SB32 PnP, DOS 6.2: everything works except AWE32
Andrew J Klossner
3.1. The hardware is a 1991-vintage Micronics motherboard with
486DX-33, 8M RAM, 64k cache; additional boards are UltraStore ESDI,
Diamond Speedstar Plus video, and the usual cheap serial/parallel port
card. This is not a plug-and-play BIOS, so I use the Intel
Configuration Manager that came with the card.
I have a double-speed IDE CD-ROM attached via the SoundBlaster. It
works, using the driver SBIDE.SYS. (I had to get this driver from
Creative's FTP site. Why didn't they include it with the card?)
The symptom is that everything except the AWE32 works. The CD-ROM
works, and digital files work.
If I run "DIAGNOSE", it does a lot of testing, finally displaying:
DSP version: 4.13
Base I/O: 220H Wave-Table: 620H MPU401: 330H IRQ: 5 DMA:1, 5
It next accesses my hard disk, and then hangs forever. I have to
CTRL-ALT-DEL to get out.
I discovered by accident that, if I don't define the SOUND environment
variable and don't run the program in C:\SB16\DRV, it will get past
this point and display a menu of options. In this menu, 8-bit and
16-bit digital output work as expected. When I try to use the next
option, it displays the message
CTMIDI.DRV CANNOT BE FOUND
File \SB16\DRV\CTMIDI.DRV does exit. I theorize that, when SOUND is
defined, DIAGNOSE is loading and executing this driver and hanging.
If I run just "DIAGNOSE /S" to set up the BLASTER variable, then run
AWEUTIL, I get the message:
ERROR12: AWE32 initialization failed
When I run Windows 3.1, I get a pop-up message that the AWE32 doesn't
work and I should run the control applet. (If I run that applet, I
get another failure message.) Windows then functions as expected, and
digital sounds work, but MIDI sounds are silent.
One possible contributor is that the Intel Configuration Manager says
that the wave-table port should not be at 620H, because the I/O
address space is only 10 bits long and so this aliases to 220H. It
changes the wave-table port to 640H. (I don't have anything at port
240H.) \SB16\DIAGNOSE then apparently changes it back to 620H, citing
compatibility with older software. If I don't run DIAGNOSE but leave
it at 640H and set the BLASTER variable by hand to use this address,
AWEUTIL still will not initialize.
What should I try next?
-=- Andrew Klossner (and...@teleport.com)
James Bertrand
: I have a SoundBlaster 32 PnP on a system running MSDOS 6.2 and Windows
: 3.1. The hardware is a 1991-vintage Micronics motherboard with
: 486DX-33, 8M RAM, 64k cache; additional boards are UltraStore ESDI,
Labs. I found that using ICU to disable the wave table relieves the
hanging up problem, but of course no MIDI. I have extended i/o
addressing but I still have the so called aliasing error.
Good Luck! If you learn anything please share with me and I'll
do likewise.
---> Jim Bertrand
--------------
jb...@earth.execpc.com
Wauwatosa, WI
Franco Chiaramonte
The aliasing error is okay. Diagnose should fix that when it runs. But it
sounds like Diagnose is hanging on you. There are a couple things you can try.
One is to try and increase your enviroment space in your shell command in
Config.sys. Another thing is to verify that SOUND is set to C:\SB16 (SET SOUND
= C:\SB16). And finally try to load the ICU manager device driver before your
memory manager driver.
Also, if you are in a boot up MSDOS mode from Windows 95, the line DOS=SINGLE
that is placed in the CONFIG.SYS file can hang you up also.
Franco
Mark Jensen
>
>I have a SoundBlaster 32 PnP on a system running MSDOS 6.2 and Windows
>3.1. The hardware is a 1991-vintage Micronics motherboard with
>486DX-33, 8M RAM, 64k cache; additional boards are UltraStore ESDI,
Andrew, you have 'exactly' the same symptoms I am having on a Compaq Deskpro
XE466 machine ! I have tried 2 cards now in 2 different XE466's and have the
same problem always. I have also tried the 2 cards in some IBM PC330's and
PC350's and they work fine ! My other symptoms are that it kept disabling my
motherboard PS/2 mouse port !
I've also tried using the CTPNP.EXE instead of the Intel Configuration
Manager with no luck. I also got a beta CTCM.EXE program (new Plug and Play
configurator for DOS - like CTPNP) but no joy.
I'm now part way through testing it under Windows 95 (I'm desperate) and as
of last night I could actually use the AWE functions under Win95, but under
DOS my games were silent when I selected AWE32. However this is an
improvement as before they made terrible 'noise'. I think I may still need
to load AWEUTIL /S to initialise AWE functions when booting to DOS.
I'll update when I have some more info...
Regards,
Mark Jensen
Melbourne, Australia
m.je...@c031.aone.net.au
Ken Wilson
{{{Clip}}}}
>AWEUTIL still will not initialize.
>What should I try next?
> -=- Andrew Klossner (and...@teleport.com)
I have a pentium PNP bios and I did not need the configuration
Utility for dos and I got the same error messages..
about unable to load Aweutil..
so in Win 95 I had to use SB16 in games like ROTT in a Dos Session for
my Midi..
but with the NEW "sbw95up.exe" Update on the Creativ Labs Website I
can Tell a game like Rott in a Win 95 Dos Session to use AWE 32
with Much Improved sound...
Previously It would say Unable to find AWE32..
also I GET NO GEN MIDI in Dos or Win 95 Dos Sessions , What are
others experances here?
I was on the phone with Tech support at Creative labs for around an
hour.. and I Tried the card on my PNP Pentium and My sons 486 -no
parity. and was Unable to get the aweutil to load or general Midi in
any form of Dos in ether although it works in Win 95 itself..
The tech support said I problay got a bad card and I exchanged it ..
but the newone worked exactly the same..
some of the other error message posted by the other posters I have got
too....
The manual talks about a working NMI in your system although It dosent
explain much at all about it, I feel it has something to do with
parity in your system and the cards ability to deal with MIDI..
I dont want to flame a company or anything and that is certinaly not
my intent here but by the frequency of the updated drivers and the
direction in which the patches are adressing the soundcard I feel
that Creative Labs may know of the problem and is working on it.
I could be wrong of the overall prob and it may work fine for others
computers including the loading of Aweutil etc..
hopefully well get some more feedback...
I will say agian that the updated drivers help..
If anyone has any insight to the NMI aspect of the soundcard
please fill me in..
Overall I am happy with the sound card and am just seeking perfection
in it,,
It kinda shocked me today when it seemed to throw sounds off beside
of the speakers similar to the Carver (sonic) Holographic Generator
for stereo...
kinda Cool..
ken wilson
k...@pacifier.com
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