VOGONS


First post, by Elia1995

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Hi, I finally found my PCI sound card which is a Sound Blaster PCI128 CT4750, but even though I found the right drivers for it in the vogons drivers archive, installed them and not having driver related issues, there comes a huge problem which I can't seem to know how to solve... whenever Windows 98 tries to "activate" it from the device manager... first when I boot it appears with a red cross, after a few hits on the "refresh" button the error appears...

The SBPCI interrupt has been routed incorrectly by the system.
AudioPCI inactive. Use Automatic Settings in the Device Manager.

I fought with that error the whole afternoon and evening yesterday and I don't understand how the hell I'm supposed to fix it... I tried to disable IRQ Steering from the PCI Bus properties, I tried everything from the BIOS (switch on/off PnP, setting manual and reserved every single IRQ one at a time and then I set it back to auto, I even tried to disable "Use IRQ for VGA" which apparently didn't nothing bad so I'm keeping it disabled for now...)

I dunno, guys... I really don't know how to fix that, I tried to disable the automatic settings it said which was already on, but I can't change the Interrupt manually, it just doesn't let me to... I also tried different PCI slots (as much as I could move that card around... it's very cramped inside that case...), please help 😢

I even formatted and reinstalled Windows 98 at least 4 times yesterday (I didn't lose anything, I didn't install anything in first place aside few DOS games I copy-pasted from my main PC via ethernet sharing...) and I even tried both Service Pack 2 and Unofficial 3.53, but nothing helped to solve this issue...

The motherboard is, as always, the ASUS A8V-XE, I can't get the HDA drivers to detect the hardware, thus I must use this sound card, I don't like playing Windows 98 games without sounds 😒

SMALL UPDATE: I managed to get it to work removing the SCSI controller, which is another PCI card I use for my 2 SCSI hard drives, obviously it can't be a permanent fix as I can't use my SCSI hard drives now... BUT it sounds awful... lemme explain I plugged it in my main PC as a microphone and enabled the "listening to device" to hear sounds off it as I can't unplug and re-plug the speaker surround set from each computer every minute, that way I can have sound off both computers with the same speakers and I can record the sounds of the Windows 98 PC (although I can't get the capture card to work yet), I hear a constant buzzing noise and the sounds sound... well it's like if you have a sound and add 20 dB to it and you hear it a bit "distorted" aswell... I hope it's an issue with it being plugged in my front panel mic on my main computer... I don't have another set of speakers to test directly in it and I can't fit my 5.1 in that sound card for obvious lack of 3.5mm slots on the card.
What can I do to fix the constant buzzing noise ? I hear it even in the BIOS screen...

Currently assembled vintage computers I own: 11

Most important ones:
A "modded" Olivetti M4 434 S (currently broken).
An Epson El Plus 386DX running MS-DOS 6.22 (currently broken).
Celeron Coppermine 1.10GHz on an M754LMRTP motherboard

Reply 1 of 5, by Elia1995

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Ok... now that I got back home and turned on the PC, the issue appeared again... now there's nothing else but the sound card in the PCI slots, what the heck is it conflicting with now ?!

Currently assembled vintage computers I own: 11

Most important ones:
A "modded" Olivetti M4 434 S (currently broken).
An Epson El Plus 386DX running MS-DOS 6.22 (currently broken).
Celeron Coppermine 1.10GHz on an M754LMRTP motherboard

Reply 2 of 5, by Jorpho

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At this point I would be concerned that you left something misconfigured in your BIOS. I might also be skeptical as to whether you selected the right drivers.

In situations like this, it is often useful to remove Windows from the equation entirely. I suggest downloading a version of Linux that will boot from a CD (or from a a USB stick, if your computer can do that); Knoppix is often useful in that regard. See if sound works from there. (Please do not bother unnecessarily installing Linux on your hard drive yet.) It could very well be that your card is somehow physically defective.

I hope it's an issue with it being plugged in my front panel mic on my main computer...

Yes, microphone ports often have a built-in signal boost. Sometimes you can disable it in the appropriate control panel. Also, try the Line In port.

I don't have another set of speakers to test directly in it

Even a crappy pair of earbuds ought to suffice for test purposes.

Reply 3 of 5, by clueless1

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Creative Labs still maintains official drivers:
http://support.creative.com/Downloads/welcome.aspx

Try them out.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
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Reply 4 of 5, by Elia1995

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I'm confused, guys...
weird things happen... now all I did was that I removed the previous drivers, I SHUT DOWN, unplugged the vga, plugged in the capture card and now both work !!! WHAT THE HELL ?

I didn't anything at all, I just shut down and restarted it, basically changing the "screen" and I even uninstalled the drivers and now I hear the sounds... (without buzzing, that issue was indeed the front panel mic in of my main PC)... now I don't know how to record the audio, but that's not an issue that concerns this topic 🤣

Although I just tried it with 2 DOS games and it sounds quite bad... the music at least, it sounds "off note"...

Currently assembled vintage computers I own: 11

Most important ones:
A "modded" Olivetti M4 434 S (currently broken).
An Epson El Plus 386DX running MS-DOS 6.22 (currently broken).
Celeron Coppermine 1.10GHz on an M754LMRTP motherboard

Reply 5 of 5, by xjas

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Sounds like a pretty standard 9x driver installation process to me. 😜 Glad you got it working.

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