I have done some analysis on problems a lot of Creative Labs sound card users have with X570 machines.
The impact is sound distortions, swapping of sound channels and changes in volume levels, making the sound equipment unusable. This concerns all Creative Labs users that have Z-Series or newer sound cards, up to the newest ones, so a lot of products.
There are things I have tested, or can conclude from user feedback, to not work:
- Any registry workarounds Creative Labs has given out through their support
- Newer BIOSes
- Various PCI-E BIOS settings like "10-Bit Tag Support" Enable/Disable
- Changing memory speeds
- Disabling PBO
- 100% clean driver installs of all current and prior Creative Labs drivers
There is one single thing that I have concluded to work 100%:
- Change to a BIOS that has AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA or earlier. I have also tested 1.0.0.2 and it works.
With those older AGESA, the sound card works flawlessly. Users on different motherboards have reported issues since they upgraded BIOS' meaning they had an older AGESA and were find, and now have a newer one and there are all these problems.
The analysis was done by swapping BIOSes of various versions, testing settings with each of them. I also have used some tools to change PCI-Express configuration on a BIOS that didn't expose all the options. I have a full log of that available, but it's on a different forum and I don't know if links are allowed here. I can provide that on request.
My request then is for AMD to analyze the issue, or to employ my help (and that of other volunteers potentially) to test BETA versions of AGESA in some way; it would mean working with motherboard vendors to get those into a BIOS, I suppose, or perhaps there's some other way to patch them in?
My configuration is a Gigabyte AORUS Master X570 motherboard. Other users with the same problem are on MSI and ASUS motherboards.
There is a real problem for MSI and ASUS users, which is, their motherboards do not allow flashing older versions of BIOS than is currently installed. So, once they update their BIOS to AGESA 1.0.0.4 or higher, they can't go back to a BIOS that contains AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA. They are stuck with non-working sound equipment.
So, that's my plight. If there is anything I can do, or test, or BETA test, anything at all, please let me know.
