I experienced this problem (only "native" .wav files were loud, others were
quiet and sometimes crackled) with an ESS (?model) PCI sound card.  The DMA
settings, not the IRQ, were the culprit.  I removed the sound card and CDROM
and rebooted.  Then I reinstalled sound card and CDROM and installed using
updated drivers from the manufacturer (check the 'net) by checking the "have
disk" button during install.  Worked fine after that.  I also grabbed the 8
MB wavetable (noticeably better sound quality than the 2 MB the card came
with).
Martin Kurr
email [log in to unmask]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Keith Morse <[log in to unmask]>
> > Just a question about some inconsistencies I'm finding in a customer's
> > computer.  The pc is a generic no name clone with WIN98 upgrade
> installed.
> > The symptoms are exhibited thusly:
> >         1.      "Native" wav files such as "tada", "chimes", "ding"
> plays
> >                 at a normal volume.
> >         2.      "Non-native" wav files such as "The Windows Sound" or
> >                 "The Welcome" play at a significantly reduced volume.
> So
> >                 quiet in fact, that about the only way to hear it is to
> >                 place the speaker in your ear.  No sound settings have
> >                 been adjusted while playing the two different types of
> >                 files.
> > The sound card is an ESS-1688 and interestingly will only use IRQ 7.
> > Uninstalling and reinstalling the driver made no difference.  I ended up
> > moving LPT1 to IRQ 5, I/0 278 in the bios.  As a note, midi files seem
> to
> > have no problems being played.

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