I have a CT4550 which no sound emanates from... It doesn't have the cap next to the memory IC but it does at the bottom left corner.

Mine's a Jamicon "SS" series, maybe I'll desolder it and measure it (it says 16V 10uF)... But it looks fine.

I had to use dos utils to get it to work, CTCM.EXE to configure the card in DOS then I had to load AWEUTIL.COM to get midi to work.
Depending on the game I had to provide different switches, and not always successful.

RobDos wrote on 2021-11-16, 02:21:

I had to use dos utils to get it to work, CTCM.EXE to configure the card in DOS then I had to load AWEUTIL.COM to get midi to work.
Depending on the game I had to provide different switches, and not always successful.

tried that, Failure setting MPU-401 at port 300H

Okay, so this is interesting and might be a clue
I use CTCU to configure the card.
I run diagnose, sometimes diagnose shows what I just configured in CTCU other times it shows different information

Sometimes it passes, sometimes it fails but I tend to not get midi output.

I'm wondering if it's fixable

Looks like replacing that one cap and redoing CTCU and fighting the auto config a few times got it working

the issue now is in the synthesized test i got a hung note /feed back

Maybe i should give up?

Have you tried initializing the card with Unisound instead? It takes care of both PnP and Sound Blaster initialization.

Kamerat wrote on 2021-11-17, 19:55:

Have you tried initializing the card with Unisound instead? It takes care of both PnP and Sound Blaster initialization.

Just did, seems to have no issues at all, Repaired! YAY another one saved from recycling!