Your AC97 codec seems to be VIA Vinyl VT1612? So you can try this driver 7.00b from member Soggi´s web: https://soggi.org/drivers/via.htm

Ydee wrote on 2023-08-18, 10:02:

Your AC97 codec seems to be VIA Vinyl VT1612? So you can try this driver 7.00b from member Soggi´s web: https://soggi.org/drivers/via.htm

You mean the second image? that is VIA VT-1621, not 1612. Or am i wrong?

SavageKurtain wrote on 2023-08-18, 10:58:

Ydee wrote on 2023-08-18, 10:02:

Your AC97 codec seems to be VIA Vinyl VT1612? So you can try this driver 7.00b from member Soggi´s web: https://soggi.org/drivers/via.htm

You mean the second image? that is VIA VT-1621, not 1612. Or am i wrong?

Ah, ok, i've found it! it's in the little angle of the last photo. I didn't noticed it, at first.

Anyway, does it has support for Soundblaster, for old DOS games?

Yes, it does. But some boards, especially if they are cheaper, lack an option to enable Soundblaster support it in the BIOS. If this is the case, then read here: Using VIA VT8231 southbridge for sound blaster pro emulation (edit : sound blaster emulation available using software !)

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 13:34:

Yes, it does. But some boards, especially if they are cheaper, lack an option to enable Soundblaster support it in the BIOS. If this is the case, then read here: Using VIA VT8231 southbridge for sound blaster pro emulation (edit : sound blaster emulation available using software !)

It seems that this board has option for Soundblaster, so i don't think there will be a problem. The only things lacking are audio drivers and USB support.

Did you try the drivers that Ydee posted above? They should work in Windows at least. They seem to be fairly new though (2007) and do not contain the DOS drivers anymore. For that, either use older ones from around 2002 or download the Dos drivers separately.

In my experience, these VIA audio drivers can be a pain - some versions will just not work with particular motherboards. I always have a handful of versions that I try one after another.

In the photo you posted above it looks like it has USB ports, you mean the USB isn't detected in Windows?

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 15:47:

Did you try the drivers that Ydee posted above? They should work in Windows at least. They seem to be fairly new though (2007) and do not contain the DOS drivers anymore. For that, either use older ones from around 2002 or download the Dos drivers separately.

In my experience, these VIA audio drivers can be a pain - some versions will just not work with particular motherboards. I always have a handful of versions that I try one after another.

In the photo you posted above it looks like it has USB ports, you mean the USB isn't detected in Windows?

It has USB ports, 2 in the back and 2 in the front. It detects keyboard, but not mouse.

You mean in DOS? If only the keyboard is detected in Windows, then the USB controller isn't properly installed, do you see it in the device manager?

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 16:11:

You mean in DOS? If only the keyboard is detected in Windows, then the USB controller isn't properly installed, do you see it in the device manager?

Ok.
I think i've found the problem. It supports USB keyboard, but not mouse.

So i need to find an used PS/2 mouse, so at least i can manage everything in a more simple way. Also, does Windows 98 SE has integrated USB driver? Because when i put an USB it does detect it, but i don't think there's a pre-installed driver.
I will see tomorrow if i can manage to do something, because for now i'm a bit blocked.

For that, either use older ones from around 2002 or download the Dos drivers separately.

Where can i find those?

Yes, Windows 98 has generic USB drivers that work with all VIA chipsets.

For DOS, there is another thing you could try - Bret Johnson's USB DOS drivers. They do not work with every USB mouse, but it's worth a shot.

Usage: Unzip the drivers to C:\usb, then load USBUHCI, then USBMOUSE.

If it doesn't work, try the updated USBMOUSE 1.3 driver from here: https://bretjohnson.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f= … &t=806&start=25

About the Audio drivers, try this one: https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … driverid=598598
I haven't tested that particular download, but it is version 2.20A from 2001 and should support VT8231. For DOS support you need to run install.exe from the DOS folder. You also need to download VIAFMTSR.COM separately, this file was left out by mistake in later DOS VIA drivers.

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 16:44:

Yes, Windows 98 has generic USB drivers that work with all VIA chipsets. […]
Show full quote

Yes, Windows 98 has generic USB drivers that work with all VIA chipsets.

For DOS, there is another thing you could try - Bret Johnson's USB DOS drivers. They do not work with every USB mouse, but it's worth a shot.

Usage: Unzip the drivers to C:\usb, then load USBUHCI, then USBMOUSE.

If it doesn't work, try the updated USBMOUSE 1.3 driver from here: https://bretjohnson.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f= … &t=806&start=25

About the Audio drivers, try this one: https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … driverid=598598
I haven't tested that particular download, but it is version 2.20A from 2001 and should support VT8231. For DOS support you need to run install.exe from the DOS folder. You also need to download VIAFMTSR.COM separately, this file was left out by mistake in later DOS VIA drivers.

Strange, it tells me that it is a dangerous site. Is it a false positive?
Also, looks like i've found a thread for the files 😀
VIA 686B AC'97 audio works really well in DOS (SB Pro stereo + OPL3 emulation!)

No, everything I got from there was clean so far. Just skip their driver updater nonsense. You could also go to a motherboard manufacturer site for any VIA board from the early 2000s and get audio drivers from there. Or browse archive.org for motherboard driver CD's.

And yes, the DOS drivers are independent from the Windows drivers. If you only need DOS drivers, you can download them separately. There are three different versions (1.09, 1.11 and 1.20), but the differences seems to be negligible.

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 17:30:

No, everything I got from there was clean so far. Just skip their driver updater nonsense. You could also go to a motherboard manufacturer site for any VIA board from the early 2000s and get audio drivers from there. Or browse archive.org for motherboard driver CD's.

And yes, the DOS drivers are independent from the Windows drivers. If you only need DOS drivers, you can download them separately. There are three different versions (1.09, 1.11 and 1.20), but the differences seems to be negligible.

Ok, thanks. When i manage to retrieve an old mouse, i'll try those things.
I will keep you updated.

SavageKurtain wrote on 2023-08-18, 18:20:

asdf53 wrote on 2023-08-18, 17:30:

No, everything I got from there was clean so far. Just skip their driver updater nonsense. You could also go to a motherboard manufacturer site for any VIA board from the early 2000s and get audio drivers from there. Or browse archive.org for motherboard driver CD's.

And yes, the DOS drivers are independent from the Windows drivers. If you only need DOS drivers, you can download them separately. There are three different versions (1.09, 1.11 and 1.20), but the differences seems to be negligible.

Ok, thanks. When i manage to retrieve an old mouse, i'll try those things.
I will keep you updated.

So, i've finally managed to retrieve a mouse with trackball, but for some reason Windows 98 doesn't find it, it says that "no ps/2 mouse with detected" and when i move it the PC beeps countinously.
Could it be a lack of drivers, or it is Plug n' Play and for some reason the PC ps/2 doesn't work? Maybe it's dirty?
If you think that the mouse doesn't work, well... I've tested it on Windows 10, and it worked.

EDIT: Silly me, i've plugged it in the keyboard socket!

So, i've managed to install everything, sound and USB support, but for some reason the DOS soundblaster audio doesn't work, which is pretty strange.
For example with Quake it works, but for some older games like Duke Nukem II it doesn't.
These are the BIOS settings:

Which should work, if i'm not wrong.

At first i installed the Win98 drivers with the Via220b drivers folder. Win98SE folder.
With this the normal audio worked, both for win98 games and Quake

When i tested Duke Nukem II, it didn't worked with audio, and for some reason another game, Angst: Rahz's revenge stuck, but for that i think the problem resides in the game.
So i decided to install the DOS legacy drivers, which were included in the packet. This was the procedure.

Sadly it doesn't seem to work. Did i set a wrong IRQ and DMA? It shouldn't, because Quake works perfectly, or does it uses a different sound approach?

Ok, i've found the problem.
When i installed the VIA DOS files it lacked the viafmtsr executable, which was necessary.

I think the Soundblaster emulation itself works, because now i have this problem, which is related to memory.

How can i solve it? I've checked "mem", and i have 522 kbytes.

EDIT:
Turns out that you can use only DOS drivers on Win98, instead of both. Anyway, i still have that memory problem.
Here's the autoexec.bat text, if someone can help me.
It's strange, because it should load those two COMs on High Memory, but for some reason it loads them on conventional one, which is very strange.

I've finally managed to find a solution.
Probably not the best one, but the use of QEMM managed to move some conventional memory files to high memory, so i finally had some space for games which require 560kbytes. Not the best solution, but doing it manually it's kind of tedious.
Anyway, thanks for all the help with audio drivers and such. Now the PC works perfectly 😀

I've encountered another problem.
I need to have CD audio, but the motherboard doesn't seem to have a CD-IN socket. I've found 4 pins near the vt1612 chip, but i don't think those are the right ones, and in other places there are more pins, so... Those are the only ones who look similar to a CD-IN port.

Does that help? https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/via-epia

I don't know if that's your exact model, but it looks very similar. According to the manual, the connector from your photo should indeed be the CD line-in connector.

About the conventional memory issue, did you add the necessary stuff to your config.sys? Himem.sys and Emm386.exe need to be loaded, I believe. There is also a more verbose output switch for the "mem" command, I believe it was "mem /c". This is much more helpful for debugging, because it will list every item in detail that is using memory, and whether it was loaded into high memory or not.

Something else, some games will fail to load with the VIA sound drivers, Duke Nukem 3D for example. There is a fix for that, try to launch it with DOS32AWE: DOS32AWE - DOS/4G compatible DOS Extender with Sound Blaster AWEUTIL MIDI synthesizer support for Protected mode,VIASB