At 03:14 AM 02/09/2000 , Kilian de Jager wrote:
>Hello there,
>I'm everything but a specialist and this is my first posting here, so i'm not completely
>sure I'm in the right place.
>
>My problem:
> From one day to the next, my pc doesn't detect my sound card nor my modem anymore. Both
> cards are seated in ISA slots.
>Windows isn't able to detect the two cards, even after removing them, restarting the pc,
>using Norton Systemworks to get rid of all unnecessary leftovers, shutting down,
>reseating the cards and restarting the pc.
>Reformatting and reinstalling windows98 (twice, as if that would help) didn't work either.
>
>Everything worked fine for a couple of months.
>Has anybody experienced the same problems, or does anybody know what the problem might be?
>
>I have an (originally with win95) DELL-co
>nfigured pentium 2, 300 MHz, 96 MB RAM
>Soundcard: Creative Labs Soundblaster AWE64
>Modem: US Robotics X2 Voice winmodem
>Graphic card: Fireglide 1000pro AGP
>Graphic 3dfx accelerator: Diamond MonsterII 8 MB
>
>btw I didn't upgrade win95 but used a full WIN98/SE version


The problem you are experiencing is Windows attempt to manage system
resources.

You will need to set the system resources, if possible and depending on your
Bios, manually.   I am not family with your Dell computer, but most Bios have
settings in the CMOS, (the setup area of the Bios), that will allow you to
set the the resources manually.   Find the area in the CMOS that discusses
IRQs and set these from PCI or auto to ISA.

In the case of your Soundblaster Awe64 card this is IRQ 5 | DMA1 | DMA5
Set this to ISA.

In the case of your modem, depending on the Com port set this to reflect where
you intend the modem to reside:
    Com2:  IRQ3   Com4: IRQ3    Com1: IRQ4   Com3: IRQ4

Once these are removed from the pool of resources Windows uses to manage
your resources for all devices, it will willingly provide these resources to the
Modem and Soundcard properly.   You may need to remove the drivers and
reinstall them...  but, typically this solves the issues you address.

Windows95/98 typically will attempt to put your sound card on IRQ9 or others
that are just not really functional with the soundcard.  I also highly recommend
using the full driver set found on SOUNDBLASTER.COM for the modem versus
the drivers found in Windows.  It installs a Plug-N-Play driver component that
improves use of the soundcard in Dos games and many other applications.

        Bob Wright
The NOSPIN.COM

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