Windows 1903 - Missing Sound Blaster Connect App

[phitol]

Hi,
So I have a Defiance V, bought without OS, and used my Win 10 Pro license to install Build 1809, installed everything Clevo related, and then windows update upgraded to 1903. Everything was working fine at this point.

As you do, the first few weeks have been trying various benchmarks, games, demo's, and tweaking apps. However, now I've settled on a minor undervolt but everything else stock, I decided to 'reset' windows, and do a clean install (i.e. do not keep any data).

Everything went well initially, Windows installaton found latest versions of just about everything, so the only thing missing was the Clevo Control Centre and Sound Blaster Apps, so I downloaded these from PCS download section of my account.

However, whilst the CCC installed perfectly, the Sound Blaster Connect stuff did not, it looks like it's doing something and Device Manager -> Software Components lists the Creative Components and Sound Blaster Connect, but there is no Sound Blaster Connect app, and audio does not sound as good as it used to (headphones mainly).

Before contacting support or doing a fresh ISO install of Windows 10 and trying again, any ideas?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi,
So I have a Defiance V, bought without OS, and used my Win 10 Pro license to install Build 1809, installed everything Clevo related, and then windows update upgraded to 1903. Everything was working fine at this point.

As you do, the first few weeks have been trying various benchmarks, games, demo's, and tweaking apps. However, now I've settled on a minor undervolt but everything else stock, I decided to 'reset' windows, and do a clean install (i.e. do not keep any data).

Everything went well initially, Windows installaton found latest versions of just about everything, so the only thing missing was the Clevo Control Centre and Sound Blaster Apps, so I downloaded these from PCS download section of my account.

However, whilst the CCC installed perfectly, the Sound Blaster Connect stuff did not, it looks like it's doing something and Device Manager -> Software Components lists the Creative Components and Sound Blaster Connect, but there is no Sound Blaster Connect app, and audio does not sound as good as it used to (headphones mainly).

Before contacting support or doing a fresh ISO install of Windows 10 and trying again, any ideas?

Your PCS account will not have up to date drivers.

Check out www.clevo.com.tw for latest versions, there may be an updated one.

 

[phitol]

Thanks,

Pre 1903 upgrade I had already installed from Clevo, and their soundblaster driver is slightly newer.

I see someone on Notebookreview has the same issue, Windows 1903 install has no soundblaster app but does have all the drivers/components installed in device manager. It might be a weird Windows thing.

I have a few things I can try
- I have a disk image I made of Windows 1809, I could go back to that and get it working, then let it upgrade to 1903 again
- I have downloaded from Microsoft the July 1903 ISO so could do a complete fresh re-install from scratch (not a 'reset' from within windows)

It's a minor issue, but the Soundblaster X 360 did sound a great deal better in games, so would be nice to get that back!

 

[ubuysa]

Looking at the upgrade process you've used I think you might be a victim of the all-too-common Windows upgrade issue. It's a procedure that should work (just like the Windows Reset you tried) - and they both do work well for many users, but they also cause all sorts of problems for lots of others. I'm not claiming that this is the cause of your problem - but it could well be.

You would be much better off using the Media Creation Tool to download the 1903 version of Windows 10 Pro to a USB stick (8GB min size) and clean install from that by booting the USB stick rather than upgrading from it. I'm betting you'll find that the CCC and SB apps/drivers will then install without problems.

 

[phitol]

Thanks, I will definitely try a fresh install over the weekend and report back.

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks, I will definitely try a fresh install over the weekend and report back.

Please do.

When you reinstall allow Windows Update to find all your drivers. Don't manually install any, just run Windows Update until no more updates are found (rebooting when instructed). Then install stuff like CCC and SB...

 

[phitol]

I'm pleased to report that a fresh install of Windows 1903 worked!

I used the official Win 10 1903 July ISO from microsoft, and just letting it set up everything itself, automatically finding drivers etc, it took several reboots, then opening the windows store, letting it update everything from there as well, and by the end, the only things I had to install
- Intel driver assisstant found only 2 updates, GPU and Wifi
- Clevo Control Center (Latest is 3.0 with 1.30 drivers direct from Clevo)

All looking great!

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm pleased to report that a fresh install of Windows 1903 worked!

I used the official Win 10 1903 July ISO from microsoft, and just letting it set up everything itself, automatically finding drivers etc, it took several reboots, then opening the windows store, letting it update everything from there as well, and by the end, the only things I had to install
- Intel driver assisstant found only 2 updates, GPU and Wifi
- Clevo Control Center (Latest is 3.0 with 1.30 drivers direct from Clevo)

All looking great!

Awesome, am pleased!

 

[ubuysa]

Good news!

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