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Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold - no sound

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First post, by Kcil

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This is my first thread. I have recently acquired an SB AWE64 Gold. Physical inspection of the card does not suggest any problem. The card is detected no problem, both in BIOS PnP list and DOS/Windows 95/Windows 98. However, no sound is produced at all. If I plug in an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter and listen thru my headphone at max volume, all I can hear is a very soft hissing sound. No IRQ or other conflict-related issue is found. DIAGNOSE detects the card at the usual address 220h, IRQ5, DMI 1/5, etc., but when playing 8-bit, 16-bit, synthesized music there is no sound whatsoever. Tried to connect it to my Altec Lansing powered speaker (using RCA-to-3.5mm adapter) and hissing sound it was. Tried different RCA-to-3.5mm without any success.

This leads me to believe that the amp might be broken? Can anyone point which is the amp of SB AWE64? Or should I do anything before replacing anything? SB AWE64 should work with RCA-to-3.5mm and powered speaker, right?

Any suggestion is very much welcome given how rare it is to find SB AWE64 Gold in my area.

Reply 1 of 1, by Joseph_Joestar

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Kcil wrote on 2021-08-12, 05:14:

Tried to connect it to my Altec Lansing powered speaker (using RCA-to-3.5mm adapter) and hissing sound it was. Tried different RCA-to-3.5mm without any success.

Those adapters can be a bit flimsy, especially the cheap, plasticky ones from Amazon. I originally used one of those on my card and it didn't seem to make good contact with the 3.5mm jack of my speakers (volume was low and there was some crackling). I fixed it by connecting the adapter to a 3.5mm audio extension cable, which seemed to have a better grip. But later on, I just purchased a higher quality adapter.

To completely rule out the adapter, it would be best if you could connect the AWE64 Gold to some device using only RCA cables. If it still doesn't produce proper sound, then it's likely an issue with the card itself.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

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