Ok, I sold a BTC 1815 ISA sound card recently on eBay that I know was 100% working as i've been using it up until recently, but the buyer says music doesn't work at all with any DOS game and only the sound effects work! It uses an OPTi 82C925 chip along with an AD1845JP chip and is Sound Blaster Pro, Adlib, OPTiFM, WSS and OPL3 compatible, but the buyer says none of these options work for music.

I've suggested the following:

1. Check the IRQ assigned to the sound card is lower than 10 with no conflicts. This can possibly be changed in the motherboards BIOS or by using the OPTi setup utility or by changing ISA slot (there are no jumpers).

2. Download and try different version drivers and use VXD over WDM or Direct Sound drivers for Windows 95/98 for DOS mode compatibility.

3. Check to see if the driver has added the "SET BLASTER" line in the Autoexec.bat file or manually add it if it's not there.

These are usually things I normally check when using ISA sound cards and I don't usually have any issues. What else can be checked? Oh and the buyer has avoided answering any questions about what kind of hardware he's using it with (which I find a bit odd).

I can only assume it's either a compatibility issue with his hardware, it's not setup/installed correctly or the sound card has been messed up somehow. I've accepted the return and I know it's going to work unless something has happened to it. I just find it strange how he wouldn't answer any questions related to IRQ's or even the hardware he's using it with (motherboards, processor and PSU etc.). Not even sure what version of Windows he's been trying it with or if he's using pure DOS or just command prompt within Windows etc..

What else would you guys have suggested? I suppose it's even possible he just doesn't know how to properly setup an old ISA sound card.

I'm really hoping it comes back in the same immaculate condition complete with original box, disks and manual too! I'll also be visually inspecting the board before installing it again.