What can you do when...

[Bugfinder]

...you buy an used Sound Blaster 16 ISA and it only works under Windows and DOS box but not under pure DOS? The utility ctcm.exe doesn't give any information, it seems not to see the card at all. When I run diagnose.exe I can configure the card and hear sound from 2 different IRQs, any value for low and high DMA. But when rebooted, no sound in any DOS application (MAME, Duke Nukem 3D etc.). The volume control doesn't even appear in MAME.

In setup.exe from Duke Nukem, I can hear music but sound effects aren't played due to confilicting 16-bit DMA. This is strange as in diagnose.exe the sound plays correctly in any high DMA channel (even when using the same channel as low DMA). I just save and reboot... no sound at all.

But when I run Windows, everything works. In a DOS box I have sound; if I exit to DOS, no sound. At My Computer, properties I can see the settings Windows is using, I tried to reproduce it in another DOS config session... nothing comes out from my speaker.

How come it? Is this sound card bugged? Have any of you experienced this before? Any info is appreciated.

Bugfinder

[JustMichael]

In the bios try setting IRQ 5 to be used by Legacy ISA only.  Go to Creative and download the dos drivers (or win 3.1) for the soundcard.  Then install them.

[OSCAR]

What .exe are you using to initialize the card?  I am using diagnose.exe.  You mentioned that running diagnose.exe works and you get sound?  Running diagnose.exe with the /s switch intializes the card with the saved settings.

I am using an ISA SB16 in one of my cabs under pure DOS, and this is how I am doing it with my autoexec.bat:

SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6
C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S > null


--OSCAR

[JMDickson]

Make sure you have a SET BLASTER command before you try to use the card.

[Bugfinder]

Heck, I solved it

I found in my autoexec.bat:

C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S W=C:\WINDOWS

All I had to do was to remove "W=C:\WINDOWS" so now it is:

C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S

I ask myself why the damn installation program added that parameter!

Thanks to all of you!