Windows 10: Creative Sound Blaster Z Drivers >> Do the Generic Drivers solve sound issues?

I was searching through various forums and found that audio problem are the common after Windows 10 updates. Though I don't know about April 1803 update, the last one did cause some issues for Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card! Personally I don't have it. But as a blogger I found that this problem arises from 2015 till the Creators update.


After some research I found that Microsoft provides some (generic drivers) for this brand. But even after installing them, some had issues. The last driver update was on 28th March 2018.





But while writing for an article on sound issues in Windows 10, I found that this card also gave some problems . I read on different websites, that Creative also released a driver in 2017. But that was in conflict with Creators update. So some people solved it by rolling back to the last version driver. In some cases like Lenovo and Softpedia provided some other drivers which are different from the Creative and generic ones.


https://www.pallareviews.com/16101/fix-creative-sound-blaster-z-sound-not-working-in-windows-10/


Finally I was confused, with the latest April 2018 update, whether this problem still existed, even though Microsoft released a new version compared to 2017. I would like to discuss if any other Microsoft fans are still facing issue and which kind of solutions are they adopting?

:)

 

WINDOWS 10 - 1803 - DRIVERS NOT FUNCTIONING for Sound Blaster Z and Sound Blaster ZXR

DEAR WINDOWS EXPERTS:

I need to advise a few things:

1) For both computers, I use Windows 10.0.17134 Build 17134 – “1803” April 2018 Creative Update

2) This is a 64-Bit version of Windows.

3) We have one machine with Sound Blaster ZxR

4) We have one machine with Sound Blaster Z

5) Both have the same problems - NO 5-CHANNEL SOUND, and NO ACCESS TO THESE PARAMETERS

I have tried to run the setup in the extras directory as Creative (the manufacturers) have described in several e-mail messages (now we have been back and forth about five times). This did not
work.

I have tried to boot into Safe Mode and run the setup application again.

The setup files do not run in Safe Mode.

Can you please solve this matter?

Again, I have the same problem.

One computer has Soundblaster Zxr

Another computer has Soundblaster Z

Neither has access to Dolby Functions or the Cinematic Tab on the Sound Blaster Control Panel. (This tab ordinarily carries the Dolby Functions).



Please solve. Does Creative need to make a new driver?

Thank you,

Christopher

 

Lost sound after latest Windows 10 update (Sound Blaster Z)

Excellent walk-through! I basically followed these steps, albeit using a slightly different method, and yet I still couldn't get sound out of my headphones. The one step I changed in my process, which seemed to make a difference, was ONLY installing the control panel and drivers as @kunyiosh stated in his steps. Now I finally have sound from my headphones. Just to clarify, my sound was working just fine prior to the Preview Build 17063 update. Thanks for the tips!

 

Lost sound after latest Windows 10 update (Sound Blaster Z)


Hi All

This is the first post I have made and hope it helps because I have had this problems for over 2 years. My Sound Blaster Z would produce no sound after Windows 10 creators and anniversary updates. I Deferred updates for 2 years but when 1709 was pushed it circumvented my deferment so I decided to give it a try before the customary Rollback of the OS to 16**.

So my problem consisted of Sound Blaster Z either producing no sound with no sound signal visible in volume mixer which was often accompanied by slow video streaming or none at all. I would then reinstall drivers and would get the green bars in volume mixer but still no sound and very slow video streaming, again with no sound.

Now when 1709 completed I had sound for the first time AFTER a shutdown and cold boot. This was without any Sound blaster software installed. The problem reoccurred when I installed the Sound Blaster Z drivers again and all the above problems reoccurred. So... now to the fix.

First turn off windows fast boot which you can read how to do HERE. Now go into your Bios and deactivate onboard sound so that the only option for you will be the sound card. Find out how to do this by reading your Mother Board Manual or Google your boards name for videos or guides on how to do it. Onboard audio can cause conflicts with sound cards. In my case it would cause windows start up sounds to cut out or be choppy. I only discovered this AFTER disabling onboard sound in my bios. *Confused Save and exit after making the change to your bios and allow system to reboot.



I then uninstalled all drivers and removed all creative folders and registry keys I could find. You can do this before the bios changes, it doesn't really matter but this step MUST be done before trying to install sound blaster Z drivers.
1) C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative
2)Have "Show Hidden folders" on to find this file easily ** C:\ProgramData\Creative
3)C:\Users\YOUR COMPUTER NAME\AppData\Local\Creative
4)C:\Users\Public\Creative

Open RUN and type "regedit" and delete the Creative Tech keys.

1) Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Creative Tech
2) Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech

Then restart. I also use CCleaner but you don't need to.

Now let windows install its own driver for the Sound card. You should have sound but no control over sound blaster Z setting such as EQ as the control panel is NOT installed by windows 10 automatically. Once this process is finished install the Drivers from HERE. Some people at the time of this post were saying that SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08 was more stable but I am using SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_10. Follow the installation instructions and go to custom and install the Controller driver and Sound drivers ONLY. They are the top 2 options. Clicking the other options produces a drop down menu and an option to not install that specific item which is shown as a red X.

Restart system as instructed at the end of the installation process. Sound should now function properly. IF you have a problem (I have had none following the above steps) go to Device Manager - Sound, video and game controllers - Sound Blaster Audio Controller and ROLLBACK. The rollback option will only be there if you let windows install the drivers as instructed earlier. Doing this allows the control panel to be installed but gives the option to roll back the driver if you have a recurrence of the problem.

Sorry for the long explanation but I hope it helps someone. As I said before it took me 2 years to find a fix.

Windows 10 Windows 10 creator update creators no audio no sound not working can't hear sound blaster z creative June July 2017 Creative Sound Blaster Z 1704 1709 Creators update Fall Update.