Setting up sound drivers in DOS mode

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 06:39:38 -0500, SlickRCBD
put finger to keyboard and composed:


Perhaps I should rephrase my request. Could somebody explain with
step-by-step instructions what to do to get the sound to work in MS-DOS
mode?


The SoundMAX FAQ doesn't mention anything about getting sound to work
in a Windows DOS box, or restarting in DOS mode, but it does say that
there are no DOS drivers.

================================================== ================
http://forms.analog.com/Form_Pages/s...tml#question37

37 Where can I find DOS drivers for SoundMAX?

SoundMAX does not support DOS operation. Audio may or may not work
with different DOS applications.
================================================== ================

AFAIK, the problem with getting games to run in MS-DOS mode is that
the sound card's resources need to be visible in MS-DOS mode. MS-DOS
games usually understand Creative Sound Blaster compatible cards, ie
those that occupy the same IO ports and use the same registers as the
original standard sound card. I suspect that some games can sniff out
the card's resources on their own, while others must consult the
BLASTER environment variable for the card's IRQ, DMA, and IO port
settings. Newer cards that are unable to emulate the Sound Blaster or
other old cards (eg Adlib?) may not be recognised by DOS games.

By way of example, my Win95 box runs an old sound card with an Opti
89C928 chipset. The Opti card came with DOS and Win3.1x drivers, but
not Win9x. To get the card to work with Win95 I've had to configure
its registers for Sound Blaster mode. I do this using an Opti-supplied
configurator utility that runs from autoexec.bat just before the GUI
loads. The only feature that I can't get to work is the mixer (and
therefore the microphone), but I suspect this is because Opti's mixer
may not follow the Creative standard.

What devices do you see in Control Panel in the "Sound, video, and
game controllers section"? What resources are assigned to them? Do you
see an "SB16 Audio device"? "DOS mode MPU-401 emulator"?

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
Sorry I took so long, I wasn't able to get back to this issue because of
more pressing problems in the real world.

I only see one device:
"SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio"
The contents of each panel is as follows
General:
Device type: Sound, video, and game controllers
Manufacturer: Analog Devices, Inc.
Hardware version: 002
Device status: This device is working properly
Device usage:
[ ] Disable in this hardware profile
[X] Exists in all hardware profiles
Driver:
Provider: Analog Devices
Date: 10-1-1999
To view detail... (not bothering because it seems illrelivant)
Driver File details:
Driver files:
C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\DRIVERS\smwdm.sys
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32VXD (ntkern.vxd)
C:\SYSTEM\MMDEVLDR.VXD
C:\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\SMWDM.SYS
Provider: Analog Devices, Inc.
File version: 5.12.01.3620
Copyright: Copyright (C) Analog Devices, Inc. 1998-2003
Resources:
[X] Use automatic settings
Resource Type Setting
Interupt request 10
Input/Output Range D800-D8FF
Input/Output Range DC80-DCBF
Conflicting device list:
No conflicts.

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:15:03 -0500, SlickRCBD
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 06:39:38 -0500, SlickRCBD
put finger to keyboard and composed:


Perhaps I should rephrase my request. Could somebody explain with
step-by-step instructions what to do to get the sound to work in MS-DOS
mode?


The SoundMAX FAQ doesn't mention anything about getting sound to work
in a Windows DOS box, or restarting in DOS mode, but it does say that
there are no DOS drivers.

================================================== ================
http://forms.analog.com/Form_Pages/s...tml#question37

37 Where can I find DOS drivers for SoundMAX?

SoundMAX does not support DOS operation. Audio may or may not work
with different DOS applications.
================================================== ================

AFAIK, the problem with getting games to run in MS-DOS mode is that
the sound card's resources need to be visible in MS-DOS mode. MS-DOS
games usually understand Creative Sound Blaster compatible cards, ie
those that occupy the same IO ports and use the same registers as the
original standard sound card. I suspect that some games can sniff out
the card's resources on their own, while others must consult the
BLASTER environment variable for the card's IRQ, DMA, and IO port
settings. Newer cards that are unable to emulate the Sound Blaster or
other old cards (eg Adlib?) may not be recognised by DOS games.

By way of example, my Win95 box runs an old sound card with an Opti
89C928 chipset. The Opti card came with DOS and Win3.1x drivers, but
not Win9x. To get the card to work with Win95 I've had to configure
its registers for Sound Blaster mode. I do this using an Opti-supplied
configurator utility that runs from autoexec.bat just before the GUI
loads. The only feature that I can't get to work is the mixer (and
therefore the microphone), but I suspect this is because Opti's mixer
may not follow the Creative standard.

What devices do you see in Control Panel in the "Sound, video, and
game controllers section"? What resources are assigned to them? Do you
see an "SB16 Audio device"? "DOS mode MPU-401 emulator"?

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
Sorry I took so long, I wasn't able to get back to this issue because of
more pressing problems in the real world.

I only see one device:
"SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio"
The contents of each panel is as follows
General:
Device type: Sound, video, and game controllers
Manufacturer: Analog Devices, Inc.
Hardware version: 002
Device status: This device is working properly
Device usage:
[ ] Disable in this hardware profile
[X] Exists in all hardware profiles
Driver:
Provider: Analog Devices
Date: 10-1-1999
To view detail... (not bothering because it seems illrelivant)
Driver File details:
Driver files:
C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\DRIVERS\smwdm.sys
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32VXD (ntkern.vxd)
C:\SYSTEM\MMDEVLDR.VXD
C:\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\SMWDM.SYS
Provider: Analog Devices, Inc.
File version: 5.12.01.3620
Copyright: Copyright (C) Analog Devices, Inc. 1998-2003
Resources:
[X] Use automatic settings
Resource Type Setting
Interupt request 10
Input/Output Range D800-D8FF
Input/Output Range DC80-DCBF
Conflicting device list:
No conflicts.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that your drivers provide you with
no DOS support. There are no Sound Blaster devices, for example. The
"WDM" in "SMWDM" refers to the Windows Driver Model which is a
departure from the old VXD driver standard. WDM is intended to
facilitate a way for software developers to code drivers that can be
used across the full range of Windows platforms beginning with
Win98SE. I don't know whether this means that DOS support is excluded
by design.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Jeff Richards wrote:
The article shows what needs to be done for a specific sound card. Your
card may require the same thing, or something similar. Without knowing the
exact make and model of card (or equivalent motherboard device) there is no
way of telling.. However, the article also included a general reference to
running games in DOS mode. Did you follow the reference and check out the
general tips for getting games to work in DOS mode?


Actually, I previously provided such information in my other posts, and
it should have been quoted.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:24:11 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"
put finger to keyboard and composed:


On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:46:36 +1000, Franc Zabkar

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:24:39 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"


I have my BIOS set to "PnP aware OS = no". Despite this, my modem is
not detected by DOS.

That depends on how well the modem can emulate the legacy hardware
arrangement of a serial COM port with standard hardware resources that
connects to the modem as a serial device.


It does this perfectly. It's a full hardware, controller based ISA
modem. It can be configured in jumpered mode or in PnP mode. In
jumpered mode I can choose the IRQ and the IO port. DOS then sees a
standard COM port at 2f8, 3f8, 2e8, or 3e8.

The hardware blocks are as follows:

ISA bus - PnP chip - UART - controller - DSP - DAA

or

ISA bus - jumpers - UART - controller - DSP - DAA


Using Debug I am able to confirm that the modem's COM port is
not present in DOS's port table. It is only after the GUI loads that
its resources are assigned.


Yup. It's a "Windows modem", most likely.


Definitely not. It appears to me that the BIOS cannot configure the
modem.


If I now "restart in MS-DOS mode", or switch to a Windows DOS box, the
modem's COM port remains invisible. In MS-DOS mode there is nothing I
can do to enable the port as Windows appears to have released all of
its resources. However, in a DOS window I can make the port visible to
DOS by using Debug to add it to the port table at addresses 40:0 - 40:f

Oooo... debug in Windows; I haven't gone that deep or pokey!


This behaviour appears to contradict your statement that "the DOS app
sees ... whatever was loaded under the Windows boot".

Not really - as what drives the modem is not loaded under the Windows
boot, but as part of the driver set loaded within Windows.


There are no drivers, only those that are associated with a standard
COM port. It seems to me that DOS (or IO.SYS) detects the ports at
bootup and constructs a port table. Windows then finds an additional
port and assigns resources to it. If I now switch to a DOS box, DOS
refers to the old port table and remains unaware of the newest port.
The port's resources have not been released, though. To make DOS aware
of the new port, I need to tell it that it exists be using debug to
manually update the table.

A "restart in MS-DOS mode" releases the modem's resources. Adding the
COM port to the port table at this time does not make the modem
visible to DOS.

Now do you see why I'm confused? :-)

Here is some background info on the subject:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en

BTW, my apology to the OP for appearing to have hijacked this thread,
but I believe that a discussion of how resources are manipulated by
DOS and Windows goes to the crux of the OP's question.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
It's ok, I'm lost as it is, form what the other poster said, I need to
find some way to emulate SB hardware in DOS mode, though I don't have a
clue how to do that. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:24:11 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"
put finger to keyboard and composed:


On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:46:36 +1000, Franc Zabkar

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:24:39 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"


I have my BIOS set to "PnP aware OS = no". Despite this, my modem is
not detected by DOS.

That depends on how well the modem can emulate the legacy hardware
arrangement of a serial COM port with standard hardware resources that
connects to the modem as a serial device.


It does this perfectly. It's a full hardware, controller based ISA
modem. It can be configured in jumpered mode or in PnP mode. In
jumpered mode I can choose the IRQ and the IO port. DOS then sees a
standard COM port at 2f8, 3f8, 2e8, or 3e8.

The hardware blocks are as follows:

ISA bus - PnP chip - UART - controller - DSP - DAA

or

ISA bus - jumpers - UART - controller - DSP - DAA


Using Debug I am able to confirm that the modem's COM port is
not present in DOS's port table. It is only after the GUI loads that
its resources are assigned.


Yup. It's a "Windows modem", most likely.


Definitely not. It appears to me that the BIOS cannot configure the
modem.


If I now "restart in MS-DOS mode", or switch to a Windows DOS box, the
modem's COM port remains invisible. In MS-DOS mode there is nothing I
can do to enable the port as Windows appears to have released all of
its resources. However, in a DOS window I can make the port visible to
DOS by using Debug to add it to the port table at addresses 40:0 - 40:f

Oooo... debug in Windows; I haven't gone that deep or pokey!


This behaviour appears to contradict your statement that "the DOS app
sees ... whatever was loaded under the Windows boot".

Not really - as what drives the modem is not loaded under the Windows
boot, but as part of the driver set loaded within Windows.


There are no drivers, only those that are associated with a standard
COM port. It seems to me that DOS (or IO.SYS) detects the ports at
bootup and constructs a port table. Windows then finds an additional
port and assigns resources to it. If I now switch to a DOS box, DOS
refers to the old port table and remains unaware of the newest port.
The port's resources have not been released, though. To make DOS aware
of the new port, I need to tell it that it exists be using debug to
manually update the table.

A "restart in MS-DOS mode" releases the modem's resources. Adding the
COM port to the port table at this time does not make the modem
visible to DOS.

Now do you see why I'm confused? :-)

Here is some background info on the subject:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en

BTW, my apology to the OP for appearing to have hijacked this thread,
but I believe that a discussion of how resources are manipulated by
DOS and Windows goes to the crux of the OP's question.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
It's ok, I'm lost as it is, form what the other poster said, I need to
find some way to emulate SB hardware in DOS mode, though I don't have a
clue how to do that. I've got a lot of catching up to do on configuring
dos/windows. To think that I thought I was proficient in MS-DOS because
I know basic and quite a few moe advanced DOS commands.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:24:11 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"
put finger to keyboard and composed:


On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:46:36 +1000, Franc Zabkar

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:24:39 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"


I have my BIOS set to "PnP aware OS = no". Despite this, my modem is
not detected by DOS.

That depends on how well the modem can emulate the legacy hardware
arrangement of a serial COM port with standard hardware resources that
connects to the modem as a serial device.


It does this perfectly. It's a full hardware, controller based ISA
modem. It can be configured in jumpered mode or in PnP mode. In
jumpered mode I can choose the IRQ and the IO port. DOS then sees a
standard COM port at 2f8, 3f8, 2e8, or 3e8.

The hardware blocks are as follows:

ISA bus - PnP chip - UART - controller - DSP - DAA

or

ISA bus - jumpers - UART - controller - DSP - DAA


Using Debug I am able to confirm that the modem's COM port is
not present in DOS's port table. It is only after the GUI loads that
its resources are assigned.


Yup. It's a "Windows modem", most likely.


Definitely not. It appears to me that the BIOS cannot configure the
modem.


If I now "restart in MS-DOS mode", or switch to a Windows DOS box, the
modem's COM port remains invisible. In MS-DOS mode there is nothing I
can do to enable the port as Windows appears to have released all of
its resources. However, in a DOS window I can make the port visible to
DOS by using Debug to add it to the port table at addresses 40:0 - 40:f

Oooo... debug in Windows; I haven't gone that deep or pokey!


This behaviour appears to contradict your statement that "the DOS app
sees ... whatever was loaded under the Windows boot".

Not really - as what drives the modem is not loaded under the Windows
boot, but as part of the driver set loaded within Windows.


There are no drivers, only those that are associated with a standard
COM port. It seems to me that DOS (or IO.SYS) detects the ports at
bootup and constructs a port table. Windows then finds an additional
port and assigns resources to it. If I now switch to a DOS box, DOS
refers to the old port table and remains unaware of the newest port.
The port's resources have not been released, though. To make DOS aware
of the new port, I need to tell it that it exists be using debug to
manually update the table.

A "restart in MS-DOS mode" releases the modem's resources. Adding the
COM port to the port table at this time does not make the modem
visible to DOS.

Now do you see why I'm confused? :-)

Here is some background info on the subject:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en

BTW, my apology to the OP for appearing to have hijacked this thread,
but I believe that a discussion of how resources are manipulated by
DOS and Windows goes to the crux of the OP's question.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
It's ok, I'm lost as it is, form what the other poster said, I need to
find some way to emulate SB hardware in DOS mode, though I don't have a
clue how to do that. I've got a lot of catching up to do on configuring
dos/windows. To think that I thought I was proficient in MS-DOS because
I know basic and quite a few moe advanced DOS commands.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 12:24:11 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"
put finger to keyboard and composed:


On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:46:36 +1000, Franc Zabkar

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 12:24:39 +0200, "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)"


I have my BIOS set to "PnP aware OS = no". Despite this, my modem is
not detected by DOS.

That depends on how well the modem can emulate the legacy hardware
arrangement of a serial COM port with standard hardware resources that
connects to the modem as a serial device.


It does this perfectly. It's a full hardware, controller based ISA
modem. It can be configured in jumpered mode or in PnP mode. In
jumpered mode I can choose the IRQ and the IO port. DOS then sees a
standard COM port at 2f8, 3f8, 2e8, or 3e8.

The hardware blocks are as follows:

ISA bus - PnP chip - UART - controller - DSP - DAA

or

ISA bus - jumpers - UART - controller - DSP - DAA


Using Debug I am able to confirm that the modem's COM port is
not present in DOS's port table. It is only after the GUI loads that
its resources are assigned.


Yup. It's a "Windows modem", most likely.


Definitely not. It appears to me that the BIOS cannot configure the
modem.


If I now "restart in MS-DOS mode", or switch to a Windows DOS box, the
modem's COM port remains invisible. In MS-DOS mode there is nothing I
can do to enable the port as Windows appears to have released all of
its resources. However, in a DOS window I can make the port visible to
DOS by using Debug to add it to the port table at addresses 40:0 - 40:f

Oooo... debug in Windows; I haven't gone that deep or pokey!


This behaviour appears to contradict your statement that "the DOS app
sees ... whatever was loaded under the Windows boot".

Not really - as what drives the modem is not loaded under the Windows
boot, but as part of the driver set loaded within Windows.


There are no drivers, only those that are associated with a standard
COM port. It seems to me that DOS (or IO.SYS) detects the ports at
bootup and constructs a port table. Windows then finds an additional
port and assigns resources to it. If I now switch to a DOS box, DOS
refers to the old port table and remains unaware of the newest port.
The port's resources have not been released, though. To make DOS aware
of the new port, I need to tell it that it exists be using debug to
manually update the table.

A "restart in MS-DOS mode" releases the modem's resources. Adding the
COM port to the port table at this time does not make the modem
visible to DOS.

Now do you see why I'm confused? :-)

Here is some background info on the subject:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...e=source&hl=en

BTW, my apology to the OP for appearing to have hijacked this thread,
but I believe that a discussion of how resources are manipulated by
DOS and Windows goes to the crux of the OP's question.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
It's ok, I'm lost as it is, form what the other poster said, I need to
find some way to emulate SB hardware in DOS mode, though I don't have a
clue how to do that. I've got a lot of catching up to do on configuring
dos/windows. To think that I thought I was proficient in MS-DOS because
I know basic and quite a few moe advanced DOS commands.