Hi,

Have you checked if the usual IRQ 5 or 7 is already occupied by something? Maybe the driver puts it here because there is something already on these IRQs.

The Adlib compatible part will still work as Adlib doesn't need an IRQ, so FM music and effects will play regardless, but the digital sound channel to work properly will need an IRQ and most software expects SB/SB Compatible cards on either IRQ 5 or 7.

MagefromAntares wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:21:

Hi,

Have you checked if the usual IRQ 5 or 7 is already occupied by something? Maybe the driver puts it here because there is something already on these IRQs.

The Adlib compatible part will still work as Adlib doesn't need an IRQ, so FM music and effects will play regardless, but the digital sound channel to work properly will need an IRQ and most software expects SB/SB Compatible cards on either IRQ 5 or 7.

Before you ask, no I haven't been able to assign another IRQ for the devices other than the sound card, and I still haven't figured out how to do a specific IRQ.

Hmm the RAID controller is on IRQ 5 and as messing with the resources of a storage controller can result in data loss I think it is best to be left alone there (if you use RAID).

This still doesn't explain why it doesn't use IRQ 7 as usually that is the "secondary" IRQ that SB (and compatible) cards go for. Might be worth looking around in the BIOS, some device that is missing from this PCI listing might still be assigned to it.

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:45:

Before you ask, no I haven't been able to assign another IRQ for the devices other than the sound card, and I still haven't figured out how to do a specific IRQ.

Assuming your Plug and Play BIOS has the screen where you can flag IRQs as "Legacy ISA" the purpose of that is to force it to bump PCI devices off of those IRQs. So you would mark IRQ 5 as legacy. If you have no ISA slots, I suppose this may not even be provided though.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:53:

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:45:

Before you ask, no I haven't been able to assign another IRQ for the devices other than the sound card, and I still haven't figured out how to do a specific IRQ.

Assuming your Plug and Play BIOS has the screen where you can flag IRQs as "Legacy ISA" the purpose of that is to force it to bump PCI devices off of those IRQs. So you would mark IRQ 5 as legacy. If you have no ISA slots, I suppose this may not even be provided though.

This only allows me to select between "PCI Device" and "Reserved" as it doesn't have ISA slots.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:53:

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:45:

Before you ask, no I haven't been able to assign another IRQ for the devices other than the sound card, and I still haven't figured out how to do a specific IRQ.

Assuming your Plug and Play BIOS has the screen where you can flag IRQs as "Legacy ISA" the purpose of that is to force it to bump PCI devices off of those IRQs. So you would mark IRQ 5 as legacy. If you have no ISA slots, I suppose this may not even be provided though.

The motherboard doesn't have ISA slots, that's why I'm struggling with this PCI sound card.

PCI slots give 4x IRQ signals, that are shuffled between slots because most cards use only one of the IRQ lines present on a slot, and if each slot had that signal connect together, all those devices will use that same physical IRQ rather than probably different ones that shuffling can give.

If you are lucky, just moving the sound card between slots can land you an IRQ that BIOS puts at 5 or 7. Since the RAID card was given 5, it may be worth a shot to put the sound card in that slot instead and move the RAID card elsewhere.

Tiido wrote on 2026-07-03, 20:27:

PCI slots give 4x IRQ signals, that are shuffled between slots because most cards use only one of the IRQ lines present on a slot, and if each slot had that signal connect together, all those devices will use that same physical IRQ rather than probably different ones that shuffling can give.

If you are lucky, just moving the sound card between slots can land you an IRQ that BIOS puts at 5 or 7. Since the RAID card was given 5, it may be worth a shot to put the sound card in that slot instead and move the RAID card elsewhere.

I've had to remove a bunch of stuff in BIOS, otherwise the PC assigned the sound card IRQ 11, but I guess I can try this. I also noticed that despite the PCI IRQ changing from 0B to 09 after freeing up IRQ, the SB seems to be persistent on IRQ A. Anything that doesn't rely on IRQ (such as music in Doom, where you pick the address) works, however the actual SFX don't.

BLASTER variable is set to A220 I5 D1 H5 T4 by default when loading this driver.

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 20:06:

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:53:

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 19:45:

Before you ask, no I haven't been able to assign another IRQ for the devices other than the sound card, and I still haven't figured out how to do a specific IRQ.

Assuming your Plug and Play BIOS has the screen where you can flag IRQs as "Legacy ISA" the purpose of that is to force it to bump PCI devices off of those IRQs. So you would mark IRQ 5 as legacy. If you have no ISA slots, I suppose this may not even be provided though.

This only allows me to select between "PCI Device" and "Reserved" as it doesn't have ISA slots.

But you have your printer/parallel port (db25) enabled and is typically assigned irq 7. Turn it off and then check. I don't know if you can be more specific on this BIOS.

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 20:35:

... BLASTER variable is set to A220 I5 D1 H5 T4 by default when loading this driver.

It really has been years since I messed with this stuff... but IIRC doesn't I5 and H5 means IRQs are at 5 - I assume you've already tried changing BLASTER to reflect the IRQ assigned by BIOS?

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-07-03, 22:31:

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 20:35:

... BLASTER variable is set to A220 I5 D1 H5 T4 by default when loading this driver.

It really has been years since I messed with this stuff... but IIRC doesn't I5 and H5 means IRQs are at 5 - I assume you've already tried changing BLASTER to reflect the IRQ assigned by BIOS?

It's more subtle than this. It's a PCI sound card with SoundBlaster emulation support. Based on the datasheet (https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/vi … IA/CMI8738.html) I believe there's actually only one IRQ (the PCI INTA pin) and the SoundBlaster IRQ is simulated by the emulation driver after the true PCI IRQ fires.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-07-03, 22:38:

It's more subtle than this. It's a PCI sound card with SoundBlaster emulation support. Based on the datasheet (https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/vi … IA/CMI8738.html) I believe there's actually only one IRQ (the PCI INTA pin) and the SoundBlaster IRQ is simulated by the emulation driver after the true PCI IRQ fires.

This is true. The blaster string is only there so older games/software know what IRQ to listen on, it doesn't correspond to the physical PCI hardware because sound blaster support is emulated.

@itzCrassio

Set IRQ 5 to be Reserved in your BIOS and then run the driver again. Does that let the sound card use IRQ 5?

The initilisation program appears to show IRQs in hex, so it's probably sitting on IRQ 10. That doesn't solve the re-assignment issue but it will work with games that support IRQ10. An appropriate BLASTER string would be "A220 I10 D1 P330 T4".

According to the documentation for SETAUDIO.COM there is no switch for sound blaster emulation IRQ or DMA, only for the base address. So it may not even be possible to herd it into the IRQ you want.

For Doom, after running setup you can edit DEFAULT.CFG and change the snd_sbirq value to 10 and it should work.

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 06:36:

The initilisation program appears to show IRQs in hex, so it's probably sitting on IRQ 10. That doesn't solve the re-assignment issue but it will work with games that support IRQ10. An appropriate BLASTER string would be "A220 I10 D1 P330 T4".

According to the documentation for SETAUDIO.COM there is no switch for sound blaster emulation IRQ or DMA, only for the base address. So it may not even be possible to herd it into the IRQ you want.

For Doom, after running setup you can edit DEFAULT.CFG and change the snd_sbirq value to 10 and it should work.

I think I tried that once on another computer with the same IRQ assignment issue, but Doom just straight up tells you that it doesn't support an IRQ that high and that SFX won't work for this reason.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2026-07-03, 22:38:

DaveDDS wrote on 2026-07-03, 22:31:

itzCrassio wrote on 2026-07-03, 20:35:

... BLASTER variable is set to A220 I5 D1 H5 T4 by default when loading this driver.

It really has been years since I messed with this stuff... but IIRC doesn't I5 and H5 means IRQs are at 5 - I assume you've already tried changing BLASTER to reflect the IRQ assigned by BIOS?

It's more subtle than this. It's a PCI sound card with SoundBlaster emulation support. Based on the datasheet (https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/vi … IA/CMI8738.html) I believe there's actually only one IRQ (the PCI INTA pin) and the SoundBlaster IRQ is simulated by the emulation driver after the true PCI IRQ fires.

So IRQ A might be referring to INTA#?

itzCrassio wrote on Yesterday, 08:47:

I think I tried that once on another computer with the same IRQ assignment issue, but Doom just straight up tells you that it doesn't support an IRQ that high and that SFX won't work for this reason.

My 98 box doesn't have IRQ10 free but I just tested it on dosbox and it worked fine after manually editing the CFG file

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 09:12:

itzCrassio wrote on Yesterday, 08:47:

I think I tried that once on another computer with the same IRQ assignment issue, but Doom just straight up tells you that it doesn't support an IRQ that high and that SFX won't work for this reason.

My 98 box doesn't have IRQ10 free but I just tested it on dosbox and it worked fine after manually editing the CFG file

How can I be sure that for this driver whether IRQ A means IRQ 10 or INTA#?

itzCrassio wrote on Yesterday, 09:59:

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 09:12:

itzCrassio wrote on Yesterday, 08:47:

I think I tried that once on another computer with the same IRQ assignment issue, but Doom just straight up tells you that it doesn't support an IRQ that high and that SFX won't work for this reason.

My 98 box doesn't have IRQ10 free but I just tested it on dosbox and it worked fine after manually editing the CFG file

How can I be sure that for this driver whether IRQ A means IRQ 10 or INTA#?

PCI INTA# is not something that sound blaster games can access, so it doesn't make sense for it to mean that. Also everything else is in hex.