My SoundBlaster16 ISA does not work w/ BE6-II rev1.2

[Chico]

I replaced my old Asus P3BF with an Abit BE6-II rev1.2 motherboard. All my components works on the BE6 board except my old sb16 ISA card. I get no sound when I boot or exit windows98. The sound card works great with my BP6, speakers are fine. I think the ISA slot on the BE6 is bad. I want to check here on the forum before I return the motherboard. I own two other BE6 boards and all work great.

 

[DaddyG]

Look into your BIOS option for PCI/PnP Config. Set to Manual and set the ISA slot to Legacy ISA Device.

 

[Chico]

Thanks, I will try it after work.

 

[Chico]

DaddyG,

Please provide more details on setting ISA device. Two options become availabe (IRQ Resources and DMA Resources) when I set "Resource controlled By" to manual. Which do I set to Legacy ? I tweaked a little and could not get sound card to work.

Thanks

 

[DaddyG]

Chico , it should be your IRQ resources that you control manually. Since mobo/BIOS types vary I can't give you precise instructions but your SB card will probably need to IRQs. One for SB Emulation and one for normal windows. Maybe you have on option to set the 'slot' to a specific IRQ ? If not try setting IRQ 5 to Legacy ISA device, (SB Emulation like IRQ5). Once you have installed the SB drivers you should be able to 'disable SB Emulation' and free up the IRQ.

 

[Chico]

I have another question for you DaddyG. Is your suggestion something new that abit is doing with their motherboards and legacy ISA cards ? This is a very unusual way to use an ISA card. I used this sound card in my Asus P3B-f and abit BP6 motherboards, I never needed to tweak bios to use the sound card. Anyway, I will try your suggestion tonight.

 

[DaddyG]

Chico, I don't think that its really anything new, but this is the recommended if not the only way to use the ISA slot on the ABIT KT7 also. Most ISA cards don't do PlugnPlay too well. ABIT may have changed the defaults in the BIOS but since I work with lots of different brands of boards I don't pay that much attention, also ISA is quickly dying.

BTW I tried to look at the PDF for your mobo on the ABIT site but its so slow i got nowhere.

 

[IaPuP]

DaddyG- Only PCI cards need 2 IRQs.

A Sound Blaster 16 does not have to emulate SB16 protocols. It IS SB16 protocols. That was a "legacy" feature of the SB Live and similar PCI cards.

Eric

 

[DaddyG]

Iapup,

I don't want to confuse 'legacy features' with the Legacy ISA DEvice setting in the PCI/PnP Settings. AFAI remember the SB16 could be run 'Dos Mode' (now referred to as SB Emulation) and Windows mode. I don't remember whether they used 2 IRQs. However I am 99% sure that the ISA slot on the BE6-II needs to set to Legacy ISA Device to prevent the IRQ being shared in the general IRQ pool. Dos Mode can normally be deleted in the Device Manager after installation of the drivers.

 

[DaddyG]

Chico, I did a little more research on the SB16 and its a good idea to use the SB16 defaults to try to get the thing running. here they are:

Default IRQ 5

8-bit DMA Channel 1

16-bit DMA Channel 5

Base I/O Address 220-233h

Midi Port Base I/O Address 330h-331h

If you have conflicts after setting these defaults I would recommend changing the conflicting device if possible.

 

[Chico]

I will try this tonight. I hope this works because everything I have tried has not worked. By the way, I really appreciate your help and prompt responses...thanks DaddyG.