Sound Blaster Z Headphone Issue

[stillmat1k]

I'm having a hard time figuring out my problem here... Hoping someone can help. I have my speakers hooked up to the back of the pc directly into the sound card. My headphones are plugged into the front of my computer. Even with my headphones plugged in, the audio is only coming out of my speakers. I've tried switching the slider on the sound blaster software to headphones but that does nothing. I've also verified that the correct playback devices are enabled. Please also note that this started happening out of no where. I was always able to just move the slider to speakers and back to headphones and it would actually switch but suddenly it's not allowing me to play out of my headphones. I've tried plugging my headphones direcftly into the back of the sound card in place of the speakers and then I can hear it come out of the headphones so I know the headphones are fine. It's only when I plug it into the front that it doesn't seem to work. Please help. Please note that I've tried contacting Creative with no luck. I've also tried posting to their forum but they don't allow new users to post...

 

[DanielRoda]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

 

[DanielRoda]

I rolled back just the "Sound Blaster Audio Controller" which was updated a few days before (in Windows Update). This update caused the issue with the headphone connected to the front connector. The roll back corrected the problem.

 

[stillmat1k]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

Thanks a lot. Not the same exact version number but it worked!

 

[alextheblue]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

Thank you. Leave it to Creative to release a poorly tested driver - shocker. At least it functions halfway, that's better than some of their previous releases. I had to roll back to fix this exact issue. If I want to play a game online I typically want to use my mic/headset combo. Very annoying bug.

Also, it doesn't just affect people who are using the front jacks. I'm using Creative's breakout box/mic array thingy with the volume knob. Ah just found out they call it the "Accessible Audio Control Module". Anyway it's connected directly to the headphone and mic jacks on the back of the card. Same issue.

 

[stillmat1k]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

Thank you. Leave it to Creative to release a poorly tested driver - shocker. At least it functions halfway, that's better than some of their previous releases. I had to roll back to fix this exact issue. If I want to play a game online I typically want to use my mic/headset combo. Very annoying bug.

Also, it doesn't just affect people who are using the front jacks. I'm using Creative's breakout box/mic array thingy with the volume knob. Ah just found out they call it the "Accessible Audio Control Module". Anyway it's connected directly to the headphone and mic jacks on the back of the card. Same issue.

Agreed. I'm not sure if the issue is related, but for some reason my speaker configuration keeps switching back to 5.1 surround even though I keep switching it to stereo (for headphones). I pretty much have to switch it every time I change any playback devices, reboot, etc.

 

[gerrardwinstanley]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

I have this problem but can't revert to that version as I had an older version that had the same problem.
I've downloaded 6.0.103.34 but Windows 10 is telling me that "windows has determined that the best driver for this device is already installed"

I don't know how to get round that and install manually as it's a cabinet file with three .exe files inside it.
When I try 'Have Disc' it doesn't recognise anything compatible in my downloads folder.

Any advice, please?

 

[stillmat1k]

Sound Blaster Audio Controller (in Device Manager)
I solved the issue reverting driver 6.0.105.8 June 19, 2017 to 6.0.103.34 February 7, 2017
Windows 10 Pro 1703

I have this problem but can't revert to that version as I had an older version that had the same problem.
I've downloaded 6.0.103.34 but Windows 10 is telling me that "windows has determined that the best driver for this device is already installed"

I don't know how to get round that and install manually as it's a cabinet file with three .exe files inside it.
When I try 'Have Disc' it doesn't recognise anything compatible in my downloads folder.

Any advice, please?

I'm not 100% sure about this, but aren't you able to roll-back the drivers more than once? In other words you'll want to roll back to the previous version (that still had the issues) then try and roll-back again to an even older version.

Worth a shot!

 

[dsologoub]

How to fix this problem manually:

- Download and install SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_10.exe, which installs version 6.0.105.0008-1.05.0000 of the driver.
- Go to c:\Windows\System32\drivers\ and rename CtxHdb.sys to CtxHdb.sys.renamed.
- Download SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08.exe and extact with WinRAR.
- Copy the file "\SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08\program files\Creative\Sound Blaster Z-Series\Program\Driver\AMD64\ctHDb.sys" to c:\Windows\System32\drivers\
- Rename ctHDb.sys to CtxHdb.sys.
- Now you sort of have the driver version 6.0.102.0042-1.02.0000.
- Reboot.

This worked for me under Windows 10 Creator Update ver. 1709.

 

[d3vvv]

How to fix this problem manually:

- Download and install SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_10.exe, which installs version 6.0.105.0008-1.05.0000 of the driver.
- Go to c:\Windows\System32\drivers\ and rename CtxHdb.sys to CtxHdb.sys.renamed.
- Download SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08.exe and extact with WinRAR.
- Copy the file "\SBZ_CD_L13_1_01_08\program files\Creative\Sound Blaster Z-Series\Program\Driver\AMD64\ctHDb.sys" to c:\Windows\System32\drivers\
- Rename ctHDb.sys to CtxHdb.sys.
- Now you sort of have the driver version 6.0.102.0042-1.02.0000.
- Reboot.

This worked for me under Windows 10 Creator Update ver. 1709.

Just tried this after not having any success with other methods. Works perfectly! Thank you so much.

 

[Kamakzie]

What I did is just download the latest drivers and do a repair installation and that seems to fix it for me.

 

[ngweichun]

What I did is just download the latest drivers and do a repair installation and that seems to fix it for me.

Yes, I just downloaded the latest software pack (March 2017) from creative and did two restarts before it worked for me too.