SETBLASTER wrote on 2020-07-22, 13:02:

i have noticed that on some motherboards the 220H address cannot be used. and there is nowhere in the bios to set it free, nor d […]
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i have noticed that on some motherboards the 220H address cannot be used.
and there is nowhere in the bios to set it free, nor disable other things like integrated audio.

is there any way to modify the bios file, and make the integrated sound card to use 240H as default?
in that way i can install a soundblaser ISA card and it will get 220H as default.

any advice?

I think more information is needed. First of all, I assume you are talking about the integrated soundcard, right? second: do you have any specific motherboard/BIOS/soundcard in mind?

I remember disabling onboard sound card once by desoldering and lifting its ENABLE or similar pin and putting some paper betwen it and PCB

We need more info ! What motherboard is it ? Usually when you disable audio in the BIOS it disables it totally but that also depends on the Sound chip used.
Please tell more about the board and post a good picture of it if possible please..

He wants to disable the onboard sound but it doesn't let him, so he can't install a sound blaster, since its using that address? Am i rite? Are you sure your board doesn't have a jumper to disable the audio?

^Hi, yes, I think so.

As for the BIOS..
There are some hacked BIOSes available at http://wims.rainbow-software.org/

and

https://www.wimsbios.com/large-hdd-patched-bios.jsp

In fact, I used one of these for my Surfbox JNT, which had a feature-reduced BIOS.
The new BIOS allowed me to use huge HDDs and enabling/disabling of the floppy controller/internal IDE controller and configuring the floppy drives and boot order.
This was very important, because I used an ISA multi-i/o card for installing MS-DOS.

Horun wrote on 2020-07-24, 02:49:

We need more info ! What motherboard is it ? Usually when you disable audio in the BIOS it disables it totally but that also depends on the Sound chip used.
Please tell more about the board and post a good picture of it if possible please..

hi horun

the board is msi k7t turbo2, pic is from another i have. (i got 2)
it has ISA and i am using it with a SB16 but only works with address 260

i tried everything on the bios and it still reserves 220 to who knows what, integrated audio maybe.

You could post close-up of integrated sound chip, maybe there is an option to solder a jumper or something like that in order to disable it. But still we won't be sure if that 220h is reserved for sound chip, so hardware hack would be risky.

It is a VIA with VT 686B southbridge. You may be able to spare the SB16 and use the built-in AC97 for SoundBlaster emulation with FM music with the right software.
VIA AC'97 Sound Blaster drivers for MS-DOS?

If you are not a purist SoundBlaster, then I think this is a better solution and I personally would prefer such. Not sure about actual DOS games compatibility, but WDM audio driver support is better on AC97 compared to SB16.

adalbert wrote on 2020-07-24, 21:33:

You could post close-up of integrated sound chip, maybe there is an option to solder a jumper or something like that in order to disable it. But still we won't be sure if that 220h is reserved for sound chip, so hardware hack would be risky.

here it is, you mean i should lift a leg on this chip and then try it on address 220 ?

I wasn't able to find datasheet for VT1611A, only 1612A but it's probably the same. There is no single 'enable' pin, you would either need to remove all power pins, or disable data transfer. I think that pushing a wire between SDATA_OUT and DGND1 pin, or soldering them together would disable the chip (it wouldn't be able to communicate with motherboard). That pin would be pulled to ground, so you would basically create a short circuit. I cannot guarantee it won't harm the mainboard, it shouldn't but maybe someone should give second opinion. This option is reversable if done correctly.
Another option is lifting and insulating or removing SDATA_OUT pin, this may permanently disable sound chip if it breaks.

BTW you won't be able to lift a leg without soldering iron, it would probably break when pulled with a knife

// BTW2: i did that trick with an integrated module which used PCI bus. This uses AC97 standard and I'm not sure if disabling the codec chip would be enough, because there are AC97 components also built into chipset

The latest BIOS from here https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/K7T_Turbo2 has a non hidden option to disable Sound Blaster emulation and change IO port, IRQ, etc .
EDIT: I also would not be surprised that even completely removing the AC97 CODEC from the board would not actually deactivate the southbridge's sound blaster compatibility .

darry wrote on 2020-07-25, 01:15:

The latest BIOS from here https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/K7T_Turbo2 has a non hidden option to disable Sound Blaster emulation and change IO port, IRQ, etc .
EDIT: I also would not be surprised that even completely removing the AC97 CODEC from the board would not actually deactivate the southbridge's sound blaster compatibility .

Good job darry ! I agree that based on the chipset some features of on-board audio would not be disabled even if the codec chip was removed. The bios feature is the best option !
added: Seems odd that if BIOS Default for SB is disabled but the port 220h is still enabled, think they did that for backward compatibilty as AC97 really does not need that port AFAIK.

thanks darry for finding it.
on actual bios screen i did not see any option to change the address.

i tried with award bios editor, and when i change it to 260 and save it, it goes back to 220

do you know how can i change that 220 to 260 ? and the IRQ from 5 to 10 ?

SETBLASTER wrote on 2020-07-25, 02:15:

thanks darry for finding it. on actual bios screen i did not see any option to change the address. […]
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thanks darry for finding it.
on actual bios screen i did not see any option to change the address.

i tried with award bios editor, and when i change it to 260 and save it, it goes back to 220

do you know how can i change that 220 to 260 ? and the IRQ from 5 to 10 ?

EDIT: I think I managed to disable it completely .

Try this one . I modded it using MODBIN .