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How do I connect a CD-drive to the on-board IDE interface of a soundcard?

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First post, by Paddan1000

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I just built a 486 using this motherboard:
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/M/MI … NC-486-M4P.html

...which I bought because of it's many ISA-slots. To bad it only has one IDE interface, which I'm using for 2 hard drives, so there is nowhere to connect the IDE cable from the CD-drive.

I've put plenty of old sound cards in the computer and some of them have an on-board IDE-interface, so I'd thought I'd connect the CD to one of them. The problem is, I don't know how?

The cards with an IDE interface is a Sound Blaster Pro 1 and an Ensoniq Soundscape Elite. I also tried inserting a GUS PnP which has an IDE interface, but then the computer wouldn't recognize it's hard drives during boot.

I found a driver called SSCD.SYS to activate the IDE interface of the Elite and added the following lines to my config.sys:
C:\SNDSCAPE\SSCD.SYS /B:320
C:\CDDRIVER\NEC_IDE.SYS /D:SSCD_000 /P:328,15

I also added the relevant stuff to autoexec.bat. The card is jumpered to use port 320 and IRQ15. The IDE port successfully initializes to port 328 (it's supposed to add 8 to the 320), but the NEC_IDE.SYS reports that the CD-drive is not ready. The CD-drive works perfectly with the NEC_IDE.SYS when it's connected to the IDE interface on the motherboard and I did the master/slave jumpering correctly. I tried another CD-drive and other drivers and still it won't work.

So why won't the CD work when connected to the IDE interface of the Elite? I was thinking I could try the interface on the Sound Blaster Pro 1 instead. It looks like an IDE interface, but is called a Panasonic interface. Does that mean a normal IDE-drive won't work and that I need a Panasonic one with a proprietary connector?

Reply 1 of 3, by CHiLL72

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The CD-ROM interface on the SoundBlaster Pro is definitely NOT an IDE interface; you will need an old (2x) Panasonic CD-ROM to use that.
As for the problem with the Elite: I believe the address you are using is not the address for the IDE interface. You could try 1F0 or 170. Sorry, cannot be of more help right now, don't have the Elite at my disposal now.

Waveblaster MIDI boards: https://waveblaster.nl - online now!

Reply 2 of 3, by TheMAN

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just because it looks like an IDE (40 pins) doesn't mean it is
a real IDE interface on a sound card will use standard port addresses... 1F0 is primary and will conflict with your onboard IDE, 170 is secondary
most cards assumes you have 2 onboard IDEs already and will default to a tertiary IDE... you more than likely need to jumper the controller to secondary and use port 170... I'll be surprised if the card lets you select primary... I know creative cards don't let you do that

tertiary IDE will use port 1E8 and usually IRQ 11 (usual practice), while quaternary will use port 168 and usually IRQ 10... you can't use IRQ 13 as that's used by the FPU and normally you can't use IRQ 12 because that's used by the PS/2 mouse... that'll leave you the option of using IRQ 10, 11, and 15.... many cards won't even let you use IRQ 9 or below, so good luck!

as for your GUS, you may need to reconfig the card to use different resources, sounds like it is conflicting with the onboard IDE... the GUS PnP does have a real IDE controller though, so if you use it, you're on the right track

the only creative cards that have IDE are the later SB16s, AWE32s, SB32s, and early AWE64s... it'll have to be a 1995 or newer card to have that... anything older will have the panasonic proprietary controller, which LOOKS IDE but it's not!

Reply 3 of 3, by Paddan1000

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The IDE controller of the Ensoniq Soundscape Elite will only let me chose whatever port the MIDI is jumpered to use and add 8 to it. That means I can choose between the ports 320, 330, 340 and 350, which initializes the IDE interface to ports 328, 338, 348 or 358.
When it comes to IRQ I can jumper the card to use IRQ 11, 12 and 15 for the IDE, but it doesn't seem to matter which one I choose despite no conflicts.
Since the IDE interface initializes well, maybe the problem lies with the driver. Which is the best and most customizable driver for CD-ROM:s in DOS?

By the way, does anyone know what the 5 jumpers on JP8 of the GUS PnP do? It seems to have something to do with configuring the IDE-interface, but I can't find any instructions on how to set the jumpers anywhere, not even in the manual that came with the card.

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