X-Fi Xtremegamer stops working in Windows 7 Ultimate both 32/64 bit

Question

Recently my sound card has started doing weird things. At any state of working process like watching movie, playing game or just listening to mp3 sound was disappearing and appearing in random time. It would sometimes get back in 5 minutes or sometimes in an hour. Reboot always helped.
Yesterday the same happened but now the reboot doesn't help any more. The thing is it recognizes the sound card (In Device manager: "Creative SB X-Fi") but the "Speakers" icon in playback is gone. I can only see SPDIF Out. In recording tab I can see all the devices that were before (Microphone, Auxilary, Line-In and "What U Hear"). Disabling and enabling it in device manager doesn't help either:
<img height="386" src="http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/377/crn.jpg" width="800[/img]
Another funny thing is, when I click on the volume indicator in windows mixer equalizer rises appropriately. Looks like as if it really was working through SPDIF but not Speakers. Any software (music/video players) won't recognize audio output device:
[img"]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/483/cr2s.jpg[/img]
I have tried everything I could. Replaced card in different PCI slot, reinstalled driver. When it didn't help even downgraded driver and flashed BIOS, but still it just won't work. Motherboard is ASUS P5Q SE and onboard integrated audio is disabled and I'm running this card on Win7 Ultimate 64bit with latest driver downloaded directly from creative website.
I'd be very thankful for support.

Answer 1

I have this exact same problem too with no answer. And I do IT work, computer repair, soldering, networks for a living!!!
With the X-FI XtremeGamer PCI card and Vista Business 32bit, an MSI AMD 780G chipset board...nothing NVIDIA at all. Vid card was ATI 4870 - I had the classic Snap/Crackle/Pop problem. I went with On-Board audio until Creative was done dragging it's feet and updated the drivers. That seemed to solve that problem.
Now, after some upgrades - Clean install of Windows 7 Pro 64bit, Gigabyte AMD 780G chipset board...nothing NVIDIA at all. Vid card is still ATI 4870. I get the widespread, well known disappearing X-Fi card problem.
Tried fresh uninstall, Dri'veSweeper purge, reinstall. No luck. What happens is it automatically shifts from X-fi Speakers to SPDIF and I lose sound. I have to go into Device Manager, uninstall and then seek HARDWARE changes/reinstall it. 99% of the time this works and I do not have to reboot. But this happens every other time.
One thing I have not tested, that I know solved about 99% of the other CREATIVE problems I have had to fix over the years is going into MSCONFIG then STARTUP, and disabling CTXFIHLP.exe. Diff. variations over the years but that darn thing has ALWAYS caused problems and as soon as I disable it...the problems would cease!
I gave up and switched over to my AMD HD REALTEK 7. onboard audio and have never been happier.
3 or 4 years ago, onboard audio sucked. Now it rules. I am glad I took the time to give onboard another chance.
I only listen to music/FLAC files for pleasure and I am a serious gamer. I do not edit music or do audio work and I am not an uptight, "VINYL IS BETTER!" audiophile. Just a 40 something gamer and IT admin. I? have not been able to tell between my onboard audio and the X-Fi card. So, my friends and I did an experiment. Blindfolded, we took turns listening to the same music clips and cut scenes and fight scenes from games. NONE OF US...........0..........could tell the difference.
Those of us that were having problems yanked the cards and sold them on Ebay. Believe...they were not worth much. lol So I kept mine in case I needed it for a backup.
I say this without malice...but I think the 'scene' is realizing Creative is falling behind the times. I see the much hyped, OVER PRICED Fatality series but when compared under similar circumstances with some high quality 5. or 7. speakers, we could not really tell the difference. DOes anyone even remember or know who FATALITY is these days?
Bottom line - For myself and my friends, we have no need to buy a sound card if the onboard card can deli'ver.
To us, the extra $00-200 we save can now be di'verted to something more important...like RAM, CPU or in my case, new VID CARD.