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AWE32 CT3900 shows 0 K onboard RAM

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First post, by SGM

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I have a fully working AWE32 CT3900 that also looks visually identical to other CT3900s (photos from the internet), and according to my knowledge it should have 512K onboard RAM, unlike the SB32 models with 0K.
I installed the card, set it up, no errors, no conflicts, games also play EMU8000 and OPL3 music fine.

The AWE Control Panel on Win95 shows a fully red bar with 0K of 0K sample RAM written on it, and that should not happen.
The SIMM slots are empty and the JP2 jumper seems to be at 2-3 instead of 1-2.

Is this a software configuration problem or hardware? Or even RAM failure?

ChatGPT couldn't help either, eventually it started claiming that it's a "stripped" CT3900 without onboard RAM, 🤣!

Pentium MMX 200 (at 166MHz), 64Mb, 2Gb (CF), AWE32, S3 Virge DX/GX, 14" CRT, Win95.
Pentium 3 at 700MHz, 384Mb, 16Gb (CF), AWE64, Radeon 9200, white 15" LCD, Win98SE.
Toshiba 320CDS: Pentium MMX 233, 32Mb, 2Gb (CF), slow LCD, Win95.

Reply 1 of 4, by sydres

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Can you physically see the ram chip? Maybe it's some weird OEM version without. Compare the board to pictures of other ct3900s maybe some components have been damaged. Have you run diagnose.exe under DOS to check for conflicts and such?

Reply 2 of 4, by kixs

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There is a jumper controlling onboard 512KB or SIMM memory.

Here it's set for SIMM memory.
bczPttb.jpg

If you don't have SIMMs installed, it should be set the other way.

Otherwise 512KB or SIMMs are only used when uploading custom sound fonts.

Visit my AmiBay items for sale (updated: 2025-10-29). I also take requests 😉
https://www.amibay.com/members/kixs.977/#sales-threads

Reply 3 of 4, by SGM

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I don't even know which is the RAM chip, 🤣! But this is the area of my CT3900 in the photo below. If the memory select jumper can fix the "0K of 0K" and "AWE RAM detected: 0K" issue, then I'm happy! The jumper is likely in the onboard memory position if the manual is correct and I read it correctly, that's what confused me, so I will change the jumper position and try again as soon as I get the chance.

Pentium MMX 200 (at 166MHz), 64Mb, 2Gb (CF), AWE32, S3 Virge DX/GX, 14" CRT, Win95.
Pentium 3 at 700MHz, 384Mb, 16Gb (CF), AWE64, Radeon 9200, white 15" LCD, Win98SE.
Toshiba 320CDS: Pentium MMX 233, 32Mb, 2Gb (CF), slow LCD, Win95.

Reply 4 of 4, by maxtherabbit

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I seem to recall th99 having the positions reversed for that DRAM enable jumper

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