First post, by MarkClarke
Hello! I've been a long time lurker here, as this forum has been an invaluable resource to me when troubleshooting old PC equipment. I've cracked and decided to make an account due to a mystifying issue I've been experiencing with a salvaged AWE64 soundblaster value, model CT4520. I've installed it into an Asus P2-99 motherboard with windows 95 (yes, I know it's not exactly an era appropriate OS for the motherboard/processor combo in question). I also apologize if this has been posted to the wrong forum, as I'm not entirely sure where to turn to for this issue.
The issue - If I don't have the MFBEN jumper installed, I can use the card without any issues under windows 95, no problem. With the jumper in place, the system throws up a non maskable interrupt error on boot, followed by an I/O lockup - I have a window of what looks like a single power cycle to press f1 or f2, past that it becomes unresponsive to keyboard input.
The error message I'm receiving after it posts & self-tests memory is always the following:
"I/O CHANNEL CHECK - CHECKING FOR SEGMENT...
OFFENDING SEGMENT:
F000
PRESS f1 TO DISABLE NMI, F2 TO REBOOT"
Is this card defective by chance? I did pull it from a system with an exploded power supply... So I wouldn't be too surprised. However, the fact that it functions perfectly fine with no audible defects when no jumper is installed leads me to believe it could be a configuration issue on my end, but I could be easily wrong. I read online (probably from this forum) that it also could be an issue with the 512 kb memory installed onto the board, but I'm not sure. Other parts from the same exploded system appear to be working just fine, so i'm assuming this card has a greater chance of being unaffected by the defective PSU. The lack of any specific troubleshooting information online for this issue also leads me to believe this could indeed be a component-level hardware issue, so i have very mixed feelings towards just throwing the towel in on this card.
I'll admit, I don't REALLY know what I'm doing with old hardware like this. I've been spoiled with the convenience of setting up modern PC's. I've never had to resolve any IRQ conflicts or deal with any ISA interfaces in my entire life, so any advice is greatly appreciated.
I unfortunately don't have a huge surplus of parts I could swap out here, other than a questionable, untested pentium 3 that was pulled from the previously mentioned exploded system & a few spare SDRAM sticks. This is the only ISA soundblaster I currently have in my possession, which definitely complicates troubleshooting a bit. I'd like to see if it's fully functional before determining if it's a dud. Worst comes to worst, I wouldn't mind using it without MP-401 emulation until i can find a more suitable replacement.
Thanks again in advance for any advice! I'll keep trying different troubleshooting steps on my own, however I can't emphasize how much I appreciate any help at all.