Phreeze wrote:

it seems that the content of the ROM i got burned from a friend is incorrect.....checksums don't match, eithe rfrom Start=0 or start=100000...
waiting for my IWs now..

Programming failures are quite rare. Did you make sure to order a flash IC with an access time of 70 ns or less? If not, that could be one source of apparent corruption once installed, even if the correct data were programmed into the chip. I mention this only because 90 ns parts are so common on eBay. Does iwinit identify the ROM at all?

640K!enough wrote:

Phreeze wrote:

it seems that the content of the ROM i got burned from a friend is incorrect.....checksums don't match, eithe rfrom Start=0 or start=100000...
waiting for my IWs now..

Programming failures are quite rare. Did you make sure to order a flash IC with an access time of 70 ns or less? If not, that could be one source of apparent corruption once installed, even if the correct data were programmed into the chip. I mention this only because 90 ns parts are so common on eBay. Does iwinit identify the ROM at all?

I ordered the original ROM (IW78C21M1), so need to programm it.
And I get different MD5 checksum dumps each time I use IWDUMP ROM FILE=IW.bin START=0 SIZE=1M
So there seems to be something terribly wrong.
IWINIT does not identify ROM or RAM! But when I start setup.exe RAM gets detected.

As said - a 1mB ROM dump from your card might help identifying the issue. Maybe an adress or data line is bad.

Also: Try iwinit -v9 a few times in a row, does it always detect just 0 MB?

hm my chips might be 90ns ..... -____- waiting for the IW then

There is one other possibility. You mentioned using flux to re-flow the joints on some parts. Can you post a photo of your flux container, showing the label? One thing that can cause similar symptoms in such cases is conductivity of the flux. If you applied it a little generously, there may be some under the chips that can cause shorts or seemingly erratic behaviour. This is especially common with water-soluble formulations, that are often also rather acidic. If you used a no-clean, non-conductive formulation, this shouldn't be related.

i verified those, should be good. I'm not at home at the moment, will recheck this with a magnifying glass this evening

shock__ wrote:

As said - a 1mB ROM dump from your card might help identifying the issue.

Will test it hopefully tomorrow.

640K!enough wrote:

There is one other possibility. You mentioned using flux to re-flow the joints on some parts.

I use STANNOL X32-10I : No-Clean. It is based on alcohol, SDS says: 2-propanol (80-90%), adipinic acid (1-2%), Biphenyl-2ol (<1%).
adipinic acid is not stronger than acetic acid, so not problematic especially not in a dilution of 1-2%.

Update:
Prototype #11 is working! Thanks for your support.
I checked the solder joints under a microscope at work, but was not able to source the issue.
So I went the harsh way. Heat gun at 240°C for 30 seconds aimed at the ROM and the two F373 Chips.
RAM and ROM get detected correctly (iwinit -v9) and the card works! Also IWDUMP works correctly now.

Ok my rom chips are programmed now.. just need to find time to finish the card 😀

Then i will report Back!

I have some question about Midi Playback with ARGUS.
How am I able to see if the ROM or some Soundfont (GSFULL4M.FFF/DAT) is used for playback?
I know that I can select the Midi-Option? In IW.ini I can see that I can set ROM and RAM Soundfont, but how do I know which is used for playback?
I tried to change the option "default=", but to me playback sounds similar.

For Me MEGAEM dows not work, but IWSBOS works.

moturimi1 wrote:

I have some question about Midi Playback with ARGUS. How am I able to see if the ROM or some Soundfont (GSFULL4M.FFF/DAT) is use […]
Show full quote

I have some question about Midi Playback with ARGUS.
How am I able to see if the ROM or some Soundfont (GSFULL4M.FFF/DAT) is used for playback?
I know that I can select the Midi-Option? In IW.ini I can see that I can set ROM and RAM Soundfont, but how do I know which is used for playback?
I tried to change the option "default=", but to me playback sounds similar.

For Me MEGAEM dows not work, but IWSBOS works.

Does this mean you have a working ROM now? Your approach is correct; setting the "default=" line to the name of the desired bank, as shown in IW.INI is the way to select a different instrument set for MIDI playback. However, not all software reads or obeys IW.INI. IWSBOS will always look for the SBOS chunk in the ROM when in the ROM configuration, or will use a specific bank file when configured for RAM use. It makes absolutely no use of FFF banks. Mega-Em is similar; if it finds a ROM, it will insist on using it (usually badly). Some software that has native InterWave support is similar, in that it will look for a ROM and fail if it isn't present. The only way to be sure you are hearing the selected bank is to use Windows applications, or PLAY.EXE for MIDI playback.

Sound from the 4 MiB bank does have similarities to the sound produced via the standard ROM bank, but provides generally better quality.

You also mentioned that Mega-Em doesn't work. How much RAM is in your system? If it has more than 64 MiB, try setting the BIOS setting labelled "OS select for DRAM > 64 MB" to OS2. This changes the way memory is mapped in such a way that DOS only "sees" about 16 MiB. With that set, try Mega-Em again; does it work?

640K!enough wrote:

Does this mean you have a working ROM now? Your approach is correct; setting the "default=" line to the name of the desired bank, as shown in IW.INI is the way to select a different instrument set for MIDI playback. However, not all software reads or obeys IW.INI. IWSBOS will always look for the SBOS chunk in the ROM when in the ROM configuration, or will use a specific bank file when configured for RAM use. It makes absolutely no use of FFF banks. Mega-Em is similar; it finds a ROM, it will insist on using it (usually badly). Some software that has native InterWave support is similar, in that it will look for a ROM and fail if it isn't present. The only way to be sure you are hearing the selected bank is to use Windows applications, or PLAY.EXE for MIDI playback.

You also mentioned that Mega-Em doesn't work. How much RAM is in your system?

Thanks for the help.
Yes the card works now. ROM and RAM.

MegaEM initializes with only 64 MB of RAM installed, but sound does not work correctly. (GM works, SB not, GUS not)
With IWSBOS everything is fine (GM, SB, GUS).
So I prefer IWSBOS
Removing memcfg=rom should make use of the installed RAM. But unfortunately I do not have the library: iwsb1024.iwl
Where do I get it from?

Good news everyone. My IW78C21M1 chips have arrived (quite fast I must say ... excepted more like ~30 days).

Bad news everyone - due to my flat being renovated and having moved to a substitute flat for the time being I won't be able to work physically on my prototypes since I left most of my 8/16 bit hobby stuff there. Therefore I won't be able to test them til the 20th of April - in case any new issues arise there.
I will of course keep following this thread for the time being.

Note to the MegaEM memory issue:

It is well known for years and happens only with HIMEM.SYS 3.x and EMM386 if more than 64 MB RAM is installed.
It is unclear if it is a Megaem or memory manager bug, however the following solutions work:
Use QEMM
Use HIMEM.SYS 2.x (which supports only 16 MB XMS) with EMM386 <- probably easiest solution if you are fan of EMM386
Reduce memory physically.

elianda wrote:

Reduce memory physically.

- Use burnmem.sys in config.sys to fast and flexible limit total ram under dos.

Can someone tell me how to load GMFULL4M.DAT (.FFF) into RAM under DOS?
As far as I know I do need a library, e.g. iwsb1024.iwl.
I don't know where to get it from.

moturimi1 wrote:

Can someone tell me how to load GMFULL4M.DAT (.FFF) into RAM under DOS?
As far as I know I do need a library, e.g. iwsb1024.iwl.
I don't know where to get it from.

You've mentioned two separate things. The .IWL files are processed instrument banks for IWSBOS when in the RAM configuration. That is what is controlled by the memcfg line you referenced previously; it has nothing to do with loading instrument banks for other purposes. In my testing so far, one generally gets more pleasant sound using the ROM for IWSBOS, as the size isn't restricted to 1 MiB or less.

As far as I'm aware, there is no way to force software that doesn't have native InterWave support to load or use a RAM-based FFF/DAT bank. Furthermore, software that does have native support may not support using RAM banks, and there doesn't seem to be a way to force that, either. Unless the software reads IW.INI or otherwise allows you to specify a bank, there is no way to load it beforehand and force its use under DOS.

In the case of software with support for GF1-based UltraSound cards for MIDI playback, a suitable set of .PAT files and the associated .INI instrument mapping file are required. Such software has no ability to support FFF/DAT banks, and the software needed for interpreting and producing sound from the two types of bank is substantially different.

640K!enough wrote:

You've mentioned two separate things. The .IWL files are processed instrument banks for IWSBOS when in the RAM configuration. That is what is controlled by the memcfg line you referenced previously; it has nothing to do with loading instrument banks for other purposes. In my testing so far, one generally gets more pleasant sound using the ROM for IWSBOS, as the size isn't restricted to 1 MiB or less.

So where do I get such processed files *.iwl to use the RAM configuration?
If no *.iwl was avialable I would ask myself: What is the RAM good for? Only for compatibility to the original Ultrasound GF1 cards.
In case of the ROM I am stuck with the standard 1 MB ROM.

640K!enough wrote:

In the case of software with support for GF1-based UltraSound cards for MIDI playback, a suitable set of .PAT files and the associated .INI instrument mapping file are required. Such software has no ability to support FFF/DAT banks, and the software needed for interpreting and producing sound from the two types of bank is substantially different.

Ok maybe I have to use suitable *.PAT files. At least I know how to use them.

moturimi1 wrote:

So where do I get such processed files *.iwl to use the RAM configuration?

As far as I'm aware, they have never been distributed. Even if you were to find the file(s), they are only for IWSBOS, and are usually 1 MiB or less. I don't understand the apparent obsession with locating these files; the quality isn't likely to be better than with the usual ROM, as the official files would have been based on the source bank from which the ROM was created.

moturimi1 wrote:

If no *.iwl was avialable I would ask myself: What is the RAM good for? Only for compatibility to the original Ultrasound GF1 cards.

The RAM has many uses; remember that the UltraSound line can do more than just play MIDI files. Digital audio and tracker playback are also often RAM-based, as are InterWave effects. Also, the RAM can be used to load custom instruments, you just need software with appropriate support.

moturimi1 wrote:

In case of the ROM I am stuck with the standard 1 MB ROM.

With the standard ROM, yes. As the development and testing of the ROM module and associated software progresses, there will be options.

ROM is now in place.. lets install Drivers. I Hope that will work 😀

EDIT:
PnPMap does not work. maybe incombatible..

Computer is freezing there.

EDIT:
MS-DOS 5.0 and FreeDOS both freezing.
I using a Epson IM PoS PC with 486DX2 50Mhz

EDIt#2:

Works an AMD K6-2 instant.

Windows 98 is detecting the Card:

Whats the confg on which pnpmap fails?