IRQ 2 for Sound Blaster? What do you intend to do with a SB 1.5 on a XT system?

I don't understand your problems with the "drivers"... Do you realize that programs tried to detect the Sound Blaster on certain resource addresses? For instance AdLib on port 388, SB on port 220 or 240, IRQ5 or 7 and DMA1? Early programs that have support for Sound Blaster will mostly look for the card on these addresses, or looking at SET BLASTER. You won't need anymore than this.

Or it could be that i'm not understanding your post at all...

Oh and BTW, i might be terribly wrong, but setting IRQ at anything else than 5 or 7 is a receipt for failure.

Its an `Turbo XT clone' like the ST juko boards do.. I need that soundblaster for games that can use that soundcard.. Why its on IRQ2 is because those systems only having 8 IRQ adresses..
My IRQ adress map is as follows:

IRQ 0 - Timer
IRQ 1 - Keyboard
IRQ 2 - SB 1.5
IRQ 3 - Roland MPU-IPC-T interface
IRQ 4 - Serial port
IRQ 5 - SCSI HDD controller
IRQ 6 - (i think floppy 1.44MB controller card)
IRQ 7 - LPT parallel port.

About the SB i found this: http://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/sound

He saying that i need to add: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6 variable (only with the correct settings) why wont this variable installed in the autoexec.bat file when installing the driver software to harddisk..?

I have changed some IRQ adresses, because i red this:

or example, when the Sound Blaster was introducted in 1989, its factory default settings were I/O port 220 and IRQ 7 (the DMA channel was hard-wired to DMA 1, although later versions of the Sound Blaster let you change this). This was just fine until people wanted to play digitized sound at the same time they were printing in Windows: the machine either didn't play sound, or the printing stopped. Guess what? IRQ 7 is LPT1--your parallel port, where the printer is connected.

You can't run two devices off of the same IRQ at the same time. It's bad. So, Creative Labs decided to change the factory default to IRQ 5. That was good--but they were too late! Over 100 programs were written with Sound Blaster support by this time, and while they should have added the ability to specify the configuration of the sound card, many just hard-wired it to IRQ 7. Ouch. (Some were slightly more forgiving, but only slightly. Stellar 7 falls into this category; it will attempt to autodetect the IRQ used on the Sound Blaster, but it only goes for IRQ 3 or 7.)

When one of these old games (1991 or earlier) attempts to play digitized sound on a card that isn't at the factory defaults--port 220, IRQ 7, and DMA 1--the result can range from no sound, to digitized sound that "halts" after two seconds of play, to locking up completely. If this happens, you have two choices:

Open the hood and change the settings on your sound card to match the defaults, or
Patch the program to go to another IRQ.

Opening the hood is easy, but annoying. Patching the program is more difficult, but not entirely impossible. Let's start with a fairly easy example: CT-VOICE.DRV. This file comes with most early Sound Blaster installation software, and is used by some early games that didn't want to go through the hassle of writing the routines themselves. The factory default for CT-VOICE.DRV is usually port 220 and IRQ 7. These values are kept next to each other in the file, so if you load the file into a decent hex editor (or DEBUG.COM 😉 and search for the hex values 20 02 07 or 07 20 02, you'll usually only find it in the file once. Once found, change that 07 to 05, or wherever your Sound Blaster IRQ is (althought if it's not at IRQ 5 or 7, good luck getting it to work with anything). And just in case you're wondering why I tell you to search for "20 02" and not "02 20" for port 220 is because Intel machines are little-endian, so "220" is stored as "20 02" on a PC.

And then there's the wonderful world of DOS environment settings. When you install a Sound Blaster, it writes a line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT that looks something like this:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6

This sets an environment variable that describes the settings of the Sound Blaster to DOS programs, including games. Some games read this environment variable to get the settings of the sound card, so if it's missing on your system, you'll have to add it. Here's a breakdown:

A determines the value of the I/O port address. In the above example, it's 220.

I determines the value of the IRQ. In the above example, it's 5.

D determines the value of the DMA channel. In the above example, it's 1.

H determines the value of the 16-bit DMA channel. In the above example, it's 5. Only Sound Blaster 16s and higher use this.

T determines the type of Sound Blaster it is. In the above example, it's 6. The available types are:

1: Sound Blaster 1.0 (the original Sound Blaster)
2: Sound Blaster 1.5
3: Sound Blaster 2.0
4: Sound Blaster Pro
5: Sound Blaster Pro with OPL 3 FM chips
6: Sound Blaster 16

Ive have changed IRQ 5 to SB 1.5, IRQ 3 to SCSI HDD (could only use IRQ3 or IRQ 5) and roland MPU-IPC-T to IRQ 2. Tested the SB 1.5 and seems the work.

Only like to have more info about CTVOICE.DRV.. And what i need to execute on startup.

Robin4 wrote:

He saying that i need to add: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T6 variable (only with the correct settings) why wont this variable installed in the autoexec.bat file when installing the driver software to harddisk..?

I am aware of IRQ map for early PC's with 8bit ISA.

Some programs might need the SET BLASTER. This was the default setting when it came out: SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T1. H5 is High DMA for SB16.

Some games were hardwired to look for IRQ 7 to find a SB.

I'd try this:

IRQ 2 - Roland MPU-IPC-T interface
IRQ 3 - SCSI HDD controller
IRQ 4 - Serial port
IRQ 5 - LPT parallel port (if controller allows, otherwise move SB here)
IRQ 7 - SB

This is the best setting for a computer of this class. Even though IRQ 5 is default for hard drives in old XT systems try to change it if possible. You can always try to move SB to IRQ3 but it's better if it's on 7 or 5.

You were probably editing your post when i was posting mine.

That solution is better, specially because you were able to move HDD to IRQ3. I think for perfection, it would be LPT port on 5 and SB on 7. This because it makes more sense for the system time frame, and some of thr early games SB supported might only support IRQ 7.

Just put both the printer port and the SB at IRQ7. As long as you don't use both at the same time it'll be fine.

Iam using an Everex EV-170 I/0 card with RTC.. And i have the software too.. I can set the printer port to:

-Parallel Port 1 ( it seems it forces IRQ 7) I can set it on the board to IRQ 5, but actually on a running machine it forces to IRQ 7 for the parallel port.
-Parallel port 2 (forces again to IRQ 7)
-Printer adapter LPT3 ( installation guide let me know to set it to IRQ 5.. But when running on the actually setting it still forces to IRQ7..

I tested the SB to IRQ 7, but got IRQ failing problem.. On IRQ 5 the soundcard just works..

Anonymous Coward wrote:

Just put both the printer port and the SB at IRQ7. As long as you don't use both at the same time it'll be fine.

Then ive got a IRQ conflict.. SB wont let me hear the sounds in TEST-SBC.COM

Anonymous Coward wrote:

Just put both the printer port and the SB at IRQ7. As long as you don't use both at the same time it'll be fine.

Exactly 😀

I don't think you need all those .DRV and .COM drivers.

CT-VOICE.DRV is for Creative applications to use PCM part of SB. I doubt any games need it.
SBFMDRV.COM is a TSR driver for OPL music that some Creative applications use - PLAYCMF.EXE being one of them.

I don't know what other drivers are for, but suspect they are either needed by Creative software only.

So if I were you I wouldn't load any of the drivers and see if all works.

Disable all printer ports first. Then try the SB on IRQ 7. Anonymous Coward, is right, you can share the IRQ, the pararell port doesn't make interrupt calls constantly. If you are not using a printer or link cable or any other device it should be fine. But it also depends on the controller, i've noticed that some parallel ports can be a little bit finnicky.

Disable the printer ports on the controller card first, and start from there. If the problems with the SB continue then it's something else. Is the card also controlling your SCSI HDD? If you are using separate cards for serial and parallel ports and hard drive, pull the serial and parallel port controller card from your system and try it.

Points to note :

1. There is no need to install any drivers to use the CT-1320C card. Everything needed to run it are selectable via the jumpers on the card.

2. IRQ7 is the ideal one for the original Sound Blaster cards, even though there is nothing wrong with selecting other IRQs, but it's best to stay with 7 or 5. Mainly because some very few games come hard coded to access the Sound Blaster at IRQ 7. But most games have installation programs anyway.

3. CT-VOICE.DRV is not required for the card to function. Some games require it to play digital effects. Usually to "install" this, you need to place this file in the game's directory. The game Prehistorik uses this driver if you choose the "Sound Blaster" option in the setup.

4. There is no need to load the CMS or SBFM drivers either. Only certain games require the SBFM driver. Romance of the 3 Kingdoms II comes to mind, if you want to listen to the FM sounds in that game, but I can't remember if it came with it's own fm driver. The CMF player and Organ by Creative also use this sbfm driver, iinm.

The best part of these first generation Sound Blaster cards is that they don't require any drivers. The SET BLASTER command is useful, but not all games require it. But it's best to place the SET BLASTER and SET SOUND statements anyway.

With these cards, I can bypass the autoexec.bat and config.sys files altogether in MS-DOS 6.22 and still can play the sounds from the games directly without any drivers loaded.

carlostex wrote:

Disable all printer ports first. Then try the SB on IRQ 7. Anonymous Coward, is right, you can share the IRQ, the pararell port doesn't make interrupt calls constantly. If you are not using a printer or link cable or any other device it should be fine. But it also depends on the controller, i've noticed that some parallel ports can be a little bit finnicky.

Disable the printer ports on the controller card first, and start from there. If the problems with the SB continue then it's something else. Is the card also controlling your SCSI HDD? If you are using separate cards for serial and parallel ports and hard drive, pull the serial and parallel port controller card from your system and try it.

Already tried this yesterday night.. But that EV-170 card just forces the LPT port to IRQ 7.. I really dont like to disable the whole LPT port for only use for the SB 1.5 card.. Maybe i will later connect a printer to this port.

With both on IRQ7 the soundblaster wont work anymore and giving me an IRQ error when testing this card with TEST-SBC.COM..

So my guess is the best way and leave it to IRQ 5 instead..

Malik says that the soundcards doesnt require the drivers.. I want it just as original as possible.. Why is there no need for the CMS driver?? I want to make use of it because i have installed those chips..So i dont want it unused instead.. I thought a while back there was someone whos uploaded the new driver for the cms parts online on vogons.
Is there a testing program thats also used on my SB 1.5 card i can test the CMS part with?

Robin4 wrote:

Malik says that the soundcards doesnt require the drivers.. I want it just as original as possible.. Why is there no need for the CMS driver?? I want to make use of it because i have installed those chips..So i dont want it unused instead.. I thought a while back there was someone whos uploaded the new driver for the cms parts online on vogons.

I don't have a SB 1.5, but my SB 2.0 doesn't require any driver to use CMS.

Robin4 wrote:

Is there a testing program thats also used on my SB 1.5 card i can test the CMS part with?

Not sure about Creative software, but ATI Stereo F/X has an utility to test CMS functioning. You might want to try it, I suppose it will work with SB.

Do you have other controller cards to test?

Of course you can still leave SB at IRQ 5, but for a XT system IRQ 7 would be more fitting. You won't be needing the CMS driver, except for CMS utilities.

You should read this:

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.pt/2012/10/al … know-about.html

If you can't make it work at IRQ7, or can't live without printer, just leave SB at IRQ5 and don't look back.

The problem is that i cant replace that Everex EV-170 I/O card. Because i bought it specially for the Real time Clock part.. And yes this RTC unit works great in my V20 turbo 8088 computer..
There isnt really an solution to get that IRQ7 free from that LPT1 printer poort.. I already set it hardware pacific to IRQ 5 with the jumper.. But wont free up that IRQ7 for the sound blaster..
And i really dont want to trow it out of this system, because of time pacific reasons. Because all of that hardware is from the 1987 -1990 time area.. And want i leave it that way..
And why should i put an older soundblaster 1.5 in a newer 80286 system, if that SB 1.5 doesnt have a line input in. And there are no other solutions for remove that Everex EV-170 card.. I bought this version with RTC specially for this system, because XT clones doesnt have an RTC on the motherboard.

EDIT 21:55 8-12-2013..

Ive fixed it to IRQ7 my SB 1.5!

What was to problem?

I had my LTP1 set up to IRQ5. But i forgot to set the IRQ 7 from the RTC clock also.. Thats why the IRQ 7 wont free`d up..

So the list is as follows:

IRQ2 = Roland MPU-IPC-T board
IRQ3 = Future domain TMC-850 SCSI controller -> 1GB SCSI HDD.
IRQ4 = Serial port
IRQ5 = Parallel port and RTC combined
IRQ6 = 1.44MB floppy controller card
IRQ7 = Creative sound blaster 1.5 only.

If you wish to test the CMS with something, I think Monkey Island demo can play CMS. Start it with "midemo g" where the g stands for GameBlaster.

paku paku also supports gb and it's free: http://www.deathshadow.com/pakuPaku

Robin4 wrote:

Ive fixed it to IRQ7 my SB 1.5! […]
Show full quote

Ive fixed it to IRQ7 my SB 1.5!

What was to problem?

I had my LTP1 set up to IRQ5. But i forgot to set the IRQ 7 from the RTC clock also.. Thats why the IRQ 7 wont free`d up..

So the list is as follows:

IRQ2 = Roland MPU-IPC-T board
IRQ3 = Future domain TMC-850 SCSI controller -> 1GB SCSI HDD.
IRQ4 = Serial port
IRQ5 = Parallel port and RTC combined
IRQ6 = 1.44MB floppy controller card
IRQ7 = Creative sound blaster 1.5 only.

Congrats!! Persistance pays off.