AWE32 CT3990 PnP card seems to consume two IRQs, one for the sound and one for the IDE controller. There appears to be no jumpers on this card to disable the IDE controller. Is there any way I can disable this IDE controller, so that my BIOS can use the spare IRQ?
Thanks, regards, Robert.
Try CTCU.EXE to manage soundcard resources.
Thanks - I will try this. However, currently I am using Win98, and I believe that CTCU.exe requires DOS or Win 3.1 only.
However, I just discovered one solution for Windows 9x users -
Inside BIOS, set "Plug and Play aware Operating System" = True.
Now, when you disable/remove the IDE controller inside Windows 9x, it frees up the IRQ inside the BIOS.
Best regards, Robert.
Yes, CTCU not working in DOS 7.x. You must create DOS 6.22 (or earlier) boot diskete and put CTCU there. Windows Device Manager just disable/enable using of unneeded resources. CTCU cut off it totally in card's NVRAM.
Thanks very much for the DOS boot-up disk tip!
is it an ide controller or a cdrom controller
Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness
I believe it is an IDE Controller. It says IDE Interface on the AWE32 card, next to the pins for it. Also, inside Win9x Device Manager, I think it said "Creative Labs IDE Controller"
I found two ways of permanently removing the unwanted Creative Labs IDE Controller from Windows 9x Device Manager.
The first way I think is the best way -
Method 1) Hardware configuration profile.
a) Create a new hardware configuration profile (using Device Manager)
b) Shut down PC.
c) Power on PC, then choose your new profile to boot up with.
d) Inside Device Manager, remove the IDE Controller entry from your Original Hardware Profile.
e) Shut down PC.
f) Power on PC, then choose your Original Hardware Profile to boot up with.
g) All done - no IDE Controller will exist inside Device Manager.
(I think you can then go ahead and delete your new hardware configuration profile at this stage. However, I always have two hardware configuration profiles present, so I have never deleted my second profile to test this part of the IDE Controller removal procedure.)
Method 2) Windows registry/regedit "hack"
To see this hack, please go to google groups and do a search on this phrase -
CTL0044_DEV0000
You will then see the following topic somewhere in the top list of results -
"Disable IDE in AWE32?"
In this post, there is a fairly simple registry/regedit "hack".
Please note: I have tried both methods outlined above, and both have worked for me, although I feel more comfortable doing the first method.
Best regards, Robert.
