First post, by Keiji Dosha
Hi all, long time lurker here (thanks to great content and valuable insights), now turned member as I don't have a clue anymore and seek your advice.
Following this post I've acquired an MS-6330-50A (MSI K7t Turbo2 Rev 5.0) and proceeded to solder an ISA connector in order to pair it with an AWE64 Value (CT4520).
As it happens said card is not working at the moment (I'm on it, I suspect a corrupting ROM - it did show up once in another system but with garbled audio, other times it's as good as dead) so I tried a few other cards; some cards seem to work, they are recognised under Windows 98 yet I don't remember if I've tested the sound output. Lately, I've discovered a few things :
- It seems the AWE64 is one of the few late ISA cards which require the OSC (14.31818 MHz clock signal on pin B30) to run, and it appears that the YMF719 does as well as it's routed to the chip;
- The motherboard does not have the OSC working (there is a quartz oscillator, but the traces don't connect due to a few missing caps and resistors);
- The YMF719 is seen and installed automatically by Win98, but only FM works (no PCM sound, MPU-401/Joystick/Microphone untested) and it doesn't show in POST either.
I've tried soldering a jumper cable that basically routes through the missing components, bridging the oscillator to the ISA slot, and if I remember right, it outputs a clean enough waveform at about 1.05-1.1V.
Another motherboard was measured with an OSC pin at more like 1.3V. I couldn't find a reference spec online.
I've tried the YMF719 again with the completed routing, to no avail. I've had a look in the BIOS, tested enabling Legacy Sound Blaster and the such (different from Onboard Sound which remains deactivated).
I've yet to try official drivers or DOS mode, but I don't suppose it'd make a difference. And this is not the card I'd like to put in this system anyway.
I'm stumped as to whether this board can actually be made to work with my Sound Blaster, or if I'd be better off getting a good PIII or one of the rare compatible P4 mobos - trying to max out a PCI Voodoo3 here. Tomorrow I'll try getting the AWE64 to work long enough to flash, and test some other sound cards in-depth.
I hope we can crack this nut together, considering the wonders seen here (e.g. CpuSpd) I'm confident it's not out of our reach. You guys rock !
PS : I've thought about replying to the topic above, but I didn't want to necropost and I'm not sure if it's exactly on-topic. Feel free to merge otherwise.
