I had a Hercules Dynamite Power VLB with the ET4000W32P chipset.

I was using that in a system with a GUS MAX, SB16 + daughterboard and a LAPC-I without problems. Could you tell about the conflicts you are having?

The manual of that card has a whole section about addresses and stuff the card uses that are (to my knowledge) not otherwise documented. It is worth tracking this manual down if you like the card.

The one I had in the box with the manual I sold years ago unfortunately. It was exhibiting a problem I called "red shadows". Colours of a certain darkness would have red banding on one side. It was so slight I didn't even notice it at first, but when I saw it I swapped it with a Diamond Stealth 32. Maybe it was just a bad smd cap on there, but I figured it was not worth the time. Sure, the Stealth 32 may not be assembled in the USA, but it is of the same quality.

Which brings me to part 2. I can dump the BIOS of that card for you. However the 486 board that is now in my main box is the Everex NICE EISA board and that one does NOT work at all with the Diamond Stealth 32. So, if you want the bios I'll have the built a simple system first to use the card in and dump it.

I think you are still using the same board? That is something you might want to look into before spending time messing with the Stealth 32 bios.

Amigaz has a Cardex ET4000W32P (if he still has it) and can help maybe if you ask him nicely, hehe.

samudra wrote:

I had a Hercules Dynamite Power VLB with the ET4000W32P chipset. […]
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I had a Hercules Dynamite Power VLB with the ET4000W32P chipset.

I was using that in a system with a GUS MAX, SB16 + daughterboard and a LAPC-I without problems. Could you tell about the conflicts you are having?

The manual of that card has a whole section about addresses and stuff the card uses that are (to my knowledge) not otherwise documented. It is worth tracking this manual down if you like the card.

The one I had in the box with the manual I sold years ago unfortunately. It was exhibiting a problem I called "red shadows". Colours of a certain darkness would have red banding on one side. It was so slight I didn't even notice it at first, but when I saw it I swapped it with a Diamond Stealth 32. Maybe it was just a bad smd cap on there, but I figured it was not worth the time. Sure, the Stealth 32 may not be assembled in the USA, but it is of the same quality.

Which brings me to part 2. I can dump the BIOS of that card for you. However the 486 board that is now in my main box is the Everex NICE EISA board and that one does NOT work at all with the Diamond Stealth 32. So, if you want the bios I'll have the built a simple system first to use the card in and dump it.

I think you are still using the same board? That is something you might want to look into before spending time messing with the Stealth 32 bios.

Amigaz has a Cardex ET4000W32P (if he still has it) and can help maybe if you ask him nicely, hehe.

Sold the Cardex to Retro Games 100 here on the forum some time ago with a bunch of other VLB gfx cards

Thought you had an ET4000W32P card in your system?

I genuinely haven't got the faintest idea (and I'm really not kidding) whether or not I still have that card. If I do, it's "entombed" inside one of about 30 retro boxes in another location to where I'm now, to be opened up one at a time next year when I retest every retro item I have. If and when I stumble upon it, I'll be sure to post back (or PM) with the ROM file. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do right now.

Amigaz wrote:

Thought you had an ET4000W32P card in your system?

Normally I do in a VLB system, but the EISA NICE board doesn't even post with the Diamond Stealth 32 (it is there somewhere in your messages, heh). So I run that board with an Orchid KELVIN 64 VLB with a Cirrus Logic GD5434 chipset. Also a very nice card, but of course not the same light speed as the Tseng.

Samudra, have you tried removing all other cards in your Nice EISA board and just running with the Stealth32? Please let me know when you eventually get around to dumping the BIOSon that card for me to test. Don't hurry yourself though, because I have relocated my hardware to Toronto as of yet.

I ended up buying another ET4000W32P board. It's a Cardex Challenger 9302. The behaviour is identical to the Hercules ET4000W32P board. I also have another Hercules S3 Trio64 product that exhibits the same problems.

To recap one of my older posts that describes the problem in detail, some of my faster DRAM cards (ET4000W32P, Trio64) are not compatible with many of my PNP soundcards on the Nice EISA board (I currently have no other VLB 486 boards to test on, so I am not sure if the specific motherboard or chipset are part of the problem). If both cards are present, the machine fails to boot, and causes the CMOS to issue an SOS of some sort.

All of these VLB VGA cards will work properly in my Nice board, provided that certain PNP soundcards are not present.

PNP Soundcards tried:

Turtle Beach Tropez Plus (CS4232) = FAILED
Generic OPL3-SAX = FAILED
Aopen AW37 (CS4235) = WORKS
SB AWE64 = I think it FAILED, but I can't remember

note: all of these soundcards work fine if I swap in different VGA cards, such as Mach64 or S3 968.

Non-PNP cards that worked:

SB Pro 2.0
SB16 ASP CT1770
SB AWE32 CT2760

Unfortunately I don't own any cards from companies other than creative labs that aren't pnp.

In anycase, for the time being I am going to stick with the CS4235 card. I would much rather have fast VGA than ICS wavetable sound. But I still feel bad about wasting a card as nice as Tropez Plus.

Ah, PnP cards; no wonder, but still weird.

Yes, the NICE board does not like the Stealth 32 even if it is the only card in there. It is strange.

When I acquired that board I remember wanting to test it out, picked the Stealth 32, and I thought the board was broken at first. I never thought it was possible a board could come up completely blank with a perfectly fine videocard. This is something about that chipset on the NICE board. I have used and still use a couple regular VLB boards with OPTi, SiS and I think one with a ViA chipset and ALL worked fine with the Stealth32.

I have used the Terratec Gold 16/96 on the NICE board fine with the Orchid Kelvin 64 card. Also I have used the Terratec Maestro 16/96 and the card with the Yamaha OPL YMF718 chipset, without problems.

I'd have to check it with another videcard, but I don't have another Tseng card or high end S3 card laying around.

I did used to have such cards and used them on regular VLB boards (not EISA), but the PnP cards you mention I never had. I always avoid using PnP cards on pre-PCI boards, when possible, to guard my sanity. Some cooperate nicely on old boards though (such as the Terratec Gold).

Edit: I see the Tropez Plus is the PnP version of the Classic. Why not get that? Or doesn't the Classic have the Crystal chip?

The Tropez Plus has a CS4232 + OPL3. I think the original Tropez uses CS4231 +OPL3 with that damn OPTi chip.

Unrelated: What kind of tag RAMs do you currently have installed in your everex board? I think it usually comes with the 20ns parts. I bought several tubes of 12ns tag RAMs that fit this board. Next time I'm back in the states visiting my parents, I can dig them out and mail some to you if you like. In order to make use of them, you'll need to be using the standard NICE BIOS rather than the OEM one provided by everex so that you can tune your memory timings.

Anonymous Coward wrote:

The Tropez Plus has a CS4232 + OPL3. I think the original Tropez uses CS4231 +OPL3 with that damn OPTi chip.

Unrelated: What kind of tag RAMs do you currently have installed in your everex board? I think it usually comes with the 20ns parts. I bought several tubes of 12ns tag RAMs that fit this board. Next time I'm back in the states visiting my parents, I can dig them out and mail some to you if you like. In order to make use of them, you'll need to be using the standard NICE BIOS rather than the OEM one provided by everex so that you can tune your memory timings.

Looks like mine only has 20ns tag ram?
http://picasaweb.google.se/jivemaster2005/EIS … 836026229378898

I'd like a set of 12ns tag ram too please, pretty please 😀

Yeah, sure; I'd like some.

I don't know what is on the board now, but it sure is no 12ns.

What does that OPTi chip do exactly if the card has already a CS and OPL chip?

Alright then, just PM me your mailing addresses, and next time I'm in the US I'll send both of you the chips.

My understanding is that the CS4231 (unlike the CS4232 and later) is merely a codec chip, and the OPTi chip is needed to provide the SB Pro compatibility.

That makes sense.

I wasn't aware of the apparently big differences between the CS chips, but I do remember now there also is a CS4231 found on the Gravis Ultrasound MAX and it surely doesn't do hardware SB Pro emulation there either. If it did, wow, the whole "looking for the perfect sound card" issue would be moot.

PM sent.

I've made an interesting discovery. Recently I got my hands on a Tropez32 (TBS 2000). It's basically a stripped down version of the Tropez Plus (TBS 2001). Amazingly, this card actually works properly with my ET4000W32P. I'm really curious to know the reason why. As far as I can tell, the only real difference between the two Tropez cards is that the Plus has a large sample set, 3 SIMM slots and an MPU401 header.

Otherwise, same CS4232 crystal chip, same wavefront chip and everything. Is there anyone more familiar with these Tropez cards that might know what's causing my conflict?

Could it be that IRQ2/9 is enabled on your graphics card?

I've tried both enabled and disabled settings. It makes no difference.

I'm thinking I'll be better off with a combination of cards. I'll stick with the MPU401/AT with Yamaha DB (will get an MT32 later) and a basic Crystal CS4235 card for SB Pro and WSS compatibility. CS4232 with OPL3 is ideal, but that is a hard card to find. Those YMF719 cards also look good on paper, but I cant get those things working in my system either. It must be some kind of PNP conflict.

I also want to add in a goldfinch card so that I can load soundfont banks in Windows, but I was never able to get my last one working. I got so mad that I tossed it in the trash. To date that is the only piece of hardware that has managed to get me upset enough to chuck it out.