I have the SPDIF encoder off (which I don't use).

Praz, you can kill this thread if you want. I have no real evidence that the SPDIF issue is related to the BIOS or motherboard. The problem could have been there all along and the BIOS update simply "engaged" the SPDIF out on the card, and this part of the card could have been malfunctioning the whole time, just didn't know it.