Thanks for the info, I have a bootable Windows 98 SE usb drive (thanks to Phil) and will try that first.
Thank you all.

First off, thank you so much for writing this tool. A compact DOS machine like the HP t5710 makes it a lot more feasible to have a permanent setup, and having SoundBlaster sound on it is an awesome feature.

I've been trying to get this to work for a few hours today on a t5710 (with CF storage), and I keep running into crashing programs. I've tried this on both MS-DOS mode on Windows 98 (with PCL's easy DOS mode), and FreeDos 1.2, and the issues were similar. I'm trying to play the game Raptor: Call of the Shadows, and it crashes with the attached error message once I enable SoundBlaster audio. I've tried various addresses, but the issues remain. I've also tried to patch the .exe with DOS32/a's sb tool, and no luck there either. If I test the audio with SetBlast, I can hear a testing sound, though.

Any idea how I could get this to work? I'm kind of at a loss here.

janlugt wrote on 2020-05-21, 01:53:

First off, thank you so much for writing this tool. A compact DOS machine like the HP t5710 makes it a lot more feasible to have a permanent setup, and having SoundBlaster sound on it is an awesome feature.

I've been trying to get this to work for a few hours today on a t5710 (with CF storage), and I keep running into crashing programs. I've tried this on both MS-DOS mode on Windows 98 (with PCL's easy DOS mode), and FreeDos 1.2, and the issues were similar. I'm trying to play the game Raptor: Call of the Shadows, and it crashes with the attached error message once I enable SoundBlaster audio. I've tried various addresses, but the issues remain. I've also tried to patch the .exe with DOS32/a's sb tool, and no luck there either. If I test the audio with SetBlast, I can hear a testing sound, though.

Any idea how I could get this to work? I'm kind of at a loss here.

Hi !
Maybe its due to IRQ settings. First of all, try to use IRQ 5 and if it doesn't work, try IRQ 7.
For that, just before calling VIASGBCFG, but SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 or A220 I7 D1 T4.

Next, if noone of these settings works, go into your Bios (Del keyboard i presume at boot), and deactivate the following :
- Serial port
- Parallel port

And do it again. It should work.

Best regards,
Philippe Dubois

I'm having difficulty in loading it to the upper memory...
Using a HP T5710 with Windows 98SE and Phil´s MSDOS easy mode...
Any ideas? Thanks

Prez wrote on 2020-05-21, 04:36:

Hi ! Maybe its due to IRQ settings. First of all, try to use IRQ 5 and if it doesn't work, try IRQ 7. For that, just before cal […]
Show full quote

Hi !
Maybe its due to IRQ settings. First of all, try to use IRQ 5 and if it doesn't work, try IRQ 7.
For that, just before calling VIASGBCFG, but SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 or A220 I7 D1 T4.

Next, if noone of these settings works, go into your Bios (Del keyboard i presume at boot), and deactivate the following :
- Serial port
- Parallel port

And do it again. It should work.

Best regards,
Philippe Dubois

Actually, it was the network card that was causing the conflict, regardless of whether I was selecting IRQ 5 or 7 for the sound card (I had tried both before). Since it's woefully insecure to connect these machines to the internet, it's probably better to have it disabled anyway. Thanks for the suggestions!

I have a Neoware CA10 thinclient, and it unfortunately has the VIA VT1612A sound chip, and VIA VT8235M South Bridge, but apparently the VIA VT1612A sound chip can work under DOS, but unfortunately the Neoware CA10 thinclient does not have the option in BIOS to enable "Sound Blaster Emulation" I am wondering if VIASBCFG can be modified to enable "Sound Blaster Emulation" with this thinclient?

JazeFox wrote on 2020-05-11, 15:33:

The sound works in Windows 9x with original drivers installed? What are you loading in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT? What is the […]
Show full quote

RichB93 wrote on 2020-05-10, 18:17:

Just tried on my NEC Versa C140 laptop (which has been stuck on a pile for ages because it's not the most amazing spec, but this would make it somewhat useful), and it initialised okay (VT8231), plus the FM Emulation loaded, but I couldn't get any sound output sadly. Anything I can do to help troubleshoot?

The sound works in Windows 9x with original drivers installed?
What are you loading in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?
What is the codec's base address? (you can checkit it in VIASBCFG at run time, the firt line, at the end, somethig like: Base: [xxxx]
You can also run this to dump PCI devs:
http://bearwindows.zcm.com.au/pci.zip

Run PCI.EXE>PCILOG.TXT
and attach the log here.

Thanks for the reply! I go the machine fully re-installed (I was testing from a bootable USB previously via Plop boot manager), and can confirm that DOOM is working in pure DOS with FM and SoundBlaster audio... I just had to use SET BLASTER to make sure the card was on a different non standard address (I used A220 I7 D0).

This is so cool! Thanks for this.

JazeFox wrote on 2020-04-20, 18:03:

Following advise on this post: Using VIA VT8231 southbridge for sound blaster pro emulation (edit : sound blaster emulation avai […]
Show full quote

Following advise on this post: Using VIA VT8231 southbridge for sound blaster pro emulation (edit : sound blaster emulation available using software !) I open a new thread in Sound sub-forum for this tool. Thanks to Prez for all the info and testing.

VIASBCFG is a little tool to enable and configure the SBPro feature in compatible VIA chipsets: VT8231 and VT82C686/A/B, where there are no BIOS options available to do so.

(download link at the end of this post).

- Features:

• VIA chipset detection
• Supported VIA southbridges: VT8231, VT82C686/A/B
• Enable / Disable SBPro feature
• Optionally Configure resource settings: SB addr, IRQ, DMA, MPU addr, Joyport addr via BLASTER environment variable. If no BLASTER var is found, default settings are: A220 I5 D1 P330 J200.
• To disable MPU port, set P0, to disable Joyport, set J0. (for boards without DB15 port)
• Set VIA AC97 Codec volume and SB Mixer volume

- Usage: run VIASBCFG /H to get usage help. But the easy steps are:

1. (optional) Set BLASTER environment variable with your preferred settings. Example: SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 P0 J0
2. Run VIASBCFG

- This tool does NOT provide FM/Adlib emulation, so if you need it, you must
run VIAFMTSR after VIASBCFG. (VIAUDIO.COM is not needed).

- This tool may contain bugs. Use at your own risk.

- This tool has been tested successfully with these systems:

• VIA EPIA-V mini ITX board (VT8231 southbridge)
• HP T5500 Thin Client (VT8231 southbridge)
• Unbranded SBC board with VIA C3 533A CPU (VT8231 southbridge)
• HP T5710 Thin client (VT8231 southbridge) - Thanks to PhilsComputerLab
• Motherboard with VT82C686B southbridge - Thanks to Prez

- If a game or program chrashes trying to play audio, it could be a resource conflict problem. In that case, try to reserve that resources in the BIOS. Change the "Resources controlled by" to "Manual" in BIOS (PnP/PCI section) and change desired IRQ/DMA setting to "Legacy ISA" (some BIOSes) or to "Reserved" (some other BIOSes). If your BIOS does not have that options available, try to configure different IRQ/DMA resources in BLASTER var and re-run VIASBCFG.

----

Thank you JazeFox for making this utility. I can confirm it is working well on my HP 5710 Thin Client in many DOS games, booted to pure DOS 7.
I have tried some of the configuration options and the IRQ,DMA,Address functionality works well. The codec volume (/c option) works but the SB mixer option (/v) seems to have no effect no matter what it is changed to. I tested it in Wolf3d with SB digital effects and the FM sound. This machine has the VT8231 southbridge and the VT1612A codec. Perhaps this combination cannot change the SB volume?

This machine has the PC speaker sound sent through the southbridge/codec and it is incredibly loud compared to the SB output! If you are interested in any suggestions for features, perhaps an option to set the mixer level for the PC speaker could be added to your list! I looked over the datasheets and it did not look like I could change it using PCIset on the PCI registers. I am happy to do some testing if you need.

Thank you again for the tool!

Hello !

I'm using HP T5710 with these beautifull driver on MS-DOS 6.22. I had one issue with upper memory on this computer with these drivers : when the LAN chipset is enable, VIAFMSTR is loaded in conventionnal memory (I have 560K free) and when I disabled my LAN chipset, VIAFMSTR is loaded in upper memory (I have 598K free).

Have you seen this issue too ?

Thanks you for these drivers !

------------------------------------------

Edit :

It works with this Config.sys :

FILES=20
BUFFERS=20
LASTDRIVE=H
[menu]
menuitem=EMU, Expanded memory + Mouse + USBKEY
menuitem=XMU, Extended memory + Mouse + USBKEY
menuitem=CMU, Conventional Memory only + Mouse + USBKEY
menuitem=EM, Expanded memory + Mouse
menuitem=XM, Extended memory + Mouse
menuitem=CM, Conventional memory only + Mouse
menudefault=EM,5
[EMU]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B0000-B7FF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\usbaspi.sys /v /u
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\di1000dd.sys
[XMU]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\usbaspi.sys /v /u
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\di1000dd.sys
[CMU]
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\usbaspi.sys /v /u
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\di1000dd.sys
[EM]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B0000-B7FF
[XM]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
[CM]

This tool is awesome, thank you!

After spending a weekend wrestling with an Asus CUV4X motherboard and an Aztech sound galaxy ISA card, I scrapped the ISA for the onboard SBPro emulation and it's working perfectly! I triple boot Dos 6.22/Win98se/Win2000 for Retrogaming and making floppies for my other retro machines.
Tested with SimCity 2000 (DOS) and TEST-SBP. Sound FX & FM Music sound great.

Setup details below, in case they help others:

South Bridge System Chipset: VIA VT82C686A

BIOS Settings

Onboard Peripheral Resource Control
Onboard AC97 Modem Controller - Auto
Onboard AC97 Audio Controller - Auto
Onboard Legacy Audio Support - Enabled

SB Emulation - Enabled
SB I/O Base 220h-22Fh
SB IRQ - IRQ5
SB DMA - DMA 1
MPU 401 - Enabled
MPU 401 I/O Base - 330h-333h
FM Enable - Enabled

PCI Configuration
PCI/PNP ISA IRQ Resource Exclusion - IRQ5 = ISA
PCI/PNP ISA DMA Resource Exclusion - DMA1 = ISA

Autoexec.bat
SET BLASTER= A220 I5 D1 T4 P330
viasbcfg.com
lh viafmtsr.com

JazeFox wrote:

Is there any possibility to add volume control for CD-in and other inputs?

I am trying to chain two sound cards; an YMF744 for FM, and the integrated VT8231 for SB PCM only. My motherboard has a CD-in header so i want to internally connect the YMF744 Line-out to the CD-In on the motherboard, but it seems that input is muted by default in DOS.

Thanks in advance!

RoberMC wrote on 2020-09-28, 00:38:

Is there any possibility to add volume control for CD-in and other inputs?

I am trying to chain two sound cards; an YMF744 for FM, and the integrated VT8231 for SB PCM only. My motherboard has a CD-in header so i want to internally connect the YMF744 Line-out to the CD-In on the motherboard, but it seems that input is muted by default in DOS.

Yes, a new version with full mixer support is planned for release very soon.

Tool updated to v0.12d

Changelog:

• Added detection of HP T5710 thin client. When this system is detected,
  default IRQ value if BLASTER variable is missing, is set to 7 instead of 5
  to avoid conflicts with USB controller.
• Added codec volume controls for Wave/PCM (/VWnn), CD (/VCnn), Line (/VLnn),
  Mic (/VMnn), PC-Speaker (/VPnn) and FM emulation volume (/VFnn). Remember
  that FM will only work if VIAFMTSR.COM software emulation TSR is loaded.
  Valid values for 'nn' = 00 to 99.
  Default volumes: Master:90%, Wave:80%, FM:70%, PC:50%, CD, Line, Mic: 00%
• Removed Codec master vol / SB Mixer master vol duality, to avoid confusion
  Now, only /Vnn is used for Master volume (uses codec).

Some notes (Q&A):

Q: After running VIAFMTSR.COM volume levels are changing! (e.g.: CD-in)...
A: VIAFMTSR has its own volume routines, even when running a game that uses
FM only, some volume levels like CD-in or master, are affected. Nothing
can be done there unless VIAFMTSR.COM is patched to avoid this. If you
are not running a game or program using FM, avoid loading VIAFMTSR.

Q: I change PC-Speaker volume using /VPnn but it's not changing actually
A: That option is useful only when PC-Speaker signal is connected to the
codec, like on thin clients like the HP T5710 or T5500. If you have your
speaker connected to the usual PC-Speaker header of your motherboard,
this option won't work.

The download link is updated at the end of the first post:
VIASBCFG - VIA SBPro configuration tool for VIA VT8231 & VT82C686/A/B chipsets (v0.12d)

JazeFox wrote on 2020-09-29, 08:13:

Tool updated to v0.12d […]
Show full quote

Tool updated to v0.12d

Changelog:

• Added detection of HP T5710 thin client. When this system is detected,
  default IRQ value if BLASTER variable is missing, is set to 7 instead of 5
  to avoid conflicts with USB controller.
• Added codec volume controls for Wave/PCM (/VWnn), CD (/VCnn), Line (/VLnn),
  Mic (/VMnn), PC-Speaker (/VPnn) and FM emulation volume (/VFnn). Remember
  that FM will only work if VIAFMTSR.COM software emulation TSR is loaded.
  Valid values for 'nn' = 00 to 99.
  Default volumes: Master:90%, Wave:80%, FM:70%, PC:50%, CD, Line, Mic: 00%
• Removed Codec master vol / SB Mixer master vol duality, to avoid confusion
  Now, only /Vnn is used for Master volume (uses codec).

Some notes (Q&A):

Q: After running VIAFMTSR.COM volume levels are changing! (e.g.: CD-in)...
A: VIAFMTSR has its own volume routines, even when running a game that uses
FM only, some volume levels like CD-in or master, are affected. Nothing
can be done there unless VIAFMTSR.COM is patched to avoid this. If you
are not running a game or program using FM, avoid loading VIAFMTSR.

Q: I change PC-Speaker volume using /VPnn but it's not changing actually
A: That option is useful only when PC-Speaker signal is connected to the
codec, like on thin clients like the HP T5710 or T5500. If you have your
speaker connected to the usual PC-Speaker header of your motherboard,
this option won't work.

The download link is updated at the end of the first post:
VIASBCFG - VIA SBPro configuration tool for VIA VT8231 & VT82C686/A/B chipsets (v0.12d)

Great, thanks a lot !!

Best regards
Philippe Dubois

Hello,
thank you very much for VIASBCFG, it's awesome! 😁

On my HP T5710 I have a problem with Hexen when VIAFMTSR is loaded: the game hangs after the DOS4GW screen. No problems if only VIASBCFG is loaded (but of course I get only sfx).
Any suggestions? Thank you!

Scandy wrote on 2020-10-11, 08:29:

Hello, thank you very much for VIASBCFG, it's awesome! :D […]
Show full quote

Hello,
thank you very much for VIASBCFG, it's awesome! 😁

On my HP T5710 I have a problem with Hexen when VIAFMTSR is loaded: the game hangs after the DOS4GW screen. No problems if only VIASBCFG is loaded (but of course I get only sfx).
Any suggestions? Thank you!

My first reaction was "tough luck", because you need the game, the mainboard and the FM emulator software to work together for music synthesis on this kind of system. It has no kind of hardware synthesizer. It is very likely that Hexen hangs on the first access to the FM ports that would need to be handled by an FM emulator like VIAFMTSR (I don't know about any other FM emulators for VIA chipsets, though, and I doubt any other emulator is publicly available). If VIAFMTSR is not loaded, the computer does not even try to call the TSR and thus does not crash.

But there are more variables in the equation than just the game, the hardware and the FM emulator, most prominently the memory manager (EMM386/QEMM/JEMM/just HIMEM/none at all). The FM emulator is 16-bit real mode code that can run in either real mode or (under control of a memory manager) Virtual 8086 mode. Hexen on the other hand is 32-bit protected mode code. If a 32-bit DPMI server is installed (like provided by Windows in the DOS window or by CWSDPMI), the DPMI server handles all of the mode switching stuff. If no memory manager is installed at all, DOS/4GW handles memory allocation and mode switching all by itself. If an EMM386-like memory manager is installed, DOS/4GW and EMM386 (or QEMM, JEMM, whatever floats your boat) cooperate in managing processor modes and virtual DOS memory (like the UMBs). Even if one of the setups doesn't work reliably on your system, another configuration might work.

Thank you.
I've already tried to disable music in Hexen setup, and also to set a different IRQ, but with no luck: if VIAFMTSR is loaded, Hexen will not work. This is strange because Philscomputerlab and other users have successfully tested Doom with the same config.

EDIT: problem solved!
It was some hw/sw conflict.
I had to specify custom SET BLASTER parameters and to disable in bios the parallel port. Thank you!

Hello,
there is a way/option to make the line-in input to be played in the output?
This is useful for MT-32.

Thank you!

EDIT: Done! It was the MIC volume on my T5710 😉

Just wanted to say thank you for this tool.

For the record, someone may find this helpful:
- My HP T5710 runs form pendrive as "HDD" and Colonization FM music slows down whenever a disk read happens. Smartdrv to the rescue!
- It was mentioned earlier, but I would like to emphasize it: Doom *requires* the BLASTER environment variable o be set if the TSR is loaded. Without the TSR it starts fine, but of course no FM music. If the TSR is loaded and no envvar is set then Doom freezes at the startup, sometimes I get some kind of core dump too. If the BLASTER environment variable is set, all is fine. Strange, the TSR sets A220 I5 D1 T4 even if BALSTER unset...

I have HP t5000 series thin client - t5300 with transmeta crusoe tm5600 cpu and ati rage xl graphics, this would be nice dos/win3.1 and win9x machine, it just need bigger ide 44-pin dom upgrade from 32mb and then i am ready to start with win9x. Usb 1.1 is bit slow, but for mouse and keyboard it is good and even for usb stick, it is sometimes ok.
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5300/

Similar, with quicker transmeta cpus than t5300, also with older rage xl graphics:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-compa … ument/c00352013
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5000/
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5700/

Today i tested sound in dos , irq5 does not work, irq7 works well, like hp t5710 seems. Duked3d sound and video test worked well and fast.
Most of the drivers should be the same, as hp t5710. Added vga driver links also here.
Vga Dos/Win3.1
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=328
Vga Win9x 3dcif/d3d/opengl driver
https://yadi.sk/d/eV600jDAliJ_3w/Tweaked_Driv … 20Rage-MarxVeix

Is this something useful for via dos tool?
https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/mailman/message/8956216/
http://ericauer.cosmodata.virtuaserver.com.br … AC97enableDOS.c

Thank you for this, it works 😀