VIA AC'97 WDM onboard: no sound under "real dos"??
Peter Petersen
I really tried anything I could, asked the question in german
newsgroups, in online forums, installed different drivers, changed BIOS
settings, upgraded the BIOS...
The problem is:
No sound under "real dos"!
(In the dos box under windows me or 9.x, there is sound; well, in most
games at least, but not so in the game "lemmings" for instance).
My system is an Athlon Thunderbird 950 MHz with an onboard VIA AC'97 WDM
soundchip (which in my manual is said to be soundblaster legacy
compatible, whatever that means...)
Some more details (from the diagnostic tool "sandra"):
Fujitsu-Siemens System M7VKA
Manufacturer: Biostar, Model VKA1204 FSC
VIA KT133 Chipset
System Chipset: VIA VT8363 KT133 System
Processor: Athlon Thunderbird 950 MHz
Is this AC'97 WDM something similar to a "winmodem" which only allows
for sound under windows systems; on the other hand, there are VIA
drivers even for linux *and* for pure dos!
In the BIOS, I activated "legacy audio" (onboard sound, too, of course).
I also set the soundblaster values (IRQ, DMA, MPU...). I installed the
VIA dos drivers giving me an autoexec.bat entry
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330
as well as the call for:
c:\viaudio\viaudio.com
There was no change in config.sys due to the VIA dos drivers setup, but
this seems to be the way the VIA setup works.
Now that I have those BIOS soundblaster settings and autoexec.bat
entries, it even looks as if games like "duke nukem 3d" recognize my FX
and music settings as all right! The game sound setup accepts my
settings, but whatever I try, I don't get any sound at all!
(In the window dos box there is FX as well as music (midi) sound).
Comparing that to my old PC (having an onboard soundblaster compatible
chip, from Creative), the situation with my old PC is:
I have sound under windows, in a dos box *and* under "real dos", under
real dos I have sound even without anything in my autoexec.bat or
config.sys, there is sound from the beginning without any drivers.
I would really like to hear from VIA AC'97 users and others as well
if/how I could get sound under "real dos" with VIA AC'97 WDM, without
having to buy another (real) soundcard. Is this possible, after all?
It just looks as if this WDM (windows driver model) doesn't work for
"real dos", on the other hand (see above) there are dos and linux
drivers for this chipset, so sound should be possible...?
Please, someone with a deeper knowledge, help me, I am starting to
despair...
Thanks
Peter Petersen
Peter Petersen
I should add to this that there don't seem to be any IRQ conflicts and
that I tried disabling PnP in BIOS and manually assigning IRQs etc.
TS
>for sound under windows systems; on the other hand, there are VIA
>drivers even for linux *and* for pure dos!
If there is a DOS driver, it may either be implemented in hardware
(and the driver just initializes the chip) or it may need an emulation
driver. These typically require EMM386 to be able to work.
>There was no change in config.sys due to the VIA dos drivers setup, but
>this seems to be the way the VIA setup works.
Should not be the problem. Most cards only require an autoexec.bat
entry.
>Now that I have those BIOS soundblaster settings and autoexec.bat
>entries, it even looks as if games like "duke nukem 3d" recognize my FX
>and music settings as all right! The game sound setup accepts my
>settings, but whatever I try, I don't get any sound at all!
Does the game setup produce sound if you test it using the setup FX
test ? Do all game setups tell you that SB works ? ASFAIR, the setups
for Tyrian and Terminal Velocity were quite critical in testing if
there was an SB card.
>I would really like to hear from VIA AC'97 users and others as well
>if/how I could get sound under "real dos" with VIA AC'97 WDM, without
>having to buy another (real) soundcard. Is this possible, after all?
Could it be that the mixer is set to 0 ? Or that the mixer is set with
the audio channel disabled ? There should be a DOS mixer control
program as well.
Peter Petersen
On Sun, 21 Jan 2001 21:30:15 GMT, ts-n...@deinmeister.de (TS) wrote:
>>Is this AC'97 WDM something similar to a "winmodem" which only allows
>>for sound under windows systems; on the other hand, there are VIA
>>drivers even for linux *and* for pure dos!
>
>If there is a DOS driver, it may either be implemented in hardware
>(and the driver just initializes the chip) or it may need an emulation
What do you mean by that? resp. What does that mean for getting sound
under pure dos?
>>Now that I have those BIOS soundblaster settings and autoexec.bat
>>entries, it even looks as if games like "duke nukem 3d" recognize my FX
>>and music settings as all right! The game sound setup accepts my
>>settings, but whatever I try, I don't get any sound at all!
>
>Does the game setup produce sound if you test it using the setup FX
>test ? Do all game setups tell you that SB works ? ASFAIR, the setups
>for Tyrian and Terminal Velocity were quite critical in testing if
>there was an SB card.
Under pure dos (not in a dos box!) there is absolutely no sound at all,
no FX sound and no music (midi).
All game setups tell me that sound should be working, there are no
errors. Of course, I only tried some games, but at least "duke nukem
3d", quake1, lemmings... seem to accept my settings, but don't give me
any sound to hear.
>Could it be that the mixer is set to 0 ? Or that the mixer is set with
>the audio channel disabled ? There should be a DOS mixer control
>program as well.
I don't think that this is the case, because in the duke nukem 3d setup
I put all volume controls to a maximum, and still don't hear anything at
all, the same is true for quake1, where I can enter "volume" values like
"volume 1" etc. which should eliminate any mixer "0" setting (that's as
it is in a dos box).
More information is very much appreciated.
I never heard from an AC'97 user (who doesn't have an additional
soundcard in his computer) who got sound under "real dos" (still asked
in web forums etc.). So, if someone proves me wrong, please, tell me..
Peter
TS
>>(and the driver just initializes the chip) or it may need an emulation
>What do you mean by that? resp. What does that mean for getting sound
>under pure dos?
If the SB compatibility is done by emulation its reliability drops
more or less due to the quality of the DOS driver. Hardware-level
compatibility usually works quite well.
>>Could it be that the mixer is set to 0 ? Or that the mixer is set with
>>the audio channel disabled ? There should be a DOS mixer control
>>program as well.
>I don't think that this is the case, because in the duke nukem 3d setup
>I put all volume controls to a maximum, and still don't hear anything at
>all, the same is true for quake1, where I can enter "volume" values like
>"volume 1" etc. which should eliminate any mixer "0" setting (that's as
>it is in a dos box).
The fact that you can modify the SB mixer does not automatically mean
that volume is turned up in the chip as well.
jlo...@my-deja.com
VIA left a very important file out of its drivers for Real DOS. Follow
this link. It worked great for me (and no I don't have an EPOX
motherboard, just the VIA chipset).
http://www.epox.com/html/english/support/motherboard/Get.asp?
Article=1174
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Peter Petersen
>VIA left a very important file out of its drivers for Real DOS. Follow
>this link. It worked great for me (and no I don't have an EPOX
>motherboard, just the VIA chipset).
Hello!
PHANTASTIC!
Thank you so very much.
You are the the man, the one with the only real answer. :)
It worked (without playing with BIOS settings etc.), I almost didn't
believe in it any longer.
How could VIA forget such an important file in their drivers bundle??
Best regards
Peter Petersen
jlo...@my-deja.com
I'm glad it worked for you. I'm not sure why it was left out, but they
probably don't get a lot of requests for Real Dos. My son still plays
several games that only work in Real Dos mode, so when I had the
problem, I searched the web-site of every motherboard manufacturer
using the VIA chipset, until I found the answer.
Since you have the Onboard sound. Do you by any chance run WIN98SE?
If so, do you have any problems with the sound cutting out (usually
shortly after a cold boot)?
Peter Petersen
>Since you have the Onboard sound. Do you by any chance run WIN98SE?
>If so, do you have any problems with the sound cutting out (usually
>shortly after a cold boot)?
Hi!
I run a patched windows ME (to allow for real dos mode, no stability
problems found). No, so far (in my short testing) I didn't notice any
trouble with sound.
Do you, by any chance, know of a working dos mixer tool for VIA
chipsets? I couldn't find one that works for me, and there was nothing
on www.viatech.com.
Peter Petersen
jlo...@my-deja.com
Peter Petersen <pepe-des...@gmx.net> wrote:
> Do you, by any chance, know of a working dos mixer tool for VIA
> chipsets? I couldn't find one that works for me, and there was nothing
> on www.viatech.com.
>
Rich Wilson
news:94degk$dc399$1...@ID-22735.news.dfncis.de...
> The problem is:
> No sound under "real dos"!
> (In the dos box under windows me or 9.x, there is sound; well, in most
> games at least, but not so in the game "lemmings" for instance).
Yep, I've had this sort of problem with that sound "card".
> Is this AC'97 WDM something similar to a "winmodem" which only allows
> for sound under windows systems; on the other hand, there are VIA
> drivers even for linux *and* for pure dos!
>
> In the BIOS, I activated "legacy audio" (onboard sound, too, of course).
> I also set the soundblaster values (IRQ, DMA, MPU...). I installed the
> VIA dos drivers giving me an autoexec.bat entry
> SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330
> as well as the call for:
> c:\viaudio\viaudio.com
I don't know why you should need VIA drivers for DOS mode... the soundcard
ought to behave like any old Soundblaster. I seem to remember that Windows
finds the emulated Soundblaster OK if you enable it; check your device
manager list. If it's not there, try running the "add hardware" wizard
thingy.. if that doesn't find it, it's probably not enabled properly.
> There was no change in config.sys due to the VIA dos drivers setup, but
> this seems to be the way the VIA setup works.
>
> Now that I have those BIOS soundblaster settings and autoexec.bat
> entries, it even looks as if games like "duke nukem 3d" recognize my FX
> and music settings as all right! The game sound setup accepts my
> settings, but whatever I try, I don't get any sound at all!
> (In the window dos box there is FX as well as music (midi) sound).
Some games (like Worms) don't like running in Windows DOS boxes... you're
lucky in that respect.
Please tell me if you get it working.
Rich Wilson.
BiWeNi
obwohl bioseinstellungen richtig und treiber (viaudio.com) geladen sind
Kann mir bitte jemand sagen wo ich die datei "viafmtsr.com" finden kann?
danke wer...@freenet.de
(Bin leider des englischen nicht so mächtig.)
Peter Petersen <pepe-des...@gmx.net> schrieb in im Newsbeitrag:
95qh2u$ilivl$1...@ID-22735.news.dfncis.de...
> Hello!
>
>
> On Tue, 6 Feb 2001 10:57:58 -0000, "Rich Wilson"
> <dougsb...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >I don't know why you should need VIA drivers for DOS mode... the
soundcard
> >ought to behave like any old Soundblaster. I seem to remember that
Windows
> >finds the emulated Soundblaster OK if you enable it; check your device
> >manager list. If it's not there, try running the "add hardware" wizard
> >thingy.. if that doesn't find it, it's probably not enabled properly.
>
> No, the dos drivers are needed, under "real dos"; the windows drivers
> can't help here in any way, they are just for windows or for a dos box,
> but not for "real mode dos".
>
>
> >Some games (like Worms) don't like running in Windows DOS boxes... you're
> >lucky in that respect.
> >
> >Please tell me if you get it working.
>
>
> Oh, yes! I got it working thanks to the nice help by someone in this
> thread (see 94iq63$pp8$1...@nnrp1.deja.com). Since I now have real dos mode
> sound support, I can (of course) run games like "lemmings" with full
> sound (FX and midi) under real dos instead of in dos box.
>
> The problem is due to a bug, indeed:
> The VIA dos drivers lack a vital file: viafmtsr.com.
> This means, I had to find that file (which is, see above, *not* bundled
> with VIA's drivers), put in the directory c:\viaudio and add one single
> line to my autoexec.bat -> surprise, surprise: SOUND! :)
>
>
> Regards
> Peter Petersen
> Germany
Peter Petersen
On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 21:27:12 +0100, "BiWeNi" <BiWeNi...@t-online.de>
wrote:
>Kann mir bitte jemand sagen wo ich die datei "viafmtsr.com" finden kann?
>danke wer...@freenet.de
Schon mal mit einer Recherche im Internet (z.B. www.google.com)
versucht? Immerhin weißt Du ja jetzt den Namen der fehlenden Datei...
Da kriegst Du jede Menge Treffer! :)
Schon das erste Suchergebnis führt Dich auf eine Seite, von wo aus Du
auch den Treiber herunterladen kannst.
Viel Erfolg
Peter Petersen
Fragger00
very important file?
Thanks.