Congratulations! You got a Chinese card with a remarked chip.

The way I see it, you have 3 choices .

a) chuck it to the recycle bin
b) Modify the driver inf with the actual device ID and accordingly patch whatever utility/binary file you need to get this thing to run .
c) find the EEPROM with PCI device ID on that thing and reprogram it to something sane (sorry but I can't see it on the slightly crappy photo, but I imagine there is one) . This may require de-soldering first, programming and re-soldering .

To me, b) would seem like a fun challenge, but a) would probably win out in the end . c) is simply not worth the effort and potential risk .

Just my two cents .

EDIT : According to the datasheet https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/853822/For … edia/FM801-AU/1 , the FM801 does not support in-line programming of its EEPROM . Option c) will very likely requiring de-soldering .

darry wrote on 2020-11-03, 01:42:

The way I see it, you have 3 choices . […]
Show full quote

The way I see it, you have 3 choices .

a) chuck it to the recycle bin
b) Modify the driver inf with the actual device ID and accordingly patch whatever utility/binary file you need to get this thing to run .
c) find the EEPROM with PCI device ID on that thing and reprogram it to something sane (sorry but I can't see it on the slightly crappy photo, but I imagine there is one) . This may require de-soldering first, programming and re-soldering .

To me, b) would seem like a fun challenge, but a) would probably win out in the end . c) is simply not worth the effort and potential risk .

Just my two cents .

EDIT : According to the datasheet https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/853822/For … edia/FM801-AU/1 , the FM801 does not support in-line programming of its EEPROM . Option c) will very likely requiring de-soldering .

I highly doubt that that is a real FM-801 chip. It is very obviously a cheap Chinese made card and they are very well known to have made a bunch of different fake cards. They would come with a cd with drivers for what the card really was but in Windows Device Manager they would show up as the card they said it was... Simple .inf edit is all that it takes.

But when you go to try to use the real drivers they won't work because it is a faked card that came with faked drivers.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-03, 04:03:

darry wrote on 2020-11-03, 01:42:

The way I see it, you have 3 choices . […]
Show full quote

The way I see it, you have 3 choices .

a) chuck it to the recycle bin
b) Modify the driver inf with the actual device ID and accordingly patch whatever utility/binary file you need to get this thing to run .
c) find the EEPROM with PCI device ID on that thing and reprogram it to something sane (sorry but I can't see it on the slightly crappy photo, but I imagine there is one) . This may require de-soldering first, programming and re-soldering .

To me, b) would seem like a fun challenge, but a) would probably win out in the end . c) is simply not worth the effort and potential risk .

Just my two cents .

EDIT : According to the datasheet https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/853822/For … edia/FM801-AU/1 , the FM801 does not support in-line programming of its EEPROM . Option c) will very likely requiring de-soldering .

I highly doubt that that is a real FM-801 chip. It is very obviously a cheap Chinese made card and they are very well known to have made a bunch of different fake cards. They would come with a cd with drivers for what the card really was but in Windows Device Manager they would show up as the card they said it was... Simple .inf edit is all that it takes.

But when you go to try to use the real drivers they won't work because it is a faked card that came with faked drivers.

Maybe it's time to probe some PCI registers and hope to find some default values that match with some cheap chip's datasheet .

From the sounds of the OP, it is one of the lame duck Creative "Live!" cards that doesn't actually do any hardware acceleration.

Sound Blaster Live! Dell OEM
This card, marketed as a Sound Blaster Live!, did not have the full capabilities of the retail versions of Live! It used a different audio chip, not EMU10K1 but EMU10K1X, that is noticeably smaller with fewer pins. The chip does not accelerate DirectSound in hardware, nor EAX. The sale of this board by Dell created some controversy because it was not obviously marketed as an inferior or cheaper product. The card can be identified by its part number (SB0200/0203)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_Live!

This being a Chinese knockoff / faked card, the output is almost for sure going to be pretty bad compared to the real card.

Found the drivers - they are not on vogonsdrivers as far as I can tell though I didn't look through everything:

[CREATIVE]
;Creative
%P16X.DeviceDesc%=P16X_Device,PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0006&SUBSYS_10031102 ; SB0203 SB Live! 5.1 (Dell)

https://oemdrivers.com/sound-sound-blaster-live-dell-oem

I must have lost track somewhere as I really don't see the connection between a card with an obviously faked PCI device ID and a crippled Dell OEM card that is an SB Live! In name only .

I can understand the nefarious motivation at the time for faking a PCI device ID and providing a corresponding modified driver that IDs as an SB Live! I do not see the point in adding a fake silkscreen with a completely different and , AFAIK, not particularly desirable (at the time) FM801 .

My guess is that it is actually an FM801 with a fake PCI device ID and the reason the FM801 utilities don't work with is that they check the PCI device ID at runtime and the fake iD makes the said utilities crap themselves .

What would have been the purpose of faking the PCI ID to look like a Live! card if it was really an FM801 card?

If that was the case, then the Live! drivers may install but definitely not work or at worse crash the system. And the FM801 drivers wouldn't work as they would not find the correct PCI ID.

The only logical explanation is that it is really a remarked Dell OEM card chip that used the Live! drivers except with it showing up as an FM801 card in Device Manager.

Reason to fake it as a FM801 would be because it is very obviously NOT a Live! card but there were multiple designs of FM801 cards.

Easy way is to tell for sure is to install it in Windows with those drivers I linked to.

The more common fakes were remarked CMI chip based cards sold as Yamaha YMF7x4 and FM801 cards. The remarking of a Dell OEM Live! chip is new to me.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-03, 07:15:

What would have been the purpose of faking the PCI ID to look like a Live! card if it was really an FM801 card? […]
Show full quote

What would have been the purpose of faking the PCI ID to look like a Live! card if it was really an FM801 card?

If that was the case, then the Live! drivers may install but definitely not work or at worse crash the system. And the FM801 drivers wouldn't work as they would not find the correct PCI ID.

The only logical explanation is that it is really a remarked Dell OEM card chip that used the Live! drivers except with it showing up as an FM801 card in Device Manager.

Reason to fake it as a FM801 would be because it is very obviously NOT a Live! card but there were multiple designs of FM801 cards.

Easy way is to tell for sure is to install it in Windows with those drivers I linked to.

The more common fakes were remarked CMI chip based cards sold as Yamaha YMF7x4 and FM801 cards. The remarking of a Dell OEM Live! chip is new to me.

The OP says that the card is seen as a live by utility software and its PCI device ID is Vendor ID 1102h/Device ID 0006h . If the card really is FM801 based one, specifically choosing a Dell OEM card SB Live! variant PCI is a bit of an odd choice by whoever faked it, but choosing a Live! variant might have increased perceived value at the time .

My theoretical scenario for this, based on conjecture:

a) Non tech savvy buyer purchases PC and is told SB Live! card in installed . Pays extra for it.

b) Sticker saying warranty is void if opened prevents opening of system

c) FM801 drivers with modified inf to match fake PCI device ID apnd to look like SB Live! Card have been installed by faker/vendor .

d) Non tech savvy buyer will not notice card is not a real Live! and if a more tech savvy friend of his checks device manager he will see a Live! card entry . Case will not be opened to check because of fear of voiding warranty.

e) If non tech savvy buyer eventually either becomes suspicious or more knowledgeable, tries installing actually live! drivers, has to format and re-installed, etc then audio will no longer work and most tech savvy friends will be stumped . Sticker will discourage checking card physically, so non tech savvy buyer is forced to return to see vendor who will "repair" it, possibly for a fee .

This may seem convoluted, but I would not put it past a greedy manufacturer . I could be wrong, of course.

Otherwise, if somebody is going to separately sell a faked card with a faked PCI device ID , it would make sense to fake a silkscreen to match and provide modded drivers that work with it .

As I mentioned before, installing the card in a PC and probing PCI registers could give us a clue. There are 2 other options to try :

1) Install the Dell OEM drivers and see if they work , as you mentioned

2) Modify FM801 drivers with card's actual PCI device ID and see if that works .

EDIT: corrected typos

Another possibility is that the EMU10K1X is actually a licensed and re-branded FM801 .

EDIT: That seems quite unlikely as Linux uses different drivers for these chips .

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95392

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95393

The FM801-AU chip on this card has 20 pins on each vertical side and 30 pins on each horizontal side (total 100 pins).
FM801-AU datasheet shows 25 pins on all sides, so clearly different layout but total pins still 100.

As the card was showing as a SBLIVE! through it's PCI device ID I thought I would try the Sblive dos drivers. No luck, Sbeinit.com doesn't work and says can't find soundblaster or compatible card.

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-11-03, 12:17:

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card. […]
Show full quote

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95392

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95393

The FM801-AU chip on this card has 20 pins on each vertical side and 30 pins on each horizontal side (total 100 pins).
FM801-AU datasheet shows 25 pins on all sides, so clearly different layout but total pins still 100.

As the card was showing as a SBLIVE! through it's PCI device ID I thought I would try the Sblive dos drivers. No luck, Sbeinit.com doesn't work and says can't find soundblaster or compatible card.

Extreme long shot, but does any of these two files seem to work ?

darry wrote on 2020-11-03, 12:38:

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-11-03, 12:17:

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card. […]
Show full quote

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95392

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95393

The FM801-AU chip on this card has 20 pins on each vertical side and 30 pins on each horizontal side (total 100 pins).
FM801-AU datasheet shows 25 pins on all sides, so clearly different layout but total pins still 100.

As the card was showing as a SBLIVE! through it's PCI device ID I thought I would try the Sblive dos drivers. No luck, Sbeinit.com doesn't work and says can't find soundblaster or compatible card.

Extreme long shot, but does any of these two files seem to work ?

thanks for the upload.
Running cfg801b.exe gives the same error message "Fm801/FM1000 does not exist"
Interestingly, running Dos801b.exe now gives a different message "DOS 801 cfg file error" it use to say "no FM801/1000 device".
I tried deleting volume.cfg and it gives the same "DOS 801 cfg file error".
Content of my volume.cfg file is:
[Volcfg]
Masvol=0
Pcmvol=0c0c
Fmvol=0c0c
SurVOl=0

Of course the DOS live! drivers don't work. It isn't an Emu10k1 or 10k2 chip.

You will need to try the windows drivers I posted a link to.

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-11-03, 15:09:

thanks for the upload. Running cfg801b.exe gives the same error message "Fm801/FM1000 does not exist" Interestingly, running Dos […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2020-11-03, 12:38:

Riikcakirds wrote on 2020-11-03, 12:17:

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card. […]
Show full quote

I took two better pictures of the front and back of the card.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95392

download/file.php?mode=view&id=95393

The FM801-AU chip on this card has 20 pins on each vertical side and 30 pins on each horizontal side (total 100 pins).
FM801-AU datasheet shows 25 pins on all sides, so clearly different layout but total pins still 100.

As the card was showing as a SBLIVE! through it's PCI device ID I thought I would try the Sblive dos drivers. No luck, Sbeinit.com doesn't work and says can't find soundblaster or compatible card.

Extreme long shot, but does any of these two files seem to work ?

thanks for the upload.
Running cfg801b.exe gives the same error message "Fm801/FM1000 does not exist"
Interestingly, running Dos801b.exe now gives a different message "DOS 801 cfg file error" it use to say "no FM801/1000 device".
I tried deleting volume.cfg and it gives the same "DOS 801 cfg file error".
Content of my volume.cfg file is:
[Volcfg]
Masvol=0
Pcmvol=0c0c
Fmvol=0c0c
SurVOl=0

Try adding this cfg file

and try also this file

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-03, 15:35:

Of course the DOS live! drivers don't work. It isn't an Emu10k1 or 10k2 chip.

You will need to try the windows drivers I posted a link to.

That driver link did not work for me .
If this actually is a relabeled EMU10K1X , the bad news is I could not find drivers with any DOS support .

This driver uses the same PCI device ID as an EMU10K1X device and should work under Windows https://gofile.io/d/xOLYYn , if this actually is a relabeled EMU10K1X (of which I am not convinced) .

EDIT : I did get cyclone3d's link to work in the end . Those drivers, which are the same or very similar to the Ectiva's I linked to, have no provisions for DOS support, AFAICT .

Yep, no DOS support. I highly doubt there will be any DOS drivers available for that chip.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-03, 16:26:

Yep, no DOS support. I highly doubt there will be any DOS drivers available for that chip.

Looking at the card photo, I see no sign of the serial EEPROM that would be required to fake the PCI device ID of an actual FM801-AU . I am now more inclined to think that this may indeed be an actual EMU10K1x based card . If that is the case, I do not see why someone would go to the trouble of silkscreening the chip as FM801-AU and even having PCB markings that mention the FM801-AU . Was that Fortemedia chip so desirable at some point that such fakes would have made sense to make ?

The FM801 card layout is different and the IC is quadratic so I also think this is a fake, too. And there is no creative card with this layout, either. Try Crystal CS4280 driver instead as this IC was found on the chinese yamaha XG fake soundcards as well.

If this card is not based on a EMU10K1x and does not have an EEPROM, how is the PCI device ID faked ?

Do some PCI audio chips have an integrated (E)EPROM that allows programming a custom PCI device ID ?