Hi, may I ask if the Windows drivers for your Sound Blaster 16 are installed ?
If so, you can check and correct the driver settings manually.

To do so, either run SYSEDIT in Windows or open SYSTEM.INI in a text editor.
(The highlighted parts are the most important ones.)

Then, watch out for the [sndblst.drv] section. It's usually near the end of the file:

[sndblst.drv]
Port=220
Int=7
DmaChannel=1
MidiPort=330
HDmaChannel=5
FDMAPlayBack=0
FDMARecording=0
VoiceVolume=16, 16
FMVolume=16, 16
CDVolume=16, 16
LineVolume=16, 16
MicVolume=16
MasterVolume=16, 16
SpeakerVolume=16
MuteVirtual=10
OutputMixerSwitch=6
BassTone=16, 16
TrebleTone=16, 16
RecordGain=1, 1
OutputGain=1, 1
AGC=0
Mux_WaveIn=1e

Also important are the driver them selves. Make sure they are listed, too.

[drivers]
timer=timer.drv
midimapper=midimap.drv
VIDC.CVID=iccvid.drv
VIDC.MSVC=msvidc.drv
VIDC.IV32=ir32.dll
VIDC.IV31=IR32.dll
VIDC.IV41=IR41.dll
VIDC.MRLE=MSRLE.drv
VIDC.RT21=ir21_r.dll
VIDC.YVU9=ir21_r.dll
WaveMapper=msacm.drv
MSACM.msadpcm=msadpcm.acm
MSACM.imaadpcm=imaadpcm.acm
DCI=display
vids.draw=udh.dll
Midi=sb16fm.drv
Midi1=sb16snd.drv
Wave=sb16snd.drv
Aux=sb16snd.drv
Mixer=sb16snd.drv
Joystick=IBMJoy.drv

(Joystick driver is optional)

[mci]
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
CDAudio=mcicda.drv
AVIVideo=mciavi.drv
QTWVideo=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MCIQTW.DRV

Good luck! 😀

Jo22 wrote on 2020-03-28, 03:07:

Hi, may I ask if the Windows drivers for your Sound Blaster 16 are installed ? If so, you can check and correct the driver setti […]
Show full quote

Hi, may I ask if the Windows drivers for your Sound Blaster 16 are installed ?
If so, you can check and correct the driver settings manually.

To do so, either run SYSEDIT in Windows or open SYSTEM.INI in a text editor.
(The highlighted parts are the most important ones.)

Then, watch out for the [sndblst.drv] section. It's usually near the end of the file:

[sndblst.drv]
Port=220
Int=7
DmaChannel=1
MidiPort=330
HDmaChannel=5
FDMAPlayBack=0
FDMARecording=0
VoiceVolume=16, 16
FMVolume=16, 16
CDVolume=16, 16
LineVolume=16, 16
MicVolume=16
MasterVolume=16, 16
SpeakerVolume=16
MuteVirtual=10
OutputMixerSwitch=6
BassTone=16, 16
TrebleTone=16, 16
RecordGain=1, 1
OutputGain=1, 1
AGC=0
Mux_WaveIn=1e

Also important are the driver them selves. Make sure they are listed, too.

[drivers]
timer=timer.drv
midimapper=midimap.drv
VIDC.CVID=iccvid.drv
VIDC.MSVC=msvidc.drv
VIDC.IV32=ir32.dll
VIDC.IV31=IR32.dll
VIDC.IV41=IR41.dll
VIDC.MRLE=MSRLE.drv
VIDC.RT21=ir21_r.dll
VIDC.YVU9=ir21_r.dll
WaveMapper=msacm.drv
MSACM.msadpcm=msadpcm.acm
MSACM.imaadpcm=imaadpcm.acm
DCI=display
vids.draw=udh.dll
Midi=sb16fm.drv
Midi1=sb16snd.drv
Wave=sb16snd.drv
Aux=sb16snd.drv
Mixer=sb16snd.drv
Joystick=IBMJoy.drv

(Joystick driver is optional)

[mci]
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
CDAudio=mcicda.drv
AVIVideo=mciavi.drv
QTWVideo=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MCIQTW.DRV

Good luck! 😀

I took a look at system.ini and everything you bolded is there, but under [sndblst.drv], Int=5 instead of 7.

Also under [drivers], WaveMapper was not there so I added it in, but it didn’t seem to change anything. A lot of the stuff in italics is missing, but the way you phrased it makes me assume that’s okay.

I wasn’t sure what else to do so I decided to try running diagnose.exe in both DOS and Windows, and this is what it says...

In DOS:

Testing Base I/O Address...
Base I/O Address set at 220H Successfully.

Testing MPU-401 Midi Port...
MPU-401 Midi Port set at 330H Successfully.

Testing IRQ...
IRQ set at 5 Successfully.

Testing Low DMA Channel...
Failure setting Low DMA Channel at 1.

In Windows:

Testing Base I/O Address...
Failure setting Base I/O Address at 220H.

...I don’t really know what to make of that, but you might find it helpful.

EcoPeeko wrote on 2020-03-27, 17:08:

So after a week of struggling and learning, I finally got my Sound Blaster 16 Vibra PnP sound card (CT2980) working in DOS 6.22. I tested it on both Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM.

When I start Windows 3.11, however, it detects the sound card but no sound plays anywhere. Also, when I go to File > Exit Windows, it stops responding entirely and I need to do Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart.

Does anyone know a fix? Not sure what other info I should include so feel free to ask questions. Thanks.

I know this is an old post, but found it looking for something else so sorry if you have already found an answer but just in case you have not, I might have a possible answer as I have seen this before, a possible DMA conflict, two questions though?

1) When you start Windows 3.1 can you hear the speaker from your sound card make a click, or other noise as if it attempts to play the start up sound when you first load Windows?
2) Do you have a ECP type Parallel port on your system?

If so, what DMA is the parallel port using? Some default to using DMA 1 or 3 or even both for a DRQ and DACK, which funnily enough are the typical DMA channels people use for the 8-bit DMA on the Sound Blaster.

This is shown in the sample from the SYSTEM.IN provided (dmachannel=1 in [sndblst.drv] ) and also your diagnostic fails on DMA 1, maybe have a look in the BIOS and if you do not need ECP/ EPP capability change it to standard, or if the BIOS has an option to change the DMA, change that.

But it is possible it is not the problem, as you ran Wolf 3D, did you play it as well and all sound effects worked? If you did not play it, it is a possible DMA conflict, you will have the music in Wolf3D but some sound effects will not work correctly, i.e. opening doors, firing the gun, the voices of the guards.

Okay, just noticed this on the account 'This account is now abandoned, mods feel free to delete whenever', oh, well hopefully this will be useful to someone else.