Did you also try it with diagnose.exe / aweutil / mixerset? Still doesn't explain the card not showing up in the PnP list though.

There is another thread with a similar problem (not the same). Re: Help with the SB-CT3670

Corrupted EEPROM most likely. Can be reflashed to AWE64 with Dell utility. It seems to be very common problem with CT3670. The card might work under Windows XP though.

The Serpent Rider wrote:

Corrupted EEPROM most likely. Can be reflashed to AWE64 with Dell utility.

Following discussion in this thread R.I.P. SoundBlaster AWE32 I ran that eeprom flash utility with my CT3670 plugged in the PcChips + Pentium 166 system a moment ago.
The results being that the flashing utility wrote: "No PnP card detected, operation aborted"....
I tried removing RAM chips and swapping the ISA slot for the other were the card would go without colliding with the CPU cooler, and the same.

I am tinking about trying again on a different MB, but I suspect the result will be the same...

UPDATE

So I whipped out my cheap multimeter and got cracking. I checked all traces that appear the tiniest bit susiptious (slighthly scratched, for example) and it was all good. Then I checked the capacitors and found after some fiddling that maybe 8 caps of overall 31 are dead, or poorly charging. So I desoldered them, and Im gonna get replacements on Monday.

Stay tuned, maybe that will bring the old CT3670 back to life....

UPDATE 14/04/2019 dreary evening

Ok so in preparation for the repair of my AWE32 CT3670, I got and mapped out the caps on the PCB, see picture below. Getting to buy full stock for the board tommorow and repair it through the week's evenings...

assasincz wrote:

Stay tuned, maybe that will bring the old CT3670 back to life

Replacing bad capacitors did not help, thinking about what to try text ...

Have you tried cleaning the edge connector with a pencil eraser? Could be that there is just too much oxidation or other contaminants for it to get a good connection.

cyclone3d wrote:

Have you tried cleaning the edge connector

Oh yes, I cleaned them and ruled the edge connectors out as being the soruce of the issue....

Make sure none of the legs on the AWE chip are bent and touching each other. If any look even slightly "off" try poking them gently to see if the leg has broken free of the solder pad. This happens fairly easily.

Also, get a high powered magnifier and check the solder joints on the back of the card. If any look like the pin has separated from the solder, it will need reflowed.

Just to check... if you retest the capacitors on the board that you checked before, do you get the expected result? If you're still get strange readings there could be another failed component on the board (or measuring them in circuit may have given some false readings in the first place).

Ok guys, great news,

Thinking about next troubleshooting steps for a while, I turned to baking the CT3670 in the oven to reflow the solder - starting from room temp, I let the temperature rise to cca 200°C and once the thermostat cut in, I'd let the card sit for few more minutes and then let it cool back.
Now the computer successfully detects the card - Creative SB32 PnP !! 😎

One downside is that I won't be able to use MIC IN or LINE IN anytime soon 😊 but I think I'm gonna be able to replace these

I am chuffed to bits!
The card sounds fine and seems to be fully functional[/color]

Wow! That's one way to do it!

🤣

Awesome, that's great you got it working again 😀

I'm sure you can replace the ports with some from a less good card?

Thanks for making this thread - I'd forgotten about it, but before I bought my CT3620, I bought a CT3670 and I am actually seeing the same problem. There's not much on the card to go wrong, so reflowing the solder is my next option too... This should be fun 😁

Ozzuneoj wrote:

Wow! That's one way to do it!

🤣

most likely temporarily healed capacitors, plus electrolytics dried in the process, I give that card few weeks of life 😀

I've just got my non-detected CT3670 back to detecting in Windows by hand resoldering the main chip, but it's still not working 100% correctly. The PC locks up when it tries to do AWE-related things, so I've removed the RAM sockets and 3.5mm jacks and put it into the oven to see if that gets it going.

While removing the RAM sockets, I noticed that the solder on the board behaved more like lead-free stuff when de-soldering. Adding a bit of quality leaded solder made it much easier to remove.

Swapped out the good RAM sockets from this CT3670 onto my CT3620 with broken RAM sockets, so it's already been a useful way to spend the afternoon 😀

Thermalwrong wrote:

I've just got my non-detected CT3670 back to detecting in Windows by hand resoldering the main chip,

While removing the RAM sockets, I noticed that the solder on the board behaved more like lead-free stuff when de-soldering. Adding a bit of quality leaded solder made it much easier to remove.

interesting, so its the solder after all, low quality + oxidation, either came apart with age (electromigration, cracked) or whiskers
use flux to refresh solder joints, makes a world of difference

rasz_pl wrote:

I give that card few weeks of life 😀

I will be giving updates on the status of the card and how it holds up. It is now installed in my MMX 200Mhz build, replacing SB Live card, works fine so far and it will be used well as a primary sound driver for my retro gaming.

Ovening my CT3670 card (and recapping after) did not help - it detects now, but the AWE parts don't work and the 16-bit audio plays with some weird noise. It was worth a go 😁

Thermalwrong wrote:

It was worth a go 😁

One problem at a time...detected and somewhat working card is detaily better than a dead card.
What did you do already apart from oven baking and recaping?

There has been a development,

So I actually bought another CT3670 card - this one was working fine and had no problems, but had no metal bracket and metal sheild around the Gameport connector.
I swapped the bracket and shield from my "baked" CT3670 and installed it in my 200MMX build.
As I did that, I decided to further refurbish the "baked" card.

I desoldered the melted LINE OUT and MIC connectors and ordered replacements off Ebay - these will take a while to get here.
In the meantime, I also replaced yet another two capacitors (470uF/16V) who I noticed were damaged (but on second inspection, only the outer jacket was torn).
Then I set to replace the Gameport metal shield (took one from a spare connector) and fashioned a blank metal bracket I got also off Ebay into a faceplate bracket. It only is held in place by the two standoffs of the Gameport connector, but should be good enough.

Once I solder in the jack connectors I ordered, I think this card is done could work for a few more years. Maybe I will install it in my 486, replacing an SB16 (whichever sounds better)...

So last update (I think)
Two months after ordering, the jack connectors finally arrived - I soldered them in immediately, and tested funcitonality of LINE IN and MIC - all works just fine.
Oh well, it has been quote a ride - I now have one regular CT3670 re-incarante....