Well, I can cross one thing off my list... the SCB-55 DOES work 😁 😁 😁

Went out to Best Buy and got a (of all things) a PCI 5.1 card that has a waveblaster header on it! It was $30, but eh, I was in a rush. It contains VIA chips on it (I'll take a pic if you guys really want me to). http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId … d=1110267355627

So, I tried installing it in my XP Athlon machine and no go.. grrr
Tried installing it in my dos box in win98se and no go at first... I was this close --><-- to just chunking it all back in the box and writing my ebay friend an ole nasty letter... but THEN I figured to open up ALL the mixer settings.. and unmute ALL.. and wouldn't you know it.. my SCB-55 is for SOME MESSED UP REASON.. mapped to the "VIDEO OUT"??!?!?!? But I unmuted it and wa la! 😁

So.. now it's back on my SB16 and I did 5u3's advice and commented out ALL the lines in my Autoexec/Config files and I STILL can't get it to run in DOS6.22 with Doom!!

So

A) What are the Autoexec/config settings I need
B) What's a good MS-DOS6.22 SB16 driver set
C) If I have to, what's the beset Sound Blaster ISA card to get?

Slowing but surely I'll figure this crap out.

Oh and for what it's worth, my SB16 is etched with "CT1740" but a label on the back side says "CT1730"? Huh?

Good job, I'm glad it works. Based on your post, I have an idea:

C:\DRIVERS\SB16\SB16SET /M:220 /VOC:220 /CD:220 /MIDI:220 /TREBLE:0 /LINE:220
C:\DRIVERS\SB16\SBCONFIG /s

These lines should be in your autoexec.bat file according to my manual. They should unmute the midi mixer settings. Give them a try.

Still a no go 🙁

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

Well, I can cross one thing off my list... the SCB-55 DOES work 😁 😁 😁

Very good thing you made sure of that first. 😁 The VIA PCI sound card doesn't look bad either, maybe it'll come in handy sometimes.

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

So.. now it's back on my SB16 and I did 5u3's advice and commented out ALL the lines in my Autoexec/Config files and I STILL can't get it to run in DOS6.22 with Doom!!

Strange. Looks like the SB16 is the one to blame.

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

A) What are the Autoexec/config settings I need

Your config files look very nice - good work! 😀 The only strange thing are the commented out DIAGNOSE and MIXERSET entries in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. Maybe you'll need these when you have loaded the Creative drivers in CONFIG.SYS. (Sorry I can't help very much with this Creative driver stuff - haven't used those for years)

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

B) What's a good MS-DOS6.22 SB16 driver set

Probably the official DOS drivers from the Creative website (only driver #2 is needed in your case).
However, in my own opinion (might not be shared by others 😉) the Creative DOS drivers are unnecessary crap that isn't needed anyways, except for Creative's own demo programs.

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

C) If I have to, what's the beset Sound Blaster ISA card to get?

Something from the CT17xx series. Newer cards might have problems with MIDI and PnP cards are slightly more work to set up.

Mike 01Hawk wrote:

Oh and for what it's worth, my SB16 is etched with "CT1740" but a label on the back side says "CT1730"? Huh?

Taken from the Creative knowledge base:

CT1730 (Sound Blaster16 non CSP, Panasonic interface)
CT1740 (Sound Blaster16 CSP, Panasonic interface)

Obviously the only difference is the CSP chip. Probably they just used the same PCB for both cards, to reduce costs.

Well, we'll soon know if my old sb16 that I originally spent like ~$200 I belive is the culperate...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … em=110004255375 😁

CT1745a for $8 shipped

The new soundcard (CT1745a) was actually a CT1740... and.. just installed it annnnd.. NOTHING.

GAWD%(*#$(&@#(*&%@#($(@*#$&(*@#&$(*#@$&

Do you have joystick/gamepad hooked to sb gameport? I heard that may be problem with sb mpu401 port sometimes when joystick is plugged.

Nope.

I'm starting to think its the mobo since it has an onboard Crystal mix (but it's disabled in the Bios). Maybe just something funky w/ that Packard Bell Multimedia R515 pc

I agree. SB cards easily get broken (my CT1750 died yesterday 🙄), however two broken cards on the same machine seems a bit strange.
It could well be the mainboard or something else installed in the R515. Do you have the possibility to test the SB+SCD15 combo in another rig?