asdf53 wrote on Yesterday, 19:21:

Those are Windows drivers, not BIOS files. The HPT BIOS is a single binary file with a size of around 25 kb. It's a bit confusin […]
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Those are Windows drivers, not BIOS files. The HPT BIOS is a single binary file with a size of around 25 kb. It's a bit confusing because the drivers share the same version numbers with the BIOS.

You mentioned that your controller BIOS says 1.25 at boot, so even if your motherboard BIOS is up to date, the controller's isn't so far.

Regarding the sound card, I'd suggest trying it with the HPT controller disabled in BIOS and your drives connected to IDE1 and IDE2. If that doesn't help, test the card in your other motherboard if possible, to determine if it's damaged or if it's just a driver issue.

You don't even have to reinstall Windows 98. Just use the same hard drive on your other board, boot into Windows, delete device manager using registry, re-detect hardware. Later, transfer the hard drive back to the Abit board and repeat the process.

Ahh, okay. I take it I need to download a version of Awdflash? Or is that part of the BIOS/CBROM?

And I wouldn't worry about reinstalling 98, I've set up an entirely fresh test build, so I have 98 installed on a spare hard drive. 😀

You should be able to use any 8.x version of Awdflash. Here's 8.23, for example: https://archive.org/download/bnobtc_bntbtc/bn … %2FAWDFLASH.EXE

Other versions here: https://ia601408.us.archive.org/view_archive. … v3-20040508.zip

asdf53 wrote on Yesterday, 20:09:

You should be able to use any 8.x version of Awdflash. Here's 8.23, for example: https://archive.org/download/bnobtc_bntbtc/bn … %2FAWDFLASH.EXE

Other versions here: https://ia601408.us.archive.org/view_archive. … v3-20040508.zip

Great. Thank you. 😀 I'll give all of these a try and report back.

asdf53 wrote on Yesterday, 18:09:

Someone described the process here: https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic297972.html#1641861 […]
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DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 17:41:

Still a bit unsure regarding the HPT BIOS at the moment, but I've put the Sound Blaster back in and it's detected it fine. What I need though are the right drivers. I'm 100% certain the ones I was trying before aren't right. I get the impression they're just for the standard Audigy...? I do have an Audigy 2 update, but not the actual driver, which I need to find.

Someone described the process here: https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic297972.html#1641861

You need:
- ABIT BIOS file for your board: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/abit-ab-be6-ii#bios
- HPT BIOS 1.28 https://soggi.org/storage/highpoint.htm
- CBROM. The poster in the thread used cbrom215.exe, available here: https://archive.org/download/bnobtc_bntbtc/bn … %2FCBROM215.EXE

Process:
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /D
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /pci hpt_bios.bin
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /D

The /D commands are just to verify the pre- and post-modification state.

The resulting abit_bios.bin must then be flashed to your board using Awdflash.

Needless to say, it's at on your own risk. Make sure you have the correct versions for your board.

Okay, I've updated the BIOS to the latest version without any issues. Makes a change. ^^ However, before I do anything with the HPT BIOS I want to make double sure of something before I mess with it. Do I need to put 'abit_bios.bin'? Or does that need to be replaced with the actual name of the file? In this case it's named 'HPT366_1.28b (Beta)'. Though it's not a .bin file.

Does no one else have the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SB0240? Or have had it and got it working with Windows 98? There seems to be drivers for XP, Vista, and 7, but I'm not finding much for 95/98.

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 23:40:

Okay, I've updated the BIOS to the latest version without any issues. Makes a change. ^^ However, before I do anything with the HPT BIOS I want to make double sure of something before I mess with it. Do I need to put 'abit_bios.bin'? Or does that need to be replaced with the actual name of the file? In this case it's named 'HPT366_1.28b (Beta)'. Though it's not a .bin file.

The .bin names are just generic placeholders for the Abit and HPT BIOS files. Just name them abit.bin and hpt.bin or whatever to make it easier to type at the DOS prompt. Remember to include the "/pci release" step with CBROM that I didn't include in my first post.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 11:54:

Does no one else have the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SB0240? Or have had it and got it working with Windows 98? There seems to be drivers for XP, Vista, and 7, but I'm not finding much for 95/98.

From this thread:

Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Audigy cards (version 3.1)

Have you tried this yet? Two people with an SB0240 reported that this guide worked for them. The important part seemed to be step 2: Cancel the autorun installer of the CD and proceed manually.

asdf53 wrote on Today, 12:33:

From this thread:

Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Audigy cards (version 3.1)

Have you tried this yet? Two people with an SB0240 reported that this guide worked for them. The important part seemed to be step 2: Cancel the autorun installer of the CD and proceed manually.

My guide might be a bit overwhelming to someone who just got the card, and simply wants to get it working. I'd suggest trying the official installation CD instead.

For reference, Vogonsdrivers has a ton of disc images for old sound cards. That's usually the best place to start if you're looking for period correct drivers.

asdf53 wrote on Today, 12:33:

The .bin names are just generic placeholders for the Abit and HPT BIOS files. Just name them abit.bin and hpt.bin or whatever to […]
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DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 23:40:

Okay, I've updated the BIOS to the latest version without any issues. Makes a change. ^^ However, before I do anything with the HPT BIOS I want to make double sure of something before I mess with it. Do I need to put 'abit_bios.bin'? Or does that need to be replaced with the actual name of the file? In this case it's named 'HPT366_1.28b (Beta)'. Though it's not a .bin file.

The .bin names are just generic placeholders for the Abit and HPT BIOS files. Just name them abit.bin and hpt.bin or whatever to make it easier to type at the DOS prompt. Remember to include the "/pci release" step with CBROM that I didn't include in my first post.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 11:54:

Does no one else have the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SB0240? Or have had it and got it working with Windows 98? There seems to be drivers for XP, Vista, and 7, but I'm not finding much for 95/98.

From this thread:

Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Audigy cards (version 3.1)

Have you tried this yet? Two people with an SB0240 reported that this guide worked for them. The important part seemed to be step 2: Cancel the autorun installer of the CD and proceed manually.

Okay, thanks. As I say though, the file I downloaded doesn't appear to be any particular file type. It's just simply recognised as 'file', so I hope it's right. Unless I need to modify the file type to BIN...?

And thanks for the links. I did wonder if I should try manually installing them via the Add New Hardware/Device Manager. From the drivers I have found, it looks like the ones for Win 95/98 could only be VXD. If that's the case, then the card is no use to me. That's the job of my ISA Yamaha card. I definitely need this PCI one to use WDM drivers.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 12:53:

asdf53 wrote on Today, 12:33:

From this thread:

Guide: Installing Windows 9x and DOS drivers on Audigy cards (version 3.1)

Have you tried this yet? Two people with an SB0240 reported that this guide worked for them. The important part seemed to be step 2: Cancel the autorun installer of the CD and proceed manually.

My guide might be a bit overwhelming to someone who just got the card, and simply wants to get it working. I'd suggest trying the official installation CD instead.

For reference, Vogonsdrivers has a ton of disc images for old sound cards. That's usually the best place to start if you're looking for period correct drivers.

Yeah, I believe that's the second one I tried. From Vogon's driver library. 😀 Both install fine, but they don't detect the device and there's still no audio. I could only see two sets of drivers in Vogon's library that I thought would work. I think another one I downloaded is for 3.1 and DOS...?

Joseph_Joestar wrote on Today, 12:53:

My guide might be a bit overwhelming to someone who just got the card, and simply wants to get it working. I'd suggest trying the official installation CD instead.

I believe he was already using the official CD but that didn't work. I figured that if it's a common problem, the guide might do something differently to avoid it. But if it's supposed to work fine with the official CD, it would again point to a possible hardware issue and testing the card on another board is probably a good idea.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 13:01:

Okay, thanks. As I say though, the file I downloaded doesn't appear to be any particular file type. It's just simply recognised as 'file', so I hope it's right. Unless I need to modify the file type to BIN...?

CBROM doesn't care how you name the files. Renaming it to ".bin" is just for yourself, to make it clear that you're inputting a file name and not a parameter at the DOS prompt. Compare "cbrom /pci hpt.bin" with "cbrom /pci hpt" - the latter is confusing.

The seller pointed me to the OEM drivers, which appeared promising. The installation went along without a hitch. It installed the WDM drivers, but again - no audio. It recognises it in the Device Manager, but there's no audio icon and the device is greyed out in Multimedia. If I try to load DxDiag, I get an Illegal Operation error. 🙁

Tried some of the previous drivers via Add New Hardware as well, but some don't appear to have any WDM drivers for 9x. One did install some drivers, and they worked, but they're VXD.

Also, is there somewhere or someone I'd need to get in touch with here for adding drivers to the driver library? These OEM drivers are meant for the S0240, 0244, 0400, and 0250.

https://oemdrivers.com/sound-audigy-2

As an aside, I've set up my test rig and trying the same drivers on that machine to see what happens.

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to call it quits at getting this sound card to work properly. I don't believe there are any WDM drivers for Windows 98. I think the ones available online are primarily for Windows 2000 and XP. I'll have to look at selling this card on and try and find something more fitting for this 98 setup.

I will look at getting that HPT BIOS sorted out though.

asdf53 wrote on Yesterday, 18:27:

What I noticed though is that the forum post mentions removing the old HPT bios first, but he doesn't actually do that in his co […]
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What I noticed though is that the forum post mentions removing the old HPT bios first, but he doesn't actually do that in his command sequence. If you were to include that step, it would be:

CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /D
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /pci release
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /D (PCI module is now gone)
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /pci hpt_bios.bin
CBROM215.EXE abit_bios.bin /D

I can't tell you if this is required or not, it's been a long time since I last used this.

But in that thread, the PCI rom doubled in size after the insertion, that doesn't seem right. Seems as if it was just added on top of the old HPT bios. All other sources I could find that use the /pci switch seem to use /release before, so I'd probably do that.

I'm still a bit unsure with this. I ran CBROM215.EXE hpt366.bin /pci release but it said it was empty...? Or that there wasn't anything present. So I'm guessing there isn't an old one to unload. For line four, I take it abit_bios.bin should be the actual BIOS update file? Then followed by my HPT BIOS file? I typed pci hpt366.bin in place of pci hpt_bios.bin, but it said it didn't have enough space or something.

Rename your Abit BIOS file to abit_bios.bin and your HPT BIOS file to hpt_bios.bin, then enter the commands as shown. The second line will remove the current HPT bios from the Abit BIOS, the fourth line will install the new one.

asdf53 wrote on Today, 19:59:

Rename your Abit BIOS file to abit_bios.bin and your HPT BIOS file to hpt_bios.bin, then enter the commands as shown. The second line will remove the current HPT bios from the Abit BIOS, the fourth line will install the new one.

Great, thank you. I'll give it a shot a bit later.

asdf53 wrote on Today, 19:59:

Rename your Abit BIOS file to abit_bios.bin and your HPT BIOS file to hpt_bios.bin, then enter the commands as shown. The second line will remove the current HPT bios from the Abit BIOS, the fourth line will install the new one.

Hmm. Odd. I followed the steps exactly, and the old ROM was removed, but when I installed the new one, it says 50+% but doesn't say if it's done. I was allowed to type in a follow-up command. And then rebooting, the HPT screen still shows 1.25.

Yeah, so it looks like it's added when using the /d switch, but I'm not sure if it's actually being installed.

Also, I don't know how I've survived this long without Norton Ghost. It's brilliant! Is there a free version that works with modern OSes? I take it they're not freeware?