SB16 ISA & Win2k Problem

[archaos]

Hi Guys
I recently formatted the HD on one of my older computers(PIII-667, Asus CUV4X MoBo, ATI-Rage128Pro, Conexant Modem) and I did a fresh install of Win2k PRO (instead of the old sucky WinME). Everything works fine except I can't get my old sound card - Soundblaster 16 *ISA slot*, model CT 4170 - to work with Win2k.
The card is OK (I checked it on other comp)and the funny thing is it plays CDs on THIS computer also (through the Win2k-Sp3 WDM-CDplayer and through Winamp too). I am almost sure that's a driver problem so I went through the web searching for appropriate drivers (of course BEFORE this I tried the original drivers supplied with the card-which were NOT intended for WIN2k, but anyway... and the WDM-Win2k driver for sb16 which automatically loaded with the Windows install and neither of them worked...). I've looked into some of the driver-sites I know, searches on Google and so on and up to now I couldn't find a solution... what I came out with is that:1) Creative DID NOT put out a driver for SB16 ISA and Win2k. 2)I'm not the only one having this problem - win2K in not so friendly with ISA cards...(On the other hand through my searches I found people who had exactly the opposite problem - their SB16 ISA did work with Win2k and did not work with WinME or 98).

What also really pisses me off is that my specific soundcard model - CT4170 appears in the Hardware Compatibility List at Microsoft's site as FULLY COMPATIBLE with Win2k (among many other SB16 ISA cards) which means, if I'm not completely stupid, that at least they checked it and it works with Win2k (if not that they also have a driver for it ???)

Of course I could say - F*** it and go buy a new PCI sound card who has for sure Win2K drivers but it just pisses me of to know for sure there is a solution somewhere down there and I just can't find it... Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[NooNoo]

The only thing I can think of is the fact that your isa card has jumpers and may not be set to pnp... or if it is, the isa slot isn't... or something along those lines.

I have run an sb16 isa card and 2k quite happily... it does work.

[Zerotech]

The only thing I can think of is that you need to have the Via 4in1 drivers installed. (you didn't mention installing them, so I'm assuming they're not)
The latest Hyperion series are available at www.viaarena.com .
Many Via-based "twitches" are solved with these drivers. Good luck.

[archaos]

Hi guys,
Thanks for your help. I installed the Via Arena drivers yet no luck... my ISA card has no jumpers but tried to asign it IRQs and DMAs in the bios(although it's supposed to be PnP...yet no luck...
Any other ideas?

[NooNoo]

What CT number is on the top right hand corner of the card?

[CeeBee]

Have you disabled the onboard audio in BIOS???? Your windowze might be using the onboard device...

[trippinfool]

what is the chipset information on the card?

[trippinfool]

http://www.americas.creative.com/sup.../xpdrivers.asp


according to what i can find you should be ok. have you tried to manuall install the driver? all the support pages i came across state that the OS should cover it. i am still looking though!

[trippinfool]

http://www.premiopc.com/drivers.html#sound

they have 95,98 and nt drivers

[archaos]

Hi guys,
Thanks again for your replies... all the info is in the opening post... yeah, I should have made it shorter/perhaps more concise - it's quite longish... anyway:

-Soundblaster 16 *ISA slot*, model CT 4170
-Windows 2000 - SP3
-PIII-667, Asus CUV4X MoBo, ATI-Rage128Pro, Conexant Modem
-CT4170 appears in the HCL at Microsoft's site as FULLY COMPATIBLE with Win2k

tripinfool- tried the vibra NT driver - does not work under Win2k
ceebee- Asus_CUV4X MoBo>no onboard audio - Still need to look for it and disable in bios?...Where?

NEW INFO - I have in one of my computers another *ISA* card(not Soundblaster) and the same happens with it. Win2k recognizes the card - new hardware found - automatically installs the Windows WDM drivers and although everything seems fine(no conflicts reported) the sound does not work... I got to the conclusion that it's not a drivers problem... it must be some specific setting in the BIOS that should be changed in Win2k when working with ISA CARDS or maybe I'm doing something really stupid ( like letting the volume to zero or something alike)...
Where can I find info on STEP BY STEP troubleshoting - ISA+Win2k conflicts? Thanks...

[NooNoo]

OK a few questions...

Was the isa card installed when you loaded windows 2000?
if so...
Was the 2k load a clean install or an upgrade?

Does the sound card appear in the multimedia properties in control panel? What else appears in the drop down boxes for play and record? Is the box checked - use only preferred device?

Boot to safe mode - go into device manager - click view, show hidden devices. Apart from the sb16 what other audio related stuff is installed?

What resources is the sb16 using? IRQ, Memory address, Dma channel? What else is using these resources? (click view, by connection, irq)

[CeeBee]

1. go to control panel, open "sounds and multimedia"
2. under the "audio" tab, choose your creative soundblaster as preffered device for playback, record and midi
3. check "use only preffered device"
4. reboot if you don't have sound already.

Since you have installed all kind of drivers for this card I suggest completely uninstalling the soundblaster (in computer management) and restart so that windows re-detects it before following the above steps.

If I am not wrong your mobo does have on-board sound, but if you have no audio/game port connectors on the back of the computer... then I am wrong. However if you see other devices in the list for audio devices then you DO have an on-board audio device...

[NooNoo]

According to a few reviews I found, that mobo DOES have onboard sound

[Ya_know]

Originally posted by NooNoo
According to a few reviews I found, that mobo DOES have onboard sound

Asus's manual for the MoBo lists sound as an option. So it is possible that it isn't there too...

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by archaos
...NEW INFO - I have in one of my computers another *ISA* card(not Soundblaster) and the same happens with it. Win2k recognizes the card - new hardware found - automatically installs the Windows WDM drivers and although everything seems fine(no conflicts reported) the sound does not work... I got to the conclusion that it's not a drivers problem... it must be some specific setting in the BIOS that should be changed in Win2k when working with ISA CARDS or maybe I'm doing something really stupid .....

Or maybes Windows is doing something stupid !!

I put the bit 'windows wdm drivers' in bold .... I did this as there are two types of sound drivers, WDM - windows direct media & VXD - Virtual eXtended device .... odds are here, that the WDM driver won't work, for exactly the reasons you say, either the card or the motherboard doesn't truely comply to ACPI and thus isn't really plug & play, nearly but not quite ....

You want to use (& I know it sounds stupid !) 95 drivers for it (they will be vxd type drivers), when it detects the hardware point it to the '95 driver instead of the 2k driver ....

Strictly speaking the isa bus isn't supported in windows 2000 ... at the risk of going against my usual ethics (fix it or die ) I feel honour bound to point out that a pci soundcard as good or much better than your card can be had for about $12 ......