Four days I can not run ct4620 on i815. Any suggestions ?

ynopot wrote on 2022-07-07, 22:53:

Four days I can not run ct4620 on i815. Any suggestions ?

Can you be more specific ?

Under DOS ?
In Windows (which version) ?
Which specific motherboard ?

If the issue is in DOS, try https://rayer.g6.cz/programm/serren.exe

1SERREN.EXE ver. 1.0 [56 kB] (CWSDPMI not needed - includes CWSDSTUB) - a small utility for enabling the PCI SERR# to CPU NMI routing via proper setting of intel ICHx chipset. On some motherboards / BIOSses this routing is disabled. This cause malfunction of SoundBlaster Live! DOS drivers. This condition is mandatory but not sufficent (on my mobo GA-P31-DS3L after enabling the SERR# to NMI routing started to work MIDI and Adlib playback but SFX is still mute - probably some kind of DMA problem).

ynopot wrote on 2022-07-07, 22:53:

Four days I can not run ct4620 on i815. Any suggestions ?

Which motherboard and what error did you encounter? Are you on MS-DOS or FreeDOS? I cannot be sure about the latter.

From what I remember Sound Blaster PCI/Live utilizes some kind of I/O trapping specific to MS EMM386.

EDIT: SBLive should theoretically work on i815. I had one such board before and it worked there.

Also, when I was experimenting with an AudioPCI (ES1370) on a different board, I encountered an odd error with its TSR complaining about it couldn't allocate memory within the first 4MB range, so you probably need to pay attention to the TSRs you use and adjust startup order and arguments accordingly.

Under pure DOS 7.10 everything is fine. There are problems in Windows 98SE.

I tried to install VXD drivers from two original disk images from Creative.
I tried this method Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Sound Blaster Live! cards (version 3.1)
I have been trying to change the PCI slots for this card for four days in an attempt to find an acceptable interrupt.
I disabled everything in BIOS that I don't use. Everything.
I do a clean install of Windows when I try to make a new attempt to get this card working properly.

But no.
After completing any Direct3D game, my primary IDE channel fails. And then, if you complete the work of Widows in the usual way, then it simply does not turn off. If you restart your computer, it will not find a bootable hard drive.

Motherboard - ECS P6IPAT

Looks like some IRQ sharing problem with IDE, did you try to move soundcard to different PCI slot?

RayeR wrote on 2022-07-08, 12:20:

Looks like some IRQ sharing problem with IDE, did you try to move soundcard to different PCI slot?

Of course. I did this for 4 days. I still do it.
And most often she plays a mono sound.

Today i tested the following Intel ICH6 southbridge to see if a Soundblaster Audigy 1 would work past a ICH5 southbridge https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/produ … ifications.html

what i found is the Audigy 1 legacy Dos drivers work fine for both sound and music in windows 98, Duke nukem, doom etc. drivers load in autoexec fine most likely working in pure Dos also

Chipset: e7221
Southbridge : 82801fr(ICH6) , sl79N

Motherboard was taken from a proliant m110 G2

Hope this helps people

Edit
Thought it would be worthy to make a video ICH6 can actually work for SFX and also music so here it is
https://youtu.be/Y6zJUy7UTJM

I've found that the ESS PCI AudioDrive Maestro and Allegro series of cards don't allow the volume of the FM synthesizer to be adjusted using a Sound Blaster Pro mixer, which otherwise works fine with the Solo-1.

Does anyone know if it's possible to use the PCISET tools to adjust the registers directly for setting this volume? My guess is that the FM is connected to the AC97 mixer or something, as it works fine in Windows but not in DOS.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-11-30, 23:26:

I've found that the ESS PCI AudioDrive Maestro and Allegro series of cards don't allow the volume of the FM synthesizer to be adjusted using a Sound Blaster Pro mixer, which otherwise works fine with the Solo-1.

Does anyone know if it's possible to use the PCISET tools to adjust the registers directly for setting this volume? My guess is that the FM is connected to the AC97 mixer or something, as it works fine in Windows but not in DOS.

Solo-1 is the last to have a real FM (ESFM) which is compatible with OPL3. Maestro and Allegro series no longer have it. Instead, they have a wavetable synth which can sound very different when playing FM music, and probably doesn't honor the usual OPL3-related mixer controls, either.

Macrofeet wrote on 2022-10-22, 18:11:

Today i tested the following Intel ICH6 southbridge to see if a Soundblaster Audigy 1 would work past a ICH5 southbridge https: […]
Show full quote

Today i tested the following Intel ICH6 southbridge to see if a Soundblaster Audigy 1 would work past a ICH5 southbridge https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/produ … ifications.html

what i found is the Audigy 1 legacy Dos drivers work fine for both sound and music in windows 98, Duke nukem, doom etc. drivers load in autoexec fine most likely working in pure Dos also

Chipset: e7221
Southbridge : 82801fr(ICH6) , sl79N

Motherboard was taken from a proliant m110 G2

Hope this helps people

Edit
Thought it would be worthy to make a video ICH6 can actually work for SFX and also music so here it is
https://youtu.be/Y6zJUy7UTJM

Actually Win98 does have its own driver for SB emulation when using a WDM driver, which is already known to work regardless of chipset, if and only if the game is run from a Win9x DOS box. From the video I think it's mostly about Win98 DOS box and I can't see anything concrete about pure DOS usage.

However, your mileage may vary as I've observed the following caveats back then:
- FM doesn't seem to work everywhere, I think it only works if the card does have a OPL2/OPL3 compatible FM implementation.
- According to some, only up to SBPro emulation is offered, though I'm not really sure.
- General MIDI (330H) works using the default MIDI output of the MIDI mapper. This is especially useful as it eliminates the need of an actual external device or a daughterboard for MIDI to function.

PS: Similar SB emulation exists on Win2K/XP as well, though according to Windows it's only SB 2.0 (T3) support. It seems to have the same limitations as the one in Win9x, and in my experience the best use cases of that emulation were mainly General MIDI related as it could make extensive use of later Sound Blaster's hardware synths (soundfonts and such).

Yes, I'm aware of all of this. Even though FM is not great on these cards, this is a laptop where I don't have a choice. There are some games which don't run well or at all in Windows, which is why I want to keep pure DOS as an option.

I agree that Maestro/Allegro FM is *terrible*. But it's better than silence... but only slightly.

Actually Win98 does have its own driver for SB emulation when using a WDM driver, which is already known to work regardless of chipset, if and only if the game is run from a Win9x DOS box. From the video I think it's mostly about Win98 DOS box and I can't see anything concrete about pure DOS usage.

*Edited doubted for a moment but found proof

Yes it works in pure dos on this board

Here is dos driver loading in autoexec https://youtu.be/VIfEcL5B2Dk

Here is Rampart setup in Proper Dos guessing the Irq https://youtu.be/Q8jrwjhHlQM

With the Audigy series, you are required to instal Windows 98 first to be able to instal the Pure DOS driver.

Ha, we discussed it 4 years ago and now Rasteri made it - dISAppointment LPC to ISA adapter was built...
dISAppointment - LPC to ISA adapter - ISA on modern motherboards
So I'd like to blow off the dust of my Fintek bridge and build a fresh copy 😀

Kamerat wrote on 2018-08-17, 11:48:

Made a little batch file for setting up the Solo-1 with the PCISET utility (just rename it with a .BAT extension), no need for ESSOLO.SYS/COM. I think most of the IRQ settings only applies when running the card with serialized IRQ over a PC/PCI connection. As confiugered now it sets the Solo-1 into TDMA mode, SB I/O 220h, SB DMA 1, MPU I/O 330. If viewed under Windows use the Terminal font. Don't expect any magic from this file.

Late to the party, I would like to thank you for this file. It helped a lot to get it working , combined with ESSOLO.INI / tip posted by user NO on the comments when Phil reviewed the Solo-1 on Youtube.

I got the ES1938 Solo-1 from Terratec ( TTSolo1-N), installed the missing SB-link header and tried it on a Asus P2-99 Slot 1 board (Intel ZX).

First i tried the ESSOLO.ini configuration, when configuring as DDMA or TDMA, the card would load during but reporting it as WBDMA 111 mode. Whenever I tried SB-Link, the card was not recognized.
20 02 01 00 88 03 09 00 01 02 30 03 00 00 00 00 == DDMA
20 02 01 00 88 03 09 00 01 02 30 03 01 00 00 00 == TDMA
20 02 01 00 88 03 09 00 01 02 30 03 02 00 00 00 == SB-link (PC/PCI)

The card would work as WBDMA 1111, however I wanted to set it to PC/PCI or TDMA. I tried using the Essinit.bat (PCISET) to set the DMA emulation to PC/PCI. I've noticed that only one line was changing (the 1969 125D 51 line, which sets the DMA emulation).
51h: 1100.1111 (before)
51h: 1010.1010 (after)
And it wouldn't work as DDMA, TDMA or SB-Link. The was not recognized for Fx, only music when loading a game, for instance Duke3d).

I noticed and didn't understand why it was changing also the first portion (1100 to 1010).

The original ESSINIT.txt had this line (for TDMA)
pciset 1969 125D 51 01100111 00000001

At some point, I tried changing the bit before.
pciset 1969 125D 51 00000011 00000010

And it finally worked! PCISET would run now like this
51h: 1100.1111 (before)
51h: 1100.1010 (after)

Now the card would work in all games I tried (Indiana Jones Atlantis CD, Doom 1 /2, Duke3D, Lemmings, Prince, X-Wing 1993 CD). It would work also as TDMA if set as that.

Just wanted to share my experience, I hope it can help someone facing a similar situation.
Kind regards

Forgot to mention, using the same boot setup, I've managed to install the card Solo1 on a A64 Socket 754 board (Abit KV80) as TDMA and could run all the games mentioned above, combined with CPUSPD M04 T08 or CPUSPD CD - including the wave header with a X2GS or a Sound Canvas SC-55 through the midi/joystick port.

Tried some other K8 boards (Uli, Sis) without sucess at first try (it boots and load, but doesn't play SB sounds). Same for Socket 775 (Via and Intel). It was a quick try, not sure if they are a dead end or not with the ES1938.
I will try PCI Yamaha 7x4 when I get one.

Aladim wrote on 2023-06-05, 20:31:

Late to the party, I would like to thank you for this file. It helped a lot to get it working , combined with ESSOLO.INI / tip posted by user NO on the comments when Phil reviewed the Solo-1 on Youtube.

That's a very old post of mine, so I'm glad to see that you got it working. See here for additional information on different driver versions for DOS support.

Guide for configuring ESS PCI Audio cards for DOS (Solo, Maestro, Allegro, etc.)

Thanks, I just checked that as well. As you mentioned, it's kind of trial and error. Combining the 2 strategies got it working for me. I'm using the same "setup" on 2 distinct machines (Slot 1 Intel LX and S.754 Via), glad it worked on the 2nd machine without putting so much effort (just copied and pasted, worked). This is why sharing experience result is important, it might help someone in the future. Thanks again

I'm sorry to interrupt your discussing but I'm wondering if you guys have any information about this PCI sound card card: https://www.ebay.com.hk/itm/354404150360?mkev … 8&segname=11050

It's cheap and I assume it's trash for dos games, but I wanted to ask, maybe someone tried it with some success. I can't find any information about it and I have a hard time to see the actual chip on the pics.

Pentaerythritol wrote on 2023-06-07, 13:31:

I'm sorry to interrupt your discussing but I'm wondering if you guys have any information about this PCI sound card card: https://www.ebay.com.hk/itm/354404150360?mkev … 8&segname=11050

It's cheap and I assume it's trash for dos games, but I wanted to ask, maybe someone tried it with some success. I can't find any information about it and I have a hard time to see the actual chip on the pics.

It's CMI8738. At least I could recognize the C-Media logo on the chip.

Theoretically that card can be used with DOS but I never had any success with any board of any chipset, even with boards that used it as an onboard audio solution.

LSS10999 wrote on 2023-06-07, 16:33:

Pentaerythritol wrote on 2023-06-07, 13:31:

I'm sorry to interrupt your discussing but I'm wondering if you guys have any information about this PCI sound card card: https://www.ebay.com.hk/itm/354404150360?mkev … 8&segname=11050

It's cheap and I assume it's trash for dos games, but I wanted to ask, maybe someone tried it with some success. I can't find any information about it and I have a hard time to see the actual chip on the pics.

It's CMI8738. At least I could recognize the C-Media logo on the chip.

Theoretically that card can be used with DOS but I never had any success with any board of any chipset, even with boards that used it as an onboard audio solution.

Thanks for the help! I don't know if my setup will be able to pull off dos games honestly, I just bought an Asus A8V-X board (VIA K8T800PRO chipset) which theoretically could run win 98 (according to my research), so I'm thinking to get a PCI card and try to build a strong win98 machine that could potentially run some dos games with sound. Probably it won't work, but this is my first retro build experience so whatever happens is gonna be fun I guess.

It's CMI8738. At least I could recognize the C-Media logo on the chip.

You can try to search if this is compatible with AC97.. and if yes try SB-EMU driver.. I opened some datasheet and there is something about SPDF_AC97 register, but it does not have mean that its AC97 compatible device.

Its based on MXPlay which have some Cmedia8738 support.. but this changelog is mess, i dunno if Cmedia support its DOs or WIn related:
https://mpxplay.sourceforge.net/whatsnew.txt // Search for 8738
But text new (PCI) soundcard handlers: from my point of view suggest more DOs than Windows thing..