SB Crashes system: HELP
Richard Mines
programs (most notably games) at frequent intervals. I'd started to figure
that it might be the power supply but also suspected the motherboard or
video card. Lets be honest - I didn't really have a clue. Well, I sat down
with another PC and gradually transplanted all my components across, testing
between each one. After trying the hard disc and motherboard things were
still running nicely but as soon as I tried putting my SoundBlaster 2 in the
other PC it suddenly acquired all the old symptoms. These are two fold.
Firstly some programs (e.g. Doom 2) will run for a short while and then lock
up with screen distortion while some other programs such as UFO can run for
a lot longer before suddenly going into 40 column text mode and spewing out
about 2 screens of `page granular' (?) errors. Others such as Theme Park
just freeze.
After some more detailed tests it does seem to be the SoundBlaster that's
causing the problems. When I ran Doom2 with no sound, no problems. I can
even run it with music on but no FX with no hassles. I suspect an IRQ
conflict although there shouldn't be one AFAIK.( A friend mentioned there
was some problem with the default IRQ 7) Any help or ideas much appreciated.
Also if someone has Creative Lab's tech support line I'd appreciate it...
EMail pref... (ric...@onechip.co.uk)
Richard
---
"A Smith & Wesson beats four aces"
ric...@onechip.co.uk
ric...@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk
zha...@rhbnc.ac.uk
John Connolly
[cut]
Richard> After some more detailed tests it does seem to be the SoundBlaster that's
Richard> causing the problems. When I ran Doom2 with no sound, no problems. I can
Richard> even run it with music on but no FX with no hassles. I suspect an IRQ
Richard> conflict although there shouldn't be one AFAIK.( A friend mentioned there
Richard> was some problem with the default IRQ 7) Any help or ideas much appreciated.
Richard> Also if someone has Creative Lab's tech support line I'd appreciate it...
[cut]
I am having the same sort of problem with my PC, in that games will
hang the box if FX is enabled. I have determined that it is not an
IRQ problem (I have tried 5 & 7), but it may be a DMA problem.
Creative Labs could not help me.
I would appreciate a followup on anything that you find.
From the FAQ...
Creative Labs.............. C/S ................... 800-998-1000
Creative Labs.............. BBS ................... 405-742-6660 14400bps
Creative Labs.............. ftp ................... ftp.creaf.com
Creative Labs ............. T/S ................... 405-742-6622
--
John Connolly, EDS
jcon...@cps.plnin.gmeds.com
Richard Mines
: From the FAQ...
This is interesting. Since my original article, I've had quite a few people
saying that they've had similar problems. Looking through the soundcard
groups, there are various articles about SBs or SB16s hanging the system
when sound effects are enabled. Just how widespread a problem is this? I've
fiddled with IRQs and base addresses to no avail. I'm quite prepared to
accept that something is set up wrongly or there's a conflict but I can't
find one. Maybe we should investigate more thoroughly. Is there a
motherboard or BIOS version which is causing problems? It'd be nice to get
to the bottom of this as Doom with PC sound is pitiful. Still, it's nice to
know it's not just me...
Dan Young
says...
>This is interesting. Since my original article, I've had quite a few
people
>saying that they've had similar problems. Looking through the soundcard
>groups, there are various articles about SBs or SB16s hanging the system
>when sound effects are enabled. Just how widespread a problem is this?
I've
>fiddled with IRQs and base addresses to no avail. I'm quite prepared to
>accept that something is set up wrongly or there's a conflict but I can't
>find one. Maybe we should investigate more thoroughly. Is there a
>motherboard or BIOS version which is causing problems? It'd be nice to
get
>to the bottom of this as Doom with PC sound is pitiful. Still, it's nice
to
>know it's not just me...
>
>Richard
>
>---
>"A Smith & Wesson beats four aces"
>
>ric...@onechip.co.uk
>ric...@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk
>zha...@rhbnc.ac.uk
I made two system upgrades at the same time, bad move on my behalf :-(
I upgraded my 486 DX 33 to a DX2 66 and my old Sound Blaster 8 bit
to a 16 DSP. Everything except F14 Fleet Defender works ok. F14
starts up ok, with music on the opening screens but when I run a
mission it will start, but within 10 seconds lockup the system hard.
Now I played F14 with my old configuarion for 6 months without any
problems. And yes I've completely reinstalled the game from the
orig. disk, several times. I know I've got the port address, irq,
and other settings correct because they work in other games, doom,
descent, wing commander III, etc.
John Connolly
[cut]
Richard> This is interesting. Since my original article, I've had quite a few people
Richard> saying that they've had similar problems. Looking through the soundcard
Richard> groups, there are various articles about SBs or SB16s hanging the system
Richard> when sound effects are enabled. Just how widespread a problem is this? I've
Richard> fiddled with IRQs and base addresses to no avail. I'm quite prepared to
Richard> accept that something is set up wrongly or there's a conflict but I can't
Richard> find one. Maybe we should investigate more thoroughly. Is there a
Richard> motherboard or BIOS version which is causing problems? It'd be nice to get
Richard> to the bottom of this as Doom with PC sound is pitiful. Still, it's nice to
Richard> know it's not just me...
Well, I for one have a 486SX with an AT bus, 8MB RAM, an AMI bios and
a ATI VGA XLWonder (1MB) video card. I have used a SB 1.5 and the SB
Pro cards, with the same results. I have fiddled with this for at
least a year, and I am convinced that it is not an IRQ or base address
(I have most every combination possible). I suspect that something in
the CMOS configuration might be conflicting, but without documentation
it has been a painful case of trial and error (mostly error).
James Lummel
...
: This is interesting. Since my original article, I've had quite a few people
: saying that they've had similar problems. Looking through the soundcard
: groups, there are various articles about SBs or SB16s hanging the system
: when sound effects are enabled. Just how widespread a problem is this? I've
: fiddled with IRQs and base addresses to no avail. I'm quite prepared to
: accept that something is set up wrongly or there's a conflict but I can't
: find one. Maybe we should investigate more thoroughly. Is there a
: motherboard or BIOS version which is causing problems? It'd be nice to get
: to the bottom of this as Doom with PC sound is pitiful. Still, it's nice to
: know it's not just me...
: Richard
I just changed out my motherboard, and while I have a PAS16, it is the
same problem that others have stated. I'm gone up one side and down the
other, it is indeed the motherboard that is the culprit. I have a Green
DX-6900 with a 3.3v AMD 486DX2/80, AMI BIOS dated Dec of 93. I used a
older version of the card and got it to work partially. I've switched
other cards in the system, but it comes back to the soundcard not working.
But- this whole setup worked great with a different motherboard!!
--
James Lummel - jlu...@caprica.com
********************************************************
* Caprica Internet Services *
* "LA Basin's Responsible Internet Provider" *
* Voice: (213) 266-0822 Data: (213) 526-1195 *
********************************************************
Christopher Koziol
and I cannot install the voice card with the sound card installed. I take
the sound card out, then the voice card resets. Then I can re-install
the sound card, and everything works.
Try looking for other card hardware conflicts, because I bet that every
configuration of system cards have not been tested.
--umop apisdn
--
***"I never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain***
Christopher Koziol (All rights reserved without prejudice. UCC 1-207)
Internet: cko...@freenet.niagara.com
chris....@f105.n247.z1.fidonet.org
Michael A. Eddy
I have a Laser 486sx33 which used to have 4Mb RAM, an 8-bit
SoundBlaster, and a 512K Trident VGA board. I have since upgraded to 8Mb
RAM, Modem, and a SoundBlaster 16 with CD-ROM. It used to be that I
could play Doom II using the left-shift boot up (I have DOS 6.2), and
every thing worked fine. Now, whether or not I left-shift boot, Doom and
Doom II will play fine up to a point, then hang. And not always at the
same point. I also cannot get such programs as Descent and Dark Forces
to work at all.
In a word, "HELP!!!".
As far as I know there are no hardware conflicts. But as for the
other possibilities mentioned here (I also have an AMI BIOS), I have no idea.
Maybe we should all e-mail to Creative Labs saying that we want
an answer. If we overwhelm them, maybe they'll fix it (we hope).
Michael Eddy
SUNY ESF at Syracuse
Andrew Waddell
: I'll add my two-bits to this series.
Here are my 2 bits - In my opinion this is the fault of the game not the
sound card - try DOOM 1 on your SB16 using v1.2 engine - it works fine on
mine. But doom II loses SFX (does not crash) after about 15 seconds. It
is possible that Creative could do a work around for the problem - they
do have patches at their ftp site for other games - I looked but there
was nothing for the latest versions of the doom engine, IMHO we should be
asking Id to fix the problem !
Andrew.
Richard Mines
Well since posting the article there've been quite a few responses from
people with the same problem. It does seem as if there's some conflict which
isn't address, IRQ or DMA related. Someone mentioned that a particular BIOS
caused problems so maybe something this is the cause. I think that we
should, as you suggest contact Creative Labs and get to the bottom of this.
Sound Blaster is meant to be *the* standard to follow and if there are this
many people having problems with genuine Sound Blasters then it's surely in
there best interests to get to the bottom of it. I'd also suggest that
everyone with problems post the make and model of there motherboard and BIOS
so we can try to trace that end of things.
Nicholas Flowers
and after a very lengthy chat with a technical support fellow,
got no resolution. Nor did he think that a return would be
accepted. Creative Labs is NOT aware of this, I don't think.
At least the technical support people are not.
Some questions:
My particular problem is with the SB16 SCSI card. (Came
with the 3x Discovery Kit). I am certain there are no conflicts
with other cards... it must be either the motherboard or
my AMI BIOS. How many people are there with this problem?
PLEASE POST!!!!!!! If you want to get to the bottom of this,
it is important that we have a sense of how large this problem
might be.
Also, what games/programs do you have trouble with? Does it
only affect sound effects (like me), or does it also apply to music?
For my part, here are my specs and the games it affects (in part):
I'm running a 486/33 with a Trident 8900c card. I know it isn't
the Trident because I substituted my roommate's Viper card,
and things still froze. It seems to be primarily with sound, though
occassionally with music also (at least in Xwing). Dos 6.2, AMI
Bios.
It affects at least the following games:
Xwing
The Summoning
Myst
Masters of Magic
Dune 2
These are the only ones I've really played with since I got the card.
Since this represents a fairly broad cross section of gaming
companies, I think it is pretty clearly the card, and NOT the
software.
Nicholas
ric...@lt6.cs.rhbnc.ac.uk (Richard Mines) wrote:
>Andrew Waddell (awad...@powerup.com.au) wrote:
>I'm not convinced about that. I play Doom 1 (1.666) and that crashes exactly
>as Michael says - a hang after some short period of play between about 10
>seconds and 10 minutes. But it's not just ID games, it's lots (although a
>lot of them *are* protected mode games) - Descent, ROTT, Theme Park, UFO...
>I'd also find it difficult to believe that ID wouldn't have got the SB
>drivers right in Doom. I mean it's not exactly a minority card is it?
Richard Mines
: Andrew.
I'm not convinced about that. I play Doom 1 (1.666) and that crashes exactly
as Michael says - a hang after some short period of play between about 10
seconds and 10 minutes. But it's not just ID games, it's lots (although a
lot of them *are* protected mode games) - Descent, ROTT, Theme Park, UFO...
I'd also find it difficult to believe that ID wouldn't have got the SB
drivers right in Doom. I mean it's not exactly a minority card is it?
Richard
Ralph Gnauck
>From: ric...@lt5.cs.rhbnc.ac.uk (Richard Mines)
>Subject: Do SB FX crash your system?
>Date: 9 Feb 1995 14:13:13 GMT
>: From the FAQ...
>Richard
>ric...@onechip.co.uk
>ric...@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk
>zha...@rhbnc.ac.uk
I Have had problems with an sb16 on a pentium with the ASUS PCI/I-P54SP4
mother board with BIOS version 401A0-0103 and a diamond stealth 64 dram video
card.
Have instaled the latest soundblaster and video drivers.
It only hangs under windows (shock, gasp, ! I havn't even tried Doom! ) and
then it seems to be only related to wave form files.
Can stop the problem by turning the level 2 chach to write through instead of
write back in the cmos settings, however this is taking a big performance
penalty and I would still like to know if this is the real problem.
Hope this helps point in some direction.
Ralph GNAUCK gn...@slip.net
John Connolly
>>>>> "Nicholas" == Nicholas Flowers <nflo...@fas.harvard.edu> writes:
Nicholas> I, also, am having this problem. I called Creative Labs yesterday,
Nicholas> and after a very lengthy chat with a technical support fellow,
Nicholas> got no resolution. Nor did he think that a return would be
Nicholas> accepted. Creative Labs is NOT aware of this, I don't think.
Nicholas> At least the technical support people are not.
Well, I would think that Creative Labs has to be aware of the problem.
I know that I talked to a support person about it a year ago. I think
that they just don't know how to fix it.
Nicholas> Some questions:
Nicholas> My particular problem is with the SB16 SCSI card. (Came
Nicholas> with the 3x Discovery Kit). I am certain there are no conflicts
Nicholas> with other cards... it must be either the motherboard or
Nicholas> my AMI BIOS. How many people are there with this problem?
Nicholas> PLEASE POST!!!!!!! If you want to get to the bottom of this,
Nicholas> it is important that we have a sense of how large this problem
Nicholas> might be.
It's interesting that this happens with the SB16 card. I had
considered upgrading to and SB16 (I have the original SB) to fix this
problem. Have you had the chance to test a different (not Creative
Labs) sound card?
Nicholas> Also, what games/programs do you have trouble with? Does it
Nicholas> only affect sound effects (like me), or does it also apply to music?
[cut]
Nicholas Flowers
>
>>>>>> "Nicholas" == Nicholas Flowers <nflo...@fas.harvard.edu> writes:
>
> Nicholas> I, also, am having this problem. I called Creative Labs yesterday,
> Nicholas> and after a very lengthy chat with a technical support fellow,
> Nicholas> got no resolution. Nor did he think that a return would be
> Nicholas> accepted. Creative Labs is NOT aware of this, I don't think.
> Nicholas> At least the technical support people are not.
>
>Well, I would think that Creative Labs has to be aware of the problem.
>I know that I talked to a support person about it a year ago. I think
>that they just don't know how to fix it.
It was pretty clear that the guy had not heard of it. I think that
they don't understand that the problem is widespread enough that
it is actually a problem. (Maybe it isn't that widespread... I don't
really know.)
> Nicholas> Some questions:
> Nicholas> My particular problem is with the SB16 SCSI card. (Came
> Nicholas> with the 3x Discovery Kit). I am certain there are no conflicts
> Nicholas> with other cards... it must be either the motherboard or
> Nicholas> my AMI BIOS. How many people are there with this problem?
> Nicholas> PLEASE POST!!!!!!! If you want to get to the bottom of this,
> Nicholas> it is important that we have a sense of how large this problem
> Nicholas> might be.
>
>It's interesting that this happens with the SB16 card. I had
>considered upgrading to and SB16 (I have the original SB) to fix this
>problem. Have you had the chance to test a different (not Creative
>Labs) sound card?
I just (yesterday) received a Roland SCC-1 in the mail. It works
fine, no problems at all. I think the problem with the SB16 was
primarily with the speech and sound effects, anyway, though,
so this doesn't show much.
Richard Mines
Since posting the original message, there've been quite a few postings and
mailings. I've saved them all for a time when we face Creative Labs and I'll
continue to do so as more people post with the same problem. For me, it's
just sound FX.
Petteri Bergius
controller and Adaptec 6260 on-board SCSI controller. I had previously
the SB16ASP and now the SB AWE 32. I hoped that upgrading to the
AWE would correct the hanging, but it was to no avail.
I've tried to get hang on what's going on when the system hangs. I'm
fairly sure it has something to do with playing a digitized sound at
the same time as loading from the disk. The problem manifests itself
especially when I play some CD-ROM (SCSI) games, where the loading
time is especially long. For some reason some of the games don't have
this problem at all. And curiously enough, if I disable SFX in Warcraft
it doesn't lock at all even if the drivers are installed. But if I play
for any longer period of time with SFX on, the system crash is a
sure thing.
Some games I definitely have this problem with:
Warcraft (Blizzard)
Settlers/Serf City (Blue Byte)
Battle Isle II (Blue Byte)
Most of the MicroProse games, like UFO/XCOM, Master of Orion
Games that don't have this problem:
Doom, any revision
Doom II
Magic Carpet (or any other Bullfrog games as far as I remember)
Funnily enough, quite a many shareware games apart from Doom:
One Must Fall
Descent
Heretic
Mortal Kombat II
Rise of the Triads
Wacky Wheels
Cheers,
Petteri
Richard Mines
: I, also, am having this problem. I called Creative Labs yesterday,
: and after a very lengthy chat with a technical support fellow,
: got no resolution. Nor did he think that a return would be
: accepted. Creative Labs is NOT aware of this, I don't think.
: At least the technical support people are not.
: Some questions:
: My particular problem is with the SB16 SCSI card. (Came
: with the 3x Discovery Kit). I am certain there are no conflicts
: with other cards... it must be either the motherboard or
: my AMI BIOS. How many people are there with this problem?
: PLEASE POST!!!!!!! If you want to get to the bottom of this,
: it is important that we have a sense of how large this problem
: might be.
: Also, what games/programs do you have trouble with? Does it
: only affect sound effects (like me), or does it also apply to music?
I've got a standard SB 2 and like you have tried many card configurations.
Thus I too think it's a BIOS conflict. A friend with a SB2 has no problems
with his Phoenix BIOS. When I get a chance I'll try his card in my machine
and my card in his to see what happens. And yes, only sound effects screw
things up.
: For my part, here are my specs and the games it affects (in part):
: I'm running a 486/33 with a Trident 8900c card. I know it isn't
: the Trident because I substituted my roommate's Viper card,
: and things still froze. It seems to be primarily with sound, though
: occassionally with music also (at least in Xwing). Dos 6.2, AMI
: Bios.
: It affects at least the following games:
: Xwing
: The Summoning
: Myst
: Masters of Magic
: Dune 2
I'm using a humble 486 25/SX with a Trident card and an AMI BIOS. I'm
convinced it's the SB as I've transplanted bits between systems and it
wasn't until I moved the SB that the other machine started hanging.
Thomas Sundvall
After testing virtually all combinations of IRQ and DMA settings I returned the card to the mail order company I bought it from. I called and said that I wanted another SBPro, one that wasn't faulty. But they told me that they had to test the card first, before they could send me a replacement.
One day, almost two months later, I received what I thought was a brand new card. But instead they had sent back my old card. I was getting fairly frustrated at this point and called the company to ask what was going on. They hadn't been able to find anything wrong with the card.
Anyway, I decided to give up. I put the card back in the computer and got on with my life.
A year and a half later I bought a 486DX33VLB mother board and a new VLB graphics card. I assembled everything together and started up the computer. Arrgh! Take my previous problems and multiply with ten, maybe you get the picture. Now I received a lot of gpf's in Windows, hell it wouldn't even start at all sometimes. More games crashed.
I was desperate. I even thought about selling my PC and get a Macintosh instead.
After I had calmed myself down I decided I wasn't desperate enough to move to a different platform. After all I had invested a large amount of money in software for the PC. Instead I decided to find what was wrong with my system.
I took my Soundblaster and tested it with a friends computer. It worked fine. I tried every expansion card. They all worked fine. I tested my SIMM's on his computer. They worked like a charm. I borrowed his SIMM's and plugged them into my computer, and Bingo. With his memory my computer worked perfectly. Apparantly for some reason the mother board didn't like my SIMM's. His' were 80ns and mine were 60ns. I sold my mother board at a small loss and bought a Genoa like my friend had. It was a little more expe
nsive than my old mother board, but I guess it's true the old saying: "You get what you pay for".
As to why both of my old mother boards didn't like my memory, I can only guess. They both had Opti chipsets and my new Genoa board is a SiS something. Since both of my old boards were rather cheap and not had a brand name, maybe they were just crappy. Though they both were recommended to be used with 80ns SIMM's and I used them with 60ns SIMM's. BTW my new Genoa recommends 70ns SIMM's. But isn't faster memory better? Maybe my SIMM's is shitty. I dont know.
The moral of the story: If you have sound trouble it doesn't have to be due to a faulty sound card. Adding a sound card puts the rest of your equipment to a test. My two old mother boards seemed to be working perfectly well without a soundcard in them and collapsed totally with a Sound Blaster Pro.
A month ago I upgraded again with an AMD DX2/80. And everything still works perfectly fine.
__
Thomas Sundvall "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
-Joshua
Paul Chapman
claims to be 100pc SB compatible. I have tried EVERY possible Doom and Sndcard
IRQ, Port and DMA settings to no avail. Music works fine, but SFX just do not
come through. Slightly worrying considering all other games SFX work fine with
my Sndcard.
Suggestions ??
Paul Chapman
Doom
Doom II
Nascar ( There's a lot of static ).
Some other games's SFX are fine, like SC2000. In all my games, musak works
perfectly. It seems this problem is more widespread than I thought.We need
more postings to determine how widespread this really is, so if you have a
problem similar to the on ebeing discussed, Post the group with details.
===============================================================================
Chappy : se...@dmu.ac.uk | I could try to get away, but I've strapped myself in
se...@dmu.ac.uk | I could try to scratch away, the sound in my ears,
| I can feel it killing away, all of my bad parts,
| I dont wanna listen, but its all too clear.
===============================================================================
WWW Home Page ---->> http://www.cms.dmu.ac.uk/~se1pc
===============================================================================
Kirk Alexander Nesbitt
I bought an SBPRO II in 1993, to use in my old 386sx25, the card worked fine
even on xwing. But when i upgraded my machine to a pentium 60 the card still
worked fine under windows, with all my games (including protected mode ones)
but it stuffs up big time with games that need expaneded memory i.e. xwing and
tie fighter. What happens is this, all of my drivers are installed correctly
including emm386. When i type xwing to start the game my system just locks up
i get no game the screen is just blank. I can still play xwing (with crap
sound) but not tie fighter (because it wount run unless you use expanded memory.
My old 386 used an AMIbios and my pentium uses an AMIbios (in a flash eeprom).
The SBPRO config program works fine, but when i am running emm386 it wont even
go.
maybe Win95 with plug and play will solve all our probs :)
Kirk A. Nesbitt
________________________________________________________________________
kane...@socs.uts.edu.au -- serious stuff
gh...@ftoomsh.socs.uts.edu.au -- everything not to do with uni
kane...@banksia.itd.uts.edu.au -- flames
Dirk Guter
After about 1.5 hours of play, sound fx slowly shift over to the right
speaker. After 10 minutes all sound effects come from the right
speaker only (left speaker totally silent).
Simultaneously the sound fx become more and more static (and louder!).
Music is not affected. I play the game in SVGA mode, maybe this is
relevant?
Another interesting symptom: shift-ctrl-del after quitting the game does
not recover the sound fx driver !!! Any DOS or Windows based sound effect
issued after the reboot still exhibits the problem. I have to *hard reset*
the system to cure it :-( :-(
My system is a Dell XPS P90 (Intel Plato Motherboard, I guess), genuine SB16,
#9 GXE64pro 2MB video.
By now serf city is the only game for which I noticed the problem. All
other games I played on my system are doing fine, as there are
Civilization
Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
SC2000
Wacky Wheels
Doom *
Raptor *
Magic Carpet *
Descent *
System Shock *
Epic Pinball *
For the tagged games I have to say that I played them not very extensively,
mostly for less than an hour (I'm not really a fan of action games;-).
The problem could show up in longer sessions, I don't know.
Please please post YOUR experiences and suggestions!
Dirk "clueless" Guter
--
____________...@hpbbn.bbn.hp.com______________
Cannot find REALITY.SYS. Universe halted.
rjan L}g
I'm using an SB AWE32 and can't get SFX in the following games
working:
*Doom II
*Descent
The music however is working perfectly. I have tried all possible
IRQ and DMA settings but the sfx's remains silent. In all other games
I have installed both music and sfx's are working well.
Orjan
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ e-mail: or...@siri.unit.no /
/ www : http://www.stud.unit.no/~orjan /
/ /
/ -virkeligheten er for feiginger- /
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Chuck Condron
rjan L}g (or...@siri.unit.no) wrote:
: I'm using an SB AWE32 and can't get SFX in the following games
: working:
: *Doom II
: *Descent
: Orjan
Add me to the list of the protected mode game "no SFX" battle
DOOM2
Under the Killing Moon
Nascar
Dinasaur 3D
how are we doing with the list of names to give to creative????
Nicholas Wills
Thought I'd better put my oarsworth in:
I recently purchased the bits to build my own 486 system. I selected
a PCI motherboard thinking "Thats the way things are going". As an
afterthought I swapped my old system in for an SB2 (well it was only
a 286 8MHZ). Shock horror ! Doom locks up as soon as I enable SFX
through the SB2. Music works fine however. So I'm stuck with good
music (SB), with pops and squeaks from the PC Speaker.
I swapped components with a friend. His SB16 also locked up my PC !
and my SB2 works fine in his PC (VESA). So my SB2 IS functional,
The problem has to be related to the motherboard or BIOS. (we also
swapped VGA cards, both ISA Trident VGA, no change)
Went back to vendor:- Was informed that the problem is caused by an
incompatibility between PCI and SB.
Perhaps plumping for PCI was not such a good idea after all !!
For Info: When booting, the system states PHOENIX BIOS V. 4.04
Motherboard made by ELITE.
CPU is a 486 DX2 66 Overdrive chip, 4MB Ram
Trident VGA (1M) Graphics, (ISA)
Creative Labs Soundblaster 2
Chris Poole
I'm using a SB16 on a DX266 machine with VLB.
One gripe is Jill of the Jungle. The SFX on the shareware version would
cut in and out. I purchased the registered version and now it just sounds
like crap. Music track is okay.
Also Epic Pinball, the SFX sounds like crap... lots of static and
distortion.
On ROTT (Rise of the Triad), I cannot set the SFX to 16 bit, there
is lots of extra noise and then my machine locks up. Works just
fine in 8 bit mode.
I also have a lot of kids software from Broderbund and Humungeous
and they all work fine. Go figure :-)
Also question about speakers that come with Creative Discovery 16 kit.
These are SB speakers and I realize that I will not get super high
quality with these speaker but they are really bad. Is this the usual
quality or did I get a "bad" batch?
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Chris Poole
Computing Services CA*Net: Chris...@USask.CA
56 Physics Building Phone: (306) 966-4807
University of Saskatchewan FAX: (306) 966-4938
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 0W0
Dave Ripton
: I recently purchased the bits to build my own 486 system. I selected
: a PCI motherboard thinking "Thats the way things are going". As an
: afterthought I swapped my old system in for an SB2 (well it was only
: a 286 8MHZ). Shock horror ! Doom locks up as soon as I enable SFX
: through the SB2. Music works fine however. So I'm stuck with good
: music (SB), with pops and squeaks from the PC Speaker.
: I swapped components with a friend. His SB16 also locked up my PC !
: and my SB2 works fine in his PC (VESA). So my SB2 IS functional,
: The problem has to be related to the motherboard or BIOS. (we also
: swapped VGA cards, both ISA Trident VGA, no change)
: Went back to vendor:- Was informed that the problem is caused by an
: incompatibility between PCI and SB.
Your vendor is wrong.
: Perhaps plumping for PCI was not such a good idea after all !!
No, it's likely your particular PCI motherboard. Mine works fine
with an old SBPro, in an Intel Premiere II P90/PCI motherboard
with an AMI flash BIOS.
: For Info: When booting, the system states PHOENIX BIOS V. 4.04
: Motherboard made by ELITE.
: CPU is a 486 DX2 66 Overdrive chip, 4MB Ram
: Trident VGA (1M) Graphics, (ISA)
: Creative Labs Soundblaster 2
If you can, try the sound card in another PCI motherboard, maybe one
with a different BIOS as well. If you can't, get a different sound
card from a store that allows returns (in case it doesn't work either).
David Ripton
Kirtley Wilson
486SX with 4MBs of RAM and an AMI Bios. I don't have many games, but two
CD-ROMS bring down Windows after a few moments of Sound FX's. Mustic works
well, the Quicktime Movies even seem to work ok, usually. This is really
frustrating, especially since I could really get into Myst if it would play.
When I run Myst with the Soundcard (a Soundblaster 16 basic) settings removed
from the system.ini file, the game works perfectly. I have tried every
possible IRQ and DMA setting so I am sure that it not the problem. One
additional note: Whenever I disable the internal memory cache things work
perfectly. Of course, they run to slow to actually enjoy the game. Has
anyone else disabled the internal memory cache (I can do it through CMOS or a
freeware program) and had some success?
What can we do about this situation? Any ideas?
Kirt Wilson
Northwestern University
Rex Foord
part of CL's multimedia CDROM kit.
I runs the diags ok, seems to work ok in windows, but dos games
are having a real hard time. In some games only the sound FX
works and no music, or its the other way round.!! I have tried
various settings ie differing irq's, dma etc, have changed video
cards (from an S3 to a ts et4000) booted up with a bare bones
system, no drivers etc. All to no avail.
Previously I had a basic 8bit sound blaster clone card
installed. No problems whatsoever.
Is this indicative of a faulty SB16 card? Note, the CDROM works
ok.
I haven't had a chance yet to try it out in a different
machine.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
--
Rex Foord PC Support | Information Systems
Email: r...@BarwonWater.vic.gov.au | Barwon Water
Phone: +61 52 262329 | 61-67 Ryrie St Geelong
Fax: +61 52 218236 | Victoria 3220 Australia
John Connolly
Kirt> I should also be added to the list of SB FX problems. I have a Comtrade
Kirt> 486SX with 4MBs of RAM and an AMI Bios. I don't have many games, but two
Kirt> CD-ROMS bring down Windows after a few moments of Sound FX's. Mustic works
[cut]
Kirt> additional note: Whenever I disable the internal memory cache things work
Kirt> perfectly. Of course, they run to slow to actually enjoy the game. Has
Kirt> anyone else disabled the internal memory cache (I can do it through CMOS or a
Kirt> freeware program) and had some success?
[cut]
What specifically do you mean by "disable the internal memory cache"?
I have an AMI bios and I'd like to try this solution.
Jeremy Center
I can get sound in all windows apps except at the windows startup. Doom2
causese video problems when there id sound selected, but when no sfx are
selected (command line switch) then all is well. I have a trident 32bit
card using the 9440 chip. AMI WinBios and Opti Chipset.
I have a question. Are all the problems _only_ occuring with SB16's or
are other sound cards suffering from the same symptoms?
I am ordering a Genoa MB to hopefully solve the problem.
Jeremy Center
BTW I have an AMD486DX4-100 chip.
Kenneth Brunsen
My system is a Gateway 486dx2/66, ATI VLB 2mb vram, 18mb ram, SCSI disk
stuff. I used to have a SB Pro, now I have a SB 16. In both cases, I
am unable to run Falcon or any of it's brothers (Hornet, Mig-29) with
sound. As soon as I turn on sound, my disk controller locks up. I
figured it was a DMA conflict, but none of my hardware showed conflict.
I called and talked to Creative Labs, Spectrum Holobyte, and Gateway;
none of them had a clue. I still don't know what the problem is and this
is the only game I have problems with (I love WCIII :-) ). All I can
figure is that SH is doing something with DMA which my motherboard
doesn't like and causes the system (including disk controller) to lock.
Yech!
Kenneth Brunsen
"Paladin"
ke...@pencom.com (wk) ke...@fc.net (hm)
Firebirds rule, 'stangs serve!
Kirt Wilson
> Kirt> perfectly. Of course, they run to slow to actually enjoy the game. Has
> Kirt> anyone else disabled the internal memory cache (I can do it through CMOS or a
> Kirt> freeware program) and had some success?
>
>[cut]
>What specifically do you mean by "disable the internal memory cache"?
>I have an AMI bios and I'd like to try this solution.
>
>--
> John Connolly, EDS
> jcon...@cps.plnin.gmeds.com
Well, my CMOS has two possible configurations. I can use the "Bios
Default" option which enables my 128K memory Cache or I can use
a "Power-Up" option which disables the cache. This option, of course,
decreases the system's abilities by quite a bit.
I also downloaded an executable file from the Soundblaster misc./
patches library on Compuserve. The file, which must be run from the
dos prompt, actually disables the internal cache. (I am not at a
location where I can provide the name of this file, but I would be
happy to later if there is an interest).
Whenever I use either one of these options, Windows, Myst and the
soundblaster run well. However, the machine becomes so slow that
the ROM's quicktime movies are a joke.
Does anyone have an idea as to why the SB16 will work in one case
and not the other?
Kirt Wilson
Northwestern Univ.
Richard Mines
: Add me to the list. I have the same problems -- midi but no sfx. Except
: Jeremy Center
No it's not just SB16s. I have a lowly SB2 and that causes problems.
Strangely (or not) everyone who's admitted to the problem seems to have an
AMI Bios. I've saved this entire thread since it started in the hope that we
can use it as a sort of petition that this is not an isolated problem.
Rob Bourne
: I too have been having problems with a SB16 card purchased as
: part of CL's multimedia CDROM kit.
: I runs the diags ok, seems to work ok in windows, but dos games
: are having a real hard time. In some games only the sound FX
: works and no music, or its the other way round.!! I have tried
: various settings ie differing irq's, dma etc, have changed video
: cards (from an S3 to a ts et4000) booted up with a bare bones
: system, no drivers etc. All to no avail.
I had the same problem. I read turning off the cache would allow it to work.
No good. I played around with the other settings and found turning on
"hidden refresh function" (defaults to off) cured the problem.
Lot's of luck
Rob
Xiaohong Yang
I have similar problems with SB 16 FX. This card works fine in my
windows multimedia application. However, when I play dos games, like
descent, system shock, one must fall, I can't use the soundcard for
FX sound, because when I do this, the graphics just distorted (seems like
fading the colors). Musics are just fine with these games. If I
do not use the sound card, the games work fine. Can anyone please
tell me what caused this problem?
My system: AMD DX/4-100, with 20MB ram
VLB video card.
Thanks for your help.
Please e-mail me: xy...@cs.uiowa.edu
mark yang
Sam
> No it's not just SB16s. I have a lowly SB2 and that causes problems.
> Strangely (or not) everyone who's admitted to the problem seems to have an
> AMI Bios. I've saved this entire thread since it started in the hope that we
> can use it as a sort of petition that this is not an isolated problem.
I haven't been following this thread, but I wouldn't read *too* much into
the fact that everyone had an AMI bios... after all, a large percentage
of computer users do have one. They're a good, reputable BIOS chip,
unlike some others, and they also have useful features such as a sensible
password facility.
If you decide to investigate this possible connection further, why not
get everyone to mail you the exact revision of their BIOS?
Sam (who uses AMI BIOS and GUS with no problems, and sees a LOT more
systems with AMI installed than all the other BIOS types put together...)
--> Home Page <-- ** Go on, try it! ** --> http://www.dur.ac.uk/~d405ua <--
Vacation 15 March-19 April. See homepage if you need to mail me during it.
Richard Mines
: On 13 Mar 1995, Richard Mines wrote:
: > No it's not just SB16s. I have a lowly SB2 and that causes problems.
: > Strangely (or not) everyone who's admitted to the problem seems to have an
: > AMI Bios. I've saved this entire thread since it started in the hope that we
: > can use it as a sort of petition that this is not an isolated problem.
: I haven't been following this thread, but I wouldn't read *too* much into
: the fact that everyone had an AMI bios... after all, a large percentage
: of computer users do have one. They're a good, reputable BIOS chip,
: unlike some others, and they also have useful features such as a sensible
: password facility.
: If you decide to investigate this possible connection further, why not
: get everyone to mail you the exact revision of their BIOS?
: Sam (who uses AMI BIOS and GUS with no problems, and sees a LOT more
: systems with AMI installed than all the other BIOS types put together...)
This is true. As you say, AMI is probably the most common BIOS around and as
such it's probably coincidence. On the other hand *something* is causing
problems. Everyone (I think) who's had the kind of problem we've been
discussing seems to have an AMI BIOS. A friend who also has a SB2 has no
problems - he has a Phoenix BIOS. I guess a good test might be to swap cards
and see if his SB2 worked in my machine and vice versa, although this would
by no means be conclusive as there are so many other variables involved. I
suggest that as Sam suggests we post the exact version and date of the BIOS
to see if we can narrow it down or discount it.
P.S. Someone's already mailed me saying that there is a known bug in a
version of AMI BIOS which used a "palette snoop" option. So they're not
*that* infallible...
Steve Nuffer
>windows multimedia application. However, when I play dos games, like
>descent, system shock, one must fall, I can't use the soundcard for
>FX sound, because when I do this, the graphics just distorted (seems like
>fading the colors). Musics are just fine with these games. If I
>do not use the sound card, the games work fine. Can anyone please
>tell me what caused this problem?
Same problem with no FX sound in DOS ..except my color doesn't seem
to fade. I have a DX4/100 PCI, w/ Diamond Stl 64 2Mbyte,
Oak Mozart Card. I am talking to the manufacturer on the sound card.
Any help.
****************************************************************************
*Steve Nuffer * This space *
*szw...@clc.gmeds.com * is for *
********************************************************** Rent!! *
*All opinions expressed are mine & are not those of EDS. * *
****************************************************************************
S M Griffin
I am experiencing problems with SB FX on my system, on my old system, with AMI bios
i had no problems, but with my new machine, AWARD bios i am having a great
deal of problems with both a SBPRO and an AWE32, generally all i get is garbled
static with most DOS4/GW games.
S. Griffin
Robert Graulich
386DX40, 387, 8MB 60ns SIMM
Award BIOS 4.50
ET4000 True Color
MultiIO
DPT 2001 (SCSI Controller, no DMA)
SB16 ASP MultiCD
In TextMode, ALL is perfekt.
In GfxMode, the DMA cannot be reinitialized.
Some examples:
With Linux, I can play amiga.mods in TextMode
(16Bit stereo, up to 29kHz).
When I start X while playing a song, the song
continues to play. But it is not possible
to start another song after this.
(In TextMode and in GfxMode). (The player hangs.)
Under DOS, GTS works without using DMA. (In GfxMode)
With the DMA option it hangs. (In GfxMode)
This looks the same as the Linux effect.
On the other side, DOOM2 and Heretic play music,
but don't give me FX. And sometimes the music
sounds, as if a monster has bitten my SB16.
The same effect (bitten opl-3 sound presets) with
Windows 3.1, using the player of Creative Labs.
Another observation:
Diagnose.exe asks me about the HighDMA channel and
sets the bar to 'use LowDMA'. On a computer of my friend
it sets the bar to 'DMA Channel 5'. What do you say
about this??
And the best: On this computer is no problem at all.
Summary:
There are some chipsets, which have incompatible DMA
channels. It seems that these chips need some special
initialization. But I don't know, why this happens
only in GfxMode.
Robert
andrew Jenkins
>
>Sam (Samuel....@durham.ac.uk) wrote:
>: On 13 Mar 1995, Richard Mines wrote:
>
>: > No it's not just SB16s. I have a lowly SB2 and that causes problems.
>: > Strangely (or not) everyone who's admitted to the problem seems to have an
>: > AMI Bios. I've saved this entire thread since it started in the hope that we
>: > can use it as a sort of petition that this is not an isolated problem.
>
>: I haven't been following this thread, but I wouldn't read *too* much into
>: the fact that everyone had an AMI bios... after all, a large percentage
>: of computer users do have one. They're a good, reputable BIOS chip,
>: unlike some others, and they also have useful features such as a sensible
>: password facility.
>
>: If you decide to investigate this possible connection further, why not
>: get everyone to mail you the exact revision of their BIOS?
>
>: Sam (who uses AMI BIOS and GUS with no problems, and sees a LOT more
>: systems with AMI installed than all the other BIOS types put together...)
>
>This is true. As you say, AMI is probably the most common BIOS around and as
>such it's probably coincidence. On the other hand *something* is causing
>problems. Everyone (I think) who's had the kind of problem we've been
>discussing seems to have an AMI BIOS.
I have an SB16 and a WaveBlaster...and AMI bios. No prolems that I can
hear... (what exactly am I supposed to have problems with?)
regards,
aj
andrew Jenkins
Oops. Looks like you guys are talking about F/X crashes? If so, count me
in as well. I don't even bother using them anymore (except on Comanche
Overkill, but I have zero probs with that one...)
regards,
aj
Jonas Ericsson
Yep, I have these problems too :-(
The computer crashes when FX are played, only in DOS and not in all
games, Ecstatica for instance works well. Under a killing moon,
Noctropolis blows as soon as the first FX is played. Some games, like
Xwing, crashes sometimes but always when FX are due.
Now, I had a SBpro card that this happened with. I put it into another
computer and it ran like "#%#&% clockwork. Then I brought a CD-ROM player
whos interface happened to be on a Media Vision Pro Sonic card, and
voila! Same problem again. This other card worked perfectly on the other
machine as well.
This is way past DMA/IRQ conflict. I think something is wrong with our
motherborads. I have an Ambra Sprinta 486/33 with Phoenix BIOS, and an
onboard Trident graphics card.
,---, ,---
/ /__
\ / o n a s / r i c s s o n
`-' '----
J S W Chan
>hear... (what exactly am I supposed to have problems with?)
>
I've heard a lot about these problems.
I have an AWE32 running in a 486dx2S-66 VLB, AWARD BIOS 4.50, 16Mb RAM
without parity. No problems, except AWEUTIL doesn't work, but due to me
not having parity. Other than that no major problems...
Oh yes, one thing... After running DOOM II, I lose FM music in all
successive games I run, but If I run AWEUTIL /S after running DOOM II,
everything is OK..
Could the problems lie in the PCI bus? I've heard rumours that it's still
a bit buggy (well Intel did design it :-))