First post, by Ace
I picked up a CT3600 SoundBlaster 32 today without any RAM in the SIMM slots. I want to load a better soundfont into the SoundBlaster 32 because, let's face it, the default soundfont is crap, so I pulled out the two 2MB RAM sticks in my Packard Bell Legend 316SX(it's the only thing I have here with 30-pin SIMMs) and stuck 'em in the SoundBlaster 32's SIMM slots. I don't know what's wrong with this sound card, but it only recognizes half the RAM I put in it. With both SIMMs, AWE Control shows 2MB of soundfont RAM(this CT3600 has zero on-board RAM, FYI), but where things make no sense for me is what happens when I use just one SIMM. If I use one SIMM, no matter which of the two SIMM slots I use, the SoundBlaster 32 does not recognize the SIMM at all.
Now, the plastic tabs on the SIMM slots to hold the SIMMs in place almost all broke off(only one tab is still there). I'm using masking tape in order to hold the SIMMs down, but no matter how many times I try, I can only get the SoundBlaster 32 to recognize 2MB of RAM. What gives?
Another thing about this particular SoundBlaster 32: like the CT3990 SoundBlaster AWE32, the CT3600 SoundBlaster 32 has empty solder spots for a YMF289 and YAC516. How does that work? What happens to the on-board CQM if a YMF289 is soldered onto the sound card?