VOGONS


First post, by CesarDRK

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I have both of these cards since they were new:

3RX2i6E.jpg

Now, I'm trying to bring then back to use after being stored. The SB16 works perfectly so far, but the Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 (CT1600) doesn't!

I have tried different irq/address/dma setting trough the jumpers, and also reserved irq/dma to ISA in BIOS , cleaned the card and motherboard contatcs with no effect.
Also tried in two different systems:

System 1:
Pentium 3 @ 750mhz (stock)
Asus P2B-F
512mb PC100
Windows 98 SE PURE DOS MODE

System 2:
AMD K6-2 @ 166mhz (downclocked)
PCChips M598LMRT
128mb PC100
Windows 98 SE PURE DOS MODE

SB Pro utility tests:

The test-sbp.exe from the SB Pro 2.0 driver disk sometimes doesn't detect the card in System 1, but System 2 detects it fine.
When I try to play the sound demos:
System 1:
2-Operator FM Music = random noises
4-Operator FM Music = WORKS FINE
Digitized Sound = doesn't do anything!
System 2:
2-Operator FM Music = WORKS FINE
4-Operator FM Music = WORKS FINE
Digitized Sound = doesn't do anything!

The game tests:

Duke Nukem 3D -> Works perfectly, both music and sound effects in both systems.
Doom 1/2 -> Works perfectly, both music and sound effects in both systems.
Monkey Island LeChuck's Revenge -> Does not work, it appears to play some notes but everything else is just random noises.
Day of Tentacle / Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis -> Same issue as above, but DOTT always crashes after first screen (reboots the PC).

What could be the issue here?

Last edited by CesarDRK on 2020-06-04, 20:41. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 10, by darry

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See Sound Blaster CT1600 speed sensitive?

Creative Labs bundled software is apparently speed sensitive . The games that don't work might also be . Try disabling L1 cache with SETMUL L1D on the P3 and give it a go .

Link to SETMUL is here SetMul - Multiplier control for VIA C3 / AMD K6+7+8 Mobile / Cyrix 5x86

Reply 2 of 10, by cyclone3d

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System 1 - guessing your CT1600 is probably one of the earlier revisions without the clock crystal that the later revisions have. Probably has to do with the system being too fast for the card.

System 2- Could be the same problem with speed but not as bad. Guessing you are running it at 66x2.5 right now? What happens if you disable the L1 and / or the L2 cache?

Pics of CT1600 ?

What are the contents of your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files?

Edit: Darry's suspicion that the software is the problem is most likely correct.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 3 of 10, by CesarDRK

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:23:
System 1 - guessing your CT1600 is probably one of the earlier revisions without the clock crystal that the later revisions have […]
Show full quote

System 1 - guessing your CT1600 is probably one of the earlier revisions without the clock crystal that the later revisions have. Probably has to do with the system being too fast for the card.

System 2- Could be the same problem with speed but not as bad. Guessing you are running it at 66x2.5 right now? What happens if you disable the L1 and / or the L2 cache?

Pics of CT1600 ?

What are the contents of your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files?

Edit: Darry's suspicion that the software is the problem is most likely correct.

Pic on the first link. 069237 written on the bottom left corner of the card.
Yes, 66x2.5!

darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:19:

See Sound Blaster CT1600 speed sensitive?

Creative Labs bundled software is apparently speed sensitive . The games that don't work might also be . Try disabling L1 cache with SETMUL L1D on the P3 and give it a go .

Link to SETMUL is here SetMul - Multiplier control for VIA C3 / AMD K6+7+8 Mobile / Cyrix 5x86

You guys nailed it... I already have seen that thread, but I thought my downclock to 166mhz would be enough, but it clearly isn't.
I disable the external and internal caches in System 2 bios and all problems are gone, even sbp-test.exe digitized sound works now!

Unfortunately, the setmul utility didn't work to disable the caches on demand, it outputs: "Unsupported AMD CPU Detected (5.8.12), 168mhz".

Reply 4 of 10, by darry

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CesarDRK wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:40:
Pic on the first link. 069237 written on the bottom left corner of the card. Yes, 66x2.5! […]
Show full quote
cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:23:
System 1 - guessing your CT1600 is probably one of the earlier revisions without the clock crystal that the later revisions have […]
Show full quote

System 1 - guessing your CT1600 is probably one of the earlier revisions without the clock crystal that the later revisions have. Probably has to do with the system being too fast for the card.

System 2- Could be the same problem with speed but not as bad. Guessing you are running it at 66x2.5 right now? What happens if you disable the L1 and / or the L2 cache?

Pics of CT1600 ?

What are the contents of your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files?

Edit: Darry's suspicion that the software is the problem is most likely correct.

Pic on the first link. 069237 written on the bottom left corner of the card.
Yes, 66x2.5!

darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:19:

See Sound Blaster CT1600 speed sensitive?

Creative Labs bundled software is apparently speed sensitive . The games that don't work might also be . Try disabling L1 cache with SETMUL L1D on the P3 and give it a go .

Link to SETMUL is here SetMul - Multiplier control for VIA C3 / AMD K6+7+8 Mobile / Cyrix 5x86

You guys nailed it... I already have seen that thread, but I thought my downclock to 166mhz would be enough, but it clearly isn't.
I disable the external and internal caches in System 2 bios and all problems are gone, even sbp-test.exe digitized sound works now!

Unfortunately, the setmul utility didn't work to disable the caches on demand, it outputs: "Unsupported AMD CPU Detected (5.8.12), 168mhz".

Glad it worked .

As for SETMUL, That's why I said to run it on the P3 . Disabling L1 cache on that 750Mhz CPU should be enough to bring it to 386 levels .

Reply 5 of 10, by CesarDRK

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darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:45:

Glad it worked .

As for SETMUL, That's why I said to run it on the P3 . Disabling L1 cache on that 750Mhz CPU should be enough to bring it to 386 levels .

Oh yeah, sorry I misread that. I didn't bother trying that it in the System 1 yet, as the System 2 was ON when I created the thread 😉

Anyway, I also found some other old parts laying around:

- Motherboard Full Yes 82430IB REV A (Intel 430fx - http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/fullyes/)
- Pentium 100mhz
- 16mb EDO ram

Turned it on, works OK, but i can't save any bios configurations. After a reboot the system reverts to stock config (i can't save my hard drive config for instance, so i can't even boot anything).
The motherboard is strange, since it doesn't have a CR2032 battery slot. I'm not sure how this works and how to fix it.
I was wondering if i could fix it, would there be a chance the CT1600 will work on it without disabling caches?

Reply 6 of 10, by darry

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CesarDRK wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:54:
Oh yeah, sorry I misread that. I didn't bother trying that it in the System 1 yet, as the System 2 was ON when I created the thr […]
Show full quote
darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:45:

Glad it worked .

As for SETMUL, That's why I said to run it on the P3 . Disabling L1 cache on that 750Mhz CPU should be enough to bring it to 386 levels .

Oh yeah, sorry I misread that. I didn't bother trying that it in the System 1 yet, as the System 2 was ON when I created the thread 😉

Anyway, I also found some other old parts laying around:

- Motherboard Full Yes 82430IB REV A (Intel 430fx - http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/fullyes/)
- Pentium 100mhz
- 16mb EDO ram

Turned it on, works OK, but i can't save any bios configurations. After a reboot the system reverts to stock config (i can't save my hard drive config for instance, so i can't even boot anything).
The motherboard is strange, since it doesn't have a CR2032 battery slot. I'm not sure how this works and how to fix it.
I was wondering if i could fix it, would there be a chance the CT1600 will work on it without disabling caches?

You probably have a clock chip with integrated battery , usually rectangular, black and with Dallas or Odin brand name .

These need to be replaced or modded with an external battery to fix the board .

Reply 7 of 10, by CesarDRK

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darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:45:

You probably have a clock chip with integrated battery , usually rectangular, black and with Dallas or Odin brand name .

These need to be replaced or modded with an external battery to fix the board .

You're right sir, once again.

https://imgur.com/j0ipY6S
https://imgur.com/jb7N4k9

Can I just remove the ODIN chip and solder a battery holder to the pcb next to it?

--

Also, i just tried the Pentium 100 in the PC Chips M598, it also supports it.
Turns out the SB Pro 2.0 worked perfectly in all the games and utilities with the Pentium 100 without disabling anything.

Reply 8 of 10, by darry

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CesarDRK wrote on 2020-06-04, 21:43:
You're right sir, once again. […]
Show full quote
darry wrote on 2020-06-04, 20:45:

You probably have a clock chip with integrated battery , usually rectangular, black and with Dallas or Odin brand name .

These need to be replaced or modded with an external battery to fix the board .

You're right sir, once again.

https://imgur.com/j0ipY6S
https://imgur.com/jb7N4k9

Can I just remove the ODIN chip and solder a battery holder to the pcb next to it?

--

Also, i just tried the Pentium 100 in the PC Chips M598, it also supports it.
Turns out the SB Pro 2.0 worked perfectly in all the games and utilities with the Pentium 100 without disabling anything.

No, you need the Odin chip or a replacement clock chip . I have never had to deal with one of those personally, so I will leave it to someone more experienced in the matter to comment .