Creative X-FI Soundblaster Drivers released v1.18 [HOWTO]

[serge007]

Hi guys, I'm new to gentoo and need some help:
just installed the new driver without problems, lspci output:

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82P965/G965 Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82P965/G965 PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HB/HR (ICH8/R) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G80 [GeForce 8800 GTS] (rev a2)
02:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technologies, Inc. JMicron 20360/20363 AHCI Controller (rev 02)
02:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technologies, Inc. JMicron 20360/20363 AHCI Controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
04:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG Unknown device 0720
06:02.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB X-Fi

seems to be ok, so long.

But I am using my onboard sound card and I don't want to disable it in BIOS because I need it on my other OS. How can I activate my X-FI as sound output device instead of onboard sound card?

[Wizumwalt]

Hey all,

So, I downloaded the driver from CL's and have a directory XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00. I ran make and it compiled, then su'd to root and did make install, and it seems to have laid in the /lib/modules directory just fine.

What would be the next steps I need to do to get this running? What do I set ALSA_CARDS to in my /etc/make.conf? Does my kernel need to match anything?

Here's what lspci shows ...

Code: Select all

# lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB High Definition Audio Controller (rev 09)
03:00.0 Audio device: Creative Labs Device 000b (rev 03)

Any help much appreciated.

---

An update, I just found the portage ebuild of xfi-drivers, I unmasked that, and it built fine, but I still don't know what else is needed to get this to work. Any help appreciated.

[keet]

You just need to run this command:

#modprobe ctxfi

If you want, in order to make it load when you boot your computer, just do this (I'm assuming that you're using a 2.6.x kernel):

echo "ctxfi" >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

I set ALSA_CARDS=ctxfi in /etc/make.conf , and everything seems to work well, though I'm not really sure that it's necessary or helpful.

I hope this helps!

Edit: I forgot to mention.. I'm not sure which Desktop Environment you're using (Gnome, KDE, XFCE, whatever) but you should go into your settings and change your default sound card. I use Gnome, so I go to System>Preferences>Sound and set "Default Mixer Tracks" to use "Creative X-Fi (Alsa mixer) as its default device. Some other programs might have options to change your default sound device, too.

[Wizumwalt]

After quite a bit more work, and having already tried those commands, I'm still having some serious problems. Here's some more info.

Code: Select all

# lspci | grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB High Definition Audio Controller (rev 09)
03:00.0 Audio device: Creative Labs Device 000b (rev 03)

My /etc/make.conf has:

Code: Select all

ALSA_CARDS="ctxfi"

My snd_hda_intel works, but I did a modprobe -r to it, and end up w/ ...

Code: Select all

# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
nvidia               8102032  24 
ctxfi                  52456  0 
snd_pcm                72904  1 ctxfi
snd_timer              21712  1 snd_pcm
snd                    52552  3 ctxfi,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8608  1 snd
i2c_core               21984  1 nvidia
snd_page_alloc         10064  1 snd_pcm

And this looks like it might be the real problem. dmesg shows this when doing a modprobe:

Code: Select all

ctatc: Card not recognised
CTALSA: probe of 0000:03:00.0 failed with error -2

I've taken the card out several times and checked to make sure it's seated ok. I've also upgraded my kernel to 2.6.26-gentoo-r3, and still getting same results. I've got alsa as M in my kernel.

Oh, and my desktop is fluxbox.

[keet]

The drivers are in portage now (they have been for a few weeks). Have you tried emerging them from there, instead of using the driver from the Creative Labs site? I also wonder if your specific X-Fi card is supported by the driver. I have an X-Fi ExtremeMusic card, for example. Which one do you have?

[Harrold]

My gentoo system is set up new and I try to install the x-fi driver but somehow I get this message when I want to load the driver module
I tried it with alsa-lib, configure alsa in the kernel with modules, tried the xfi ebuild, without the ebuild, always the same. Anyone any idea why?
The Kernel is 2.6.27-r7 and the system is built on x86_64

[ 85.315504] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_minmax
[ 85.315595] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_new1
[ 85.315597] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_new1
[ 85.315684] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_card_new
[ 85.315686] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_card_new
[ 85.315749] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_lib_malloc_pages
[ 85.315751] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_lib_malloc_pages
[ 85.315802] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_lib_ioctl
[ 85.315804] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_lib_ioctl
[ 85.315856] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_lib_free_pages
[ 85.315857] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_lib_free_pages
[ 85.315922] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_ctl_notify
[ 85.315924] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_ctl_notify
[ 85.315972] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_set_ops
[ 85.315974] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_set_ops
[ 85.316056] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_device_new
[ 85.316058] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_device_new
[ 85.316123] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_integer
[ 85.316125] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_hw_constraint_integer
[ 85.316223] ctxfi: disagrees about version of symbol snd_pcm_period_elapsed
[ 85.316224] ctxfi: Unknown symbol snd_pcm_period_elapsed

[Wizumwalt]

The drivers are in portage now (they have been for a few weeks). Have you tried emerging them from there, instead of using the driver from the Creative Labs site? I also wonder if your specific X-Fi card is supported by the driver. I have an X-Fi ExtremeMusic card, for example. Which one do you have?

Yeah, I've tried the ones in portage. No luck, I get the same errors as Harrold has.

I've been working on this problem so long, I can't remember the card I have anymore (the full card name). It's an X-Fi fatality card that comes with the panel of lights and jacks on the front of your machine where you'd normall stick a floppy drive (and then I found out that will never work).

[dAlexis]

The drivers are in portage now (they have been for a few weeks). Have you tried emerging them from there, instead of using the driver from the Creative Labs site? I also wonder if your specific X-Fi card is supported by the driver. I have an X-Fi ExtremeMusic card, for example. Which one do you have?

Yeah, I've tried the ones in portage. No luck, I get the same errors as Harrold has.

I've been working on this problem so long, I can't remember the card I have anymore (the full card name). It's an X-Fi fatality card that comes with the panel of lights and jacks on the front of your machine where you'd normall stick a floppy drive (and then I found out that will never work).

First of all - two VERY USEFUL advice:

First: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=21313 - here is a patch for the driver (Creative sources) - maybe, it's useful to correct ebuild?

Second: http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs ... 57#M132357 - here is an advice about lspci -xvvv. My card is using not 0042 (as in thread), but 0043 PCI subsys - you must check your subsys and change it in ctdrv.h file.

Short story: After unsuccessful emerge, I was trying to compile creative's sources. Received the same bug (ctatc: Card not recognised ). Next, I was simply googling for the solution and I was successful!

[wizzzard]

Second: http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs ... 57#M132357 - here is an advice about lspci -xvvv. My card is using not 0042 (as in thread), but 0043 PCI subsys - you must check your subsys and change it in ctdrv.h file.

This tip was great! To get it straight, follow this short tutorial:

• Download the X-Fi Drivers sources from portage:

  Code: Select all

  emerge -f xfi-drivers

• Copy the sources somewhere where you can safely extract them:

  Code: Select all

  cp /usr/portage/distfiles/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00.tar.gz /somewhere/on/your/disc

• Extract the sources

  Code: Select all

  tar xzf /somewhere/on/your/disc/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00.tar.gz
  cd /somewhere/on/your/disc/XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00

• Get the subsystem number your card is using:

  Code: Select all

  lspci -xvvv | grep 'Subsystem: Creative Labs Device'

  You should see something like this

  Code: Select all

  Subsystem: Creative Labs Device 0042

  or this

  Code: Select all

  Subsystem: Creative Labs Device [1102:0043] 

  You'll only need the last 4 digits, whether in brackets or not
• Edit ctdrv.h with your favorite editor:
  
  Change

  Code: Select all

  #define PCI_SUBSYS_CREATIVE_SB0880      0x0042 

  on line 26 to

  Code: Select all

  #define PCI_SUBSYS_CREATIVE_SB0880      0x --replace with your number which you found in the previous step-- 

• Repack the driver sources:

  Code: Select all

  cd ..
  tar czf XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00.tar.gz XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00

• Copy the modified sources back to portage and rehash the sources

  Code: Select all

  cp XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00.tar.gz /usr/portage/distfiles
  ebuild /usr/portage/media-sound/xfi-drivers/xfi-drivers-1.00.ebuild digest

• Emerge the drivers, load the module and enjoy

  Code: Select all

  emerge xfi-drivers

  If the module isn't automagically loaded, you have to load it manually

  Code: Select all

  modprobe ctxfi

• Check dmesg to see if it worked

  Code: Select all

  dmesg

  If it doesn't work, you should see something like this:

  Code: Select all

  ctatc: Card not recognised
  CTALSA: probe of 0000:04:00.0 failed with error -2
  

  If it worked, it should look like this:

  Code: Select all

  CTALSA 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
  CTALSA 0000:04:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
  

That's that, i know it's a bit messy, and rebuilding sources and putting them back into the main gentoo repository isn't the right way, but anyway, it worked for me Until Creative get this right, you can follow this dirty hack to get your card working, but don't blame me if it isn't working anymore after the next portage update!

[desultory]

That's that, i know it's a bit messy, and rebuilding sources and putting them back into the main gentoo repository isn't the right way, but anyway, it worked for me Until Creative get this right, you can follow this dirty hack to get your card working, but don't blame me if it isn't working anymore after the next portage update!

A refinement of that approach which would not self destruct may be more convenient. By placing the ebuild in an overlay and changing the name of the modified version of the archive this approach could survive emerge --sync, potentially saving additional effort while waiting for a proper fix from upstream.

[dAlexis]

wizzzard

The first advice is useful too - patch is changing several .h files to include in sources

desultory

You are right - I was compiling Creative sources, simply unpacked in /usr/src/creative, portage left untouched. I was looking in source code (unfortunately, my last serious C programming happened 10 ago under OS/2) and it seems to me, that needed not only adding constants in header file, but changing the sources in all places, using changed constnants. It's not so simple, as fix the header.

[mndar]

Any one had any luck getting this driver to work with the X-Fi USB ?

[TimeMaster]

Hello, I need driver for X-fi surround 5.1 USB.. Can anyone help me ?

[mndar]

It works with the snd-usb-audio module.
Refer http://mndar.phpnet.us/usbxfi/

[TimeMaster]

I tested this module, but it doesn't works maybe I have newer revision..

but thanks, I will wait for next version

[mndar]

Can you post the output of lsusb and aplay -l ?
Also, what happends when you try to run alsamixer using either alsamixer or alsamixer -c1 ?

[TimeMaster]

I'm sorry, I returned back my card

thanks, I'll write to this post when I'll have it again.. Now I used different solution, but I have to solve this later.

[Yamakuzure]

• Get the subsystem number your card is using:

  Code: Select all

  lspci -xvvv | grep 'Subsystem: Creative Labs Device'

  You should see something like this

  Code: Select all

  Subsystem: Creative Labs Device 0042

  or this

  Code: Select all

  Subsystem: Creative Labs Device [1102:0043] 

  You'll only need the last 4 digits, whether in brackets or not

Unfortunately I see this:

Code: Select all

01:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
        Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0790 X-Fi XA
        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
        Region 0: I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
        Kernel modules: snd-ca0106
00: 02 11 07 00 01 00 90 02 00 00 01 04 00 20 00 00
10: 01 ec 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 11 12 10
30: 00 00 00 00 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 01 02 14

Right now I have removed alsasound from rc and am rebuilding my kernel without the ca0106 module. I hope I will see something else in lspci after a reboot to the console...

Edit: Nope, didn't help. Alsa can't do anything with the ctxfi module, so I had to go back to the ca0106 module. While dmesg shows:

Code: Select all

[   13.957450] CA0106 0000:01:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[   13.957491] snd-ca0106: Model 1012 Rev 00000000 Serial 10121102

and alsaconf, alsamixer and kmix say that everything is fine (and all state that it is a SB X-Fi XA), I get no sound, no matter what I do.

I bet I missed something here...

Edit 2: Just forgot: When building the drivers into the kernel instead of modules, dmesg even shows:

Code: Select all

[    6.438023] CA0106 0000:01:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[    6.441957] snd-ca0106: Model 1012 Rev 00000000 Serial 10121102
[    6.456279] ALSA device list:
[    6.460190]   #0: X-Fi Extreme Audio [SB0790] at 0xec00 irq 17

*sigh* It's like sitting in a pub with an empty glass in front of you and everybody keeps telling you that the glass is full to the rim. (alsaconf says it can't find any audio devices....)

[pigeon768]

Unfortunately I see this:

Code: Select all

01:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
        Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0790 X-Fi XA

The entry-level model of the X-Fi series, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, does not actually have the EMU20K1 chip but is a re-branded Audigy SE, using the same family of chips (CA0106-WBTLF), and even the same drivers.[8] Thus, not only is all of the X-Fi–related processing performed in software, but it also lacks basic hardware acceleration just like the SB Live! 24-bit, the Audigy SE and other budget Soundblaster models. The X-Fi Xtreme Audio does not use the same drivers as the rest of the X-Fi family, some games do not recognize it as being "X-Fi capable hardware", and the device's hardware profile resembles that of older Live! and Audigy cards.

You don't have an X-Fi, you have an Audigy LS. Yes, really, I know what it says on the box, I know it's not what you thought you paid for, and I don't care. It's an Audigy, not an X-fi. Anyway, just go into the kernel config, enable the Audigy LS/SB live 24 bit driver, and you should be fine. You don't need any third party drivers.

[Yamakuzure]

Unfortunately I see this:

Code: Select all

01:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy LS
        Subsystem: Creative Labs SB0790 X-Fi XA

The entry-level model of the X-Fi series, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, does not actually have the EMU20K1 chip but is a re-branded Audigy SE, using the same family of chips (CA0106-WBTLF), and even the same drivers.[8] Thus, not only is all of the X-Fi–related processing performed in software, but it also lacks basic hardware acceleration just like the SB Live! 24-bit, the Audigy SE and other budget Soundblaster models. The X-Fi Xtreme Audio does not use the same drivers as the rest of the X-Fi family, some games do not recognize it as being "X-Fi capable hardware", and the device's hardware profile resembles that of older Live! and Audigy cards.

You don't have an X-Fi, you have an Audigy LS.

I've already realized that. But: The kernel driver does not work. I do not get any sound. Every part, from alsaconfig to kmix says that everything is fine, but there is nothing coming out of the speakers.

Yes, really, I know what it says on the box, I know it's not what you thought you paid for, and I don't care.

Erm... why are you writing something rude like that like I've said you where responsible for Creative publishing mis-leading product names and descriptions?

Edit: Well, ok, creative isn't to be blamed either. The description at the resellers website where I bought that card states, that this card is a "7.1 surround sound X-Fi technology" card with "Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity signal processor", which, according to the wikipedia article you quoted and everything I see in dmesg and lspci, simply isn't true.

Edit 2: And now my girlfirends PC has a new soundcard, replacing her old cmi card. And I got a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer card which works like a charm after following wizzzards howto.

[MaximeG]

Hi,

Is there any updated how-to for this X-FI Alsa driver ?

Regards,
Maxime

[morten.dynamite]

X-Fi Driver in ALSA

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... &px=NzI3MA

[MaximeG]

Cool
Only a couple months more to wait then !

Thanks for the tip !
Maxime

[wizzzard]

According to http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=21313 (newest comment) the new alsa driver does support the X-Fi finally. I thought I'd give it a shot, and here's what I found:

Following the link in the post to the mailing list, I downloaded the current unstable alsa snapshot from here ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/p ... hot.tar.gz, unzipped and installed it with

Code: Select all

./configure --with-cards=ctxfi
make
make install

according to the INSTALL file. The kernel I compiled it against was gentoo-sources-2.6.29-r5.

Results:
Exactly the same error as if I'd install the XFiDrv drivers from Creative. The only problem is I am unable to find the file I edited in the original driver, or any source code where to change the subsystem ID.

I wrote an email to Takashi Iwai who seems to be the coordinator of the effort, asking him about the problem. Still waiting for a reply atm (the email was sent 5 minutes ago, I should be more patient I think ).

I'll keep you updated on the problem.


Edit:

Got it! Forget about all the above, my mistake Thanks to Takashi for pointing me in the right direction! I didn't see that they changed the name of the kernel module, so I loaded the old one, which of course didn't work!

Here's a quick HowTo for those of you who can't await kernel 2.6.31 which should incorporate the Alsa driver with X-Fi support!

• Download the current alsa driver (taking the stable one here instead of the unstable snapshot):
  

  Code: Select all

  wget ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/tiwai/snapshot/alsa-driver-snapshot.tar.gz

• Extract the sources:
  

  Code: Select all

  tar xzf alsa-driver-snapshot.tar.gz
  cd alsa-driver

• Configure and build the sources:
  

  Code: Select all

  ./configure --with-cards=ctxfi
  make
  make install (as root)

• Make sure to remove all old sound modules which are currently loaded!
• Load the new X-Fi module
  

  Code: Select all

  modprobe snd-ctxfi

• Check dmesg to make sure your card is working. You should see something like this:
  

  Code: Select all

  SB-XFi 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
  SB-XFi 0000:04:00.0: setting latency timer to 64

It's working like a charm here, at least the playback, i haven't had time to test some of the other features yet.

I hope this helps a few of you. If you don't want to mess around with the drivers for this card anymore, just wait for 2.6.31 which should have them bundled.

[morten.dynamite]

I Have successfully compiled the driver and it works.

Compiled against gentoo-sources-2.6.29-r5

Code: Select all

./configure --with-oss=no --with-sequencer=no --with-cards=ctxfi,usb-audio,bt87x
make
make install