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Sound Blaster 16 ( CT2230 ) Puzzle

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First post, by Aui

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Hi everyone

I recently installed a new CT2230 to a 486 system and encountered the following problem: the line output workes without issues (although low volume), but the speaker output was only one channel (right side of my - earphone). To check things I exchanged the card with a second (known good) CT2230 - and that worked without problems.

I once again inserted the seemingly faulty card and suddenly found that both channels work (in speaker out) if I insert the earphone connector only about 2/3 in. So the question is a problem with the card, the phone connector or something else. Looking at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio) I assume my earphones are TRS type.

Any help would be appreciated - thanks in advance

Reply 1 of 10, by dominusprog

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First of all check for broken solder joints around the jack, second clean the jack using contact cleaner.

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Reply 3 of 10, by Aui

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Thanks, there are some loose pins (without solder) on the backside of the 4 audioconnectors, but no traces seem to lead to these pins?

In case the audiojack is brocken, is there a specific replacement type? I googled a while, but there are so many different varieties of audiojacks, its bewildering. Or could I exchange the line in one with the speaker one?

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Reply 4 of 10, by appiah4

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Aui wrote on 2024-01-11, 12:18:

Thanks, there are some loose pins (without solder) on the backside of the 4 audioconnectors, but no traces seem to lead to these pins?

In case the audiojack is brocken, is there a specific replacement type? I googled a while, but there are so many different varieties of audiojacks, its bewildering. Or could I exchange the line in one with the speaker one?

The loose legs are fine, but the other legs may have microcracks etc that are causing intermittent connection so reflow them anyway.

As for audio jacks, the dimensions and footprints matter, so just find one with the same footprint and similar dimensions.

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Reply 5 of 10, by dominusprog

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Connect the speaker wires directly to the board, connect the negative to the bracket and positive to the solder joints.

Last edited by dominusprog on 2024-01-12, 08:32. Edited 1 time in total.

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A-Trend ATC-1020 V1.1 ❇ Cyrix 6x86 150+ @ 120MHz ❇ 32MiB EDO RAM (8MiBx4) ❇ A-Trend S3 Trio64V2 2MiB
Aztech Pro16 II-3D PnP ❇ 8.4GiB Quantum Fireball ❇ Win95 OSR2 Plus!

Reply 6 of 10, by appiah4

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dominusprog wrote on 2024-01-11, 13:45:

Connect the speaker wires directly to the board, connect the minus to the bracket and positive to the solder joints.

No need. There is a header right next to RSPK_EN, it's a 5 pin header. Look for the pinout of that, there is SPK out L, R and G on that header IIRC, you can get audio from that.

OK I just noticed, that header (JP19) is actually lacking a jumper that is required for normal rear port speaker out operation.

Check this photo for what I mean:

Creative_Labs_Sound_Blaster_16_CT2230_Scan.jpg

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