SB64 issues on HP Ventra 1GHz (and RAM issues on Dell)

[danvan]

Hi all,

I have recently been having problems with my Dell P3 667 desktop that has been happily running Win98 DOS mode and AdvanceMAME for around 5 years. (I don't know the model as the case is long lost). It had been unplugged for quite some time and had started to lose BIOS settings. I removed the BIOS battery and ever since then I have been getting no video and just a 1-3-2 sequence of beeps which indicate no memory, as far as I can tell. I have swapped out the RAM with known good RAM, and tested its RAM in another PC, so I can only assume the motherboard is toast.

SO... I have switched from my brilliant piece of handy work over to a HP Vectra with a 997MHz P3 ('slot 1' CPU I think) with a Phoenix BIOS 4.0 rev 6.0 (p/n D9820-60009 I think??). I moved my Creative SB64, Diamond Viper V330 and HDD over without a problem, except... the DOS PCI Sound Blaster drivers are spitting out an error when loading...

"Could not allocate code/patch RAM below 4 MByte boundary. Try loading SBInit.com before SMARTDRV.EXE or minimising VDISK RAM. PCI audio driver NOT loading"

I am using the DOS drivers from easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/snddosdr.htm. I suspect the on-board USB ports to be causing an IRQ conflict as it appeared to be on IRQ5 in Win98's device manager (is there a DOS way to check??), but there is no way to disable them completely that I can see - only turn them off such that a PnP OS can see them. I have disabled everything else I can in BIOS (LPR, serial, etc).

Now, I have already searched high and low and there are plenty of people out there reporting the same error. Problem is none of them seem to have found a solution!!

Below are my config.sys and autoexec.bat.


CF.sys:

DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=15
BUFFERS=15
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI
DEVICEHIGH=C:\TOOLS\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001


AE.bat:

SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS
set path=%path%;c:\tools;c:\mame;c:\
LH c:\tools\MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /l:f
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H7 P330 T6
SET SBPCI=C:\DOSDRV
C:\DOSDRV\SBLOAD
C:\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM   <------------------------ this is what errors!
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE
c:\tools\mouse\ctmouse.exe
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
c:\tools\csdpmi3b\bin\cwsdpmi -p

I have tried removing the extra drivers (CD / mouse), the path, changing the SET statements... I really think they should be okay though, as it is the same hardware configuration except for the motherboard.

So... this is a triple question.

1. Does anyone know how to fix my Dell's complaints of no memory, where I clearly do have working RAM?
2. Does anyone know how to get past the issue with my SB64 on the HP Vectra?
3. Does anyone know how to get the on-board sound card of the HP Vectra working under pure DOS? It is a 82801AA 8xx chipset ac'97 audio controller, according to "Merlin's PCI Hardware Sniffer Version 1.0". I have tried some random "viaaudio.com and viafmtsr.com" that I found, but get an error "If you want to run DOS legary game, please enable sound blaster PRO on BIOS setting first".

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Daniel

 

[tikbalang]

1. Does anyone know how to fix my Dell's complaints of no memory, where I clearly do have working RAM?

did you replace them with fresh ones?

2. Does anyone know how to get past the issue with my SB64 on the HP Vectra?

no need. advmenu/advmame supports ac97.

3. Does anyone know how to get the on-board sound card of the HP Vectra working under pure DOS? It is a 82801AA 8xx chipset ac'97 audio controller, according to "Merlin's PCI Hardware Sniffer Version 1.0". I have tried some random "viaaudio.com and viafmtsr.com" that I found, but get an error "If you want to run DOS legary game, please enable sound blaster PRO on BIOS setting first".

ditch you sb soundcard and drivers.
ditch viafmtsr.
enable onboard sound in the bios.
change the sound driver in your advmame.rc and advmenu.rc:

Code: [Select]

device_sound VSYNC/AC97


[danvan]

Thanks for the reply. Comments/questions in line...

> 1. Does anyone know how to fix my Dell's complaints of no memory, where I clearly do have working RAM?

did you replace them with fresh ones?

Yep. The ones I took out tested fine in another machine too.

To add to this, I have since done the same to another PC (a third one - not one of the two already mentioned). It was working fine, got it happily humming away with the SB, video card and the HDD from the failed PC. Went and plugged it into the arcade machine and boom - nothing. No video, no hard drive spin up, not even indicative beeps this time. I moved the PC back to my desk and same results with my PC monitor. So there's something wrong with the power feed to the arcade that seems to have caused these PCs to get fried. I am in the process of moving the motherboard into the working PC (with the sound problems) case to see if its a power supply fuse or something, or if the motherboard is toast. I hope the former. Wish me luck, and hope I don't blow another one up!

> 3. Does anyone know how to get the on-board sound card of the HP Vectra working under pure DOS?
> It is a 82801AA 8xx chipset ac'97 audio controller...

ditch you sb soundcard and drivers.
ditch viafmtsr.
enable onboard sound in the bios.
change the sound driver in your advmame.rc and advmenu.rc:

Code: [Select]

device_sound VSYNC/AC97


I have removed the card, deleted all driver and set statements from autoexec.bat and made the change from "device_sound auto" on advmame.rc and advmenu.rc. I still get no audio unfortunately. I used lowercase vsync/ac97 as it errored on capitals. I know the on-board is working as I get a beep on bootup from BIOS through my speakers.

I am using advmame 0.71 (circa late 2003 I think). I notice there was an update to the AC97 driver in a later version. I downloaded the latest 0.102 build and copied my adv*.rc to the new directory. Still nothing. I have heard that there are different chipsets of the AC97. Are there limitations?


Thanks again!

[tikbalang]

i use advmame .089, .092, and .106 (last version). there are four types of ac97 that i know of: amd, intel, sis and via. i never had experience with the amd type. my friends pc's had intel and sis types, both worked with advmame. via is the most dos friendly with or without viaudio/viafmtsr. your hp vectra seems to be intel i815, the same chipset as my friend's.

is onboard sound enabled in the bios? if not, enable it and try again. enable the gameport, too. while you're there, enable legacy SB emulation if it has that option. try again still using vsync/ac97. try lowering sample rate to 22050 or 11025.

still wont work? let's move on with legacy sb emulation (if your mobo has it). you will now need viaudio/viafmstr. this is how i load it in the autoexec.bat:

Code: [Select]

LH C:\DOS\VIAUDIO\VIAUDIO.COM
LH C:\DOS\VIAUDIO\VIAFMTSR.COM
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T4 P330

this time you need "device_sound AUTO" in your *.rc files. sb emulation is limited to SB pro audio: 8bit, 22050 sample rate, stereo.

still no go? disable onboard sound in the bios setup, remove ac97 drivers. insert sb64 pci and use the drivers that came from easymamecab (i have been successful with this one). more problems arise.

irq allocation:
pci soundcards emulate SB through irq5 BUT actually use irq10. you need to keep both irq's free for your soundcard only. it will not work if shared (may work if shared but audio is jumpy and eventually hang). disable other features in the bios: usb, onboard sound, use only one ide channel. remove unused pci cards: modems, usb hubs, lan cards.

you can view irq allocation when booting, on the screen just before "Starting Windows...". pause the screen and write it down. disable mobo logo in the bios.

smartdrive may have issues with sb drivers. replace it with hyperdkx.exe disk cache. hyperdisk is part of speedkit.

an alternative sound card is ESS from esstech.com. it works nicely in dos after extracting the drivers from their windows installers.

try to look for aida16 v2.14, this is a freeware dos hardware analyser.

i'd like to see you get this mame machine working in DOS.

[tikbalang]

here is aida. it is freeware and obsolete so don't expect much.

[danvan]

Thank you very much for the response. It came about an hour too late though, as I managed to get another new PC working with the SB. I did have to change the IRQ in sbpci.ini to 7, but apart from that no problems have been seen so far. It was a real game of trial and error and in the end I used pieces from five different PCs to get this one working!! Why can it never be easy?!?

That said, I will try all of what you have said this week in the hope I can have a backup computer in the case I blow this one up ;-)

I'll let you know how I go.

p.s. does it make any difference that I am using Windows 98 in DOS mode, as opposed to pure DOS 6.xx?

[tikbalang]

regarding applications/games, there is practically no difference between the two. i use dos 7.xx myself to take advantage of fat32 file system. dos 6.xx can only create and use 2gb partitions.