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. 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.

>Is the cable plugged into the right jack? (Seriously)



Every port looks the same on the lower rear portion of a tower, especially on this card and way the engravings are positioned it is not extensively pronounced and it will still continue to deliver audio.

I registered just to reply to this it was one of the top results for my search query

Kuniyosh said:

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. 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.

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!

TairikuOkami said:

Make sure, you have the latest driver.

http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=1005&prodID=21402&prodName=Sound%20Blaster%20Z&subCatName=Z-Series&CatName=Sound+Blaster&VARSET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_21402,VARSET=CategoryID:1

EDIT: It seems, that installing the latest Sound Blaster Controller Audio driver causes the issue.

Rollback to the previous driver, it should solve the issue.

Thanks for the Tip! I installed the file with release date - Release date : 24 Jun 16

TairikuOkami said:

Make sure, you have the latest driver.

http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=1005&prodID=21402&prodName=Sound%20Blaster%20Z&subCatName=Z-Series&CatName=Sound+Blaster&VARSET=prodfaq:PRODFAQ_21402,VARSET=CategoryID:1

EDIT: It seems, that installing the latest Sound Blaster Controller Audio driver causes the issue.

Rollback to the previous driver, it should solve the issue.

I just found this answer after giving up months ago. I downloaded old drivers - installed - restarted my PC. Card is online again and working finally! Thank you.

Kuniyosh said:

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. 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.

1809 UPDATE
(Windows 10, Update, 1809, Sound, Blaster Z, No Sound, Fix found, 1803, Creative Sound, Creative drivers, Solved)

Do the removal process listed above. The issue is now that even the drivers from Creative website are now failing.
SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08 = No video and No sound and distortion under speaker test in Sound Blaster control panel. SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_10. = Distortion under most circumstances and system slow down during streaming of video. No sound and No video.

Simplest Uninstal is to use DDU from Guru3d and select Sound under the tab on the left of the window in safe mode. You have to make a choice about amd drivers or Nvidia under graphics and sound will pop up as your onboard sound and you sound card. Select Sound Blaster or creative.

Clean the drivers and restart. Now... install the SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08 drivers and reboot as instructed. Now. Shut down and power off system. Turn power off to the power supply and wait 30 seconds. Previously this was causing my drivers to fail. Whether it was just the shutdown or power off I do not know. Boot the machine and do to device manager. Go to sound, video and game controlers. Right click Sound Blaster Z and Properties. Go to Driver tab and uninstall. DO NOT SCAN FOR HARDWARE CHANGES.... DO NOT DO IT. Now do the same for Sound Blaster Audio Controller. Once uninstalled reboot. Test you sound and then shutdown. Power off as before turning off mains or the power supply switch and then wait 30 seconds. Now restart. Sound driver should now work and you can use the SB control panel for adjustments.

hope this helps someone. Its the only fix I have. Am buying a new PC now as mine is to old for the windows updates to bother with.

Tip for Soundblaster Z users - disable 'let Windows update drivers'.

I use SB Z with Cubase for low latency. One day it stopped working and I discovered Windows has started detecting it as a different model Recon3D, and had installed the incorrect driver. Since Windows now thought it was a different device, no amount of driver rollback, uninstalling + reinstalling etc could fix it.

Macrium Reflect to the rescue ! After loading a 'good' image, I disabled auto driver update and just used the manufacturer's driver.

Google tells me this has happened to other SB Z users. I've no idea if the Windows issue has been fixed, but I'd say sort the driver out yourself.

Hey guys,

Super late to the party on this one... I had similar issues except W10 was also not detecting my mic as plugged in (front panel). After much driver messing I installed the application out of desperation and discovered that the card can no longer automatically detect between inputs (back/front panel) on the latest driver, switching the input to front panel resolved my mic issues. Hopefully this helps someone else experiencing the same issue