Joystick not working with SB Vibra 16 PnP sound card \ VOGONS

Joystick not working with SB Vibra 16 PnP sound card

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First post, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-08, 08:10

RetroBard Offline

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I have a SB Vibra 16 PnP sound card in my 286 PC running DOS 5.0. I’m using the Unisound driver for the card. While sound is working correctly, any of the gameport controllers that I have (Gravis Analog Pro, Saitek P120) aren’t detected by any of the games or joystick testing utilities.

I’ve set the joystick port to be 200 in the autoexec.bat and I know both controllers to be working in other systems. Below is how the sound card driver reports during boot:
boot.jpg?rlkey=43zlcz14ee5ef4yot9gvh98qr&raw=1

Anything else I could try to get the joystick working, besides getting a non PnP sound card?

Reply 1 of 10, by dominusprog

Posted on 2023-08-08, 15:03

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Is there any rust on the metallic parts? Remove the card and check the pins for connectivity with a multimeter or use a LED and the battery holder.

A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 2 of 10, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-08, 17:50

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dominusprog wrote on 2023-08-08, 15:03:

Is there any rust on the metallic parts? Remove the card and check the pins for connectivity with a multimeter or use a LED and the battery holder.

The card is visually fine. The axes and buttons on the port test all right for connectivity.

Reply 3 of 10, by dominusprog

Posted on 2023-08-08, 20:20

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Okay then, try the Creative drivers. I put the link for both Vibra16 and Vibra16 Value. Also check if the joystick connector goes all the way in.

Vibra16 floppy image
https://archive.org/download/creative-labs-vi … nstallation.img

Vibra16 Value
http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1002&menustate=0
Look for the CTCM folder

A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 4 of 10, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-09, 09:43

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I think I already tried the first driver and couldn’t get the card working as the driver didn’t detect the card. The latter seems to be a Win95 driver. I’m running Dos 5.0 on a 286.

The connector sits in snugly. I had to sand down the outer rim of the Gravis connector down a bit, as it was a millimeter further than the pins, but even that now plugs in properly.

Last edited by RetroBard on 2023-08-09, 10:23. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 10, by dominusprog

Posted on 2023-08-09, 10:16

dominusprog Offline

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Have you tried without starting the Unisound driver? Or a different joystick? How about your I/O card, does it have a connector for the gamepad?

A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 6 of 10, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-09, 10:24

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Yes, yes, and no I/O card with a joyport.

Reply 7 of 10, by dominusprog

Posted on 2023-08-09, 17:41

dominusprog Offline

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Well, I'm sorry I couldn't help. Try a different card in the future.

A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 8 of 10, by Rwolf

Posted on 2023-08-09, 18:15

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I seem to recall the default joystick IO port address is 201. Maybe the programs you use to test the port do not look at the BLASTER settings?
Also some Soundblasters have a Joystick Enable jumper that needs to be closed, but maybe not your PNP version?

Reply 9 of 10, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-09, 19:07

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dominusprog wrote on 2023-08-09, 17:41:

Well, I'm sorry I couldn't help. Try a different card in the future.

Hey, sorry for coming out as blunt. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Reply 10 of 10, by RetroBard

Posted on 2023-08-09, 19:24

RetroBard Offline

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Rwolf wrote on 2023-08-09, 18:15:

I seem to recall the default joystick IO port address is 201. Maybe the programs you use to test the port do not look at the BLASTER settings?
Also some Soundblasters have a Joystick Enable jumper that needs to be closed, but maybe not your PNP version?

Changing the joystick port address to 201 did the trick! My Gravis Analog Pro is recognized now and can use it in games.

Thank you everyone for helping me to troubleshoot this issue!

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