Curious environment variable

If I open a command prompt, and type SET to show the
environment, one of the strings is BLASTER=I5,M220,D3,H7
or somesuch stuff. It looks like Sound Blaster settings.

If I open msconfig, and look in environment tab, there is
no sign of a BLASTER string!
All the strings shown by SET appear somewhere, except for
this BLASTER string.
I've searched inside every file on the hard disk, and the
only occurrence of BLASTER is in the regisrty recording
that I've searched for it!

Does anyone have any idea where it comes from?

Just curious.

Thanks,
BarryG

The BLASTER string you are seeing was used in DOS and not used by Win Me and
is I think set by the drivers for your sound card each time the system boots.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:

If I open a command prompt, and type SET to show the
environment, one of the strings is BLASTER=I5,M220,D3,H7
or somesuch stuff. It looks like Sound Blaster settings.

If I open msconfig, and look in environment tab, there is
no sign of a BLASTER string!
All the strings shown by SET appear somewhere, except for
this BLASTER string.
I've searched inside every file on the hard disk, and the
only occurrence of BLASTER is in the regisrty recording
that I've searched for it!

Does anyone have any idea where it comes from?

Mike,

The funny thing is, I was using an on-board sound card
until last week, then I disabled it and inserted a genuine
Sound Blaster, and blow me down if the same BLASTER
environment string isn't still there!

If I add a BLASTER variable with different values using
the environment tab in msconfig, then the string reported
with SET is the string I add. If I then remove it again,
back comes the "default" string.
Curiously though, grepping every file on the hard disk
only shows BLASTER to be present in the registry as a
recent search string. I would expect it to be inside the
file that is placing it there as well, but it doesn't show.
One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

Thanks for your response,
BarryG

-----Original Message-----
The BLASTER string you are seeing was used in DOS and not
used by Win Me and
is I think set by the drivers for your sound card each
time the system boots.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:

If I open a command prompt, and type SET to show the
environment, one of the strings is BLASTER=I5,M220,D3,H7
or somesuch stuff. It looks like Sound Blaster settings.

If I open msconfig, and look in environment tab, there
is
no sign of a BLASTER string!
All the strings shown by SET appear somewhere, except
for
this BLASTER string.
I've searched inside every file on the hard disk, and
the
only occurrence of BLASTER is in the regisrty recording
that I've searched for it!

Does anyone have any idea where it comes from?

.

Barry,

You won't find that string in the drivers as the purpose of the variable is I
think to let DOS programs, primarily games, know where the SB card is located
and the addresses it is using. As a result I think the drivers for the card
set the current values and also write them to autoexec.bat each time the
system boots. Since these are not required other than in real mode I suspect
Win Me's regenv32.exe ignores this entry in autoexec.bat when transferring any
changes to autoexec.bat to the registry each time the system shuts down.

The sound blaster variable contains four and sometimes five parts:

SET BLASTER=A??? I? D? T? (the order can, I think, vary)

Where I? is the IRQ address of the card, usually 5 but sometimes 7
D? is the DMA channel
and T? is the type of card involved. I think values here can range from 1 to
4 or 5.
A??, and seemingly in your case M???, is the base I/O port number. Usually,
this is 220.

Addendum. I've just been checking on Win Me running in a virtual machine
where the sound card is an emulated SB16. As in your case autoexec.bat
contains no BLASTER entry nor the registry nor does cmdinit.bat which is run
each time you open a command prompt. This reinforces my impression that the
BLASTER value is created by the SB16/Creative drivers on boot up. In my case
the value is as follows:
BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 P330
Similarly I've just checked on a real box running Win Me which has an
Ensoniq/Creative PC128 and again the BLASTER value is added by the drivers
when the system boots. I'm not currently in a position to check but seem to
recall that on another box here with an SBLive! and Win Me using VXD drivers
rather than WDM drivers, that if I disable the DOS emulation mode I no longer
see the BLASTER entry.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:

Mike,

The funny thing is, I was using an on-board sound card
until last week, then I disabled it and inserted a genuine
Sound Blaster, and blow me down if the same BLASTER
environment string isn't still there!

If I add a BLASTER variable with different values using
the environment tab in msconfig, then the string reported
with SET is the string I add. If I then remove it again,
back comes the "default" string.
Curiously though, grepping every file on the hard disk
only shows BLASTER to be present in the registry as a
recent search string. I would expect it to be inside the
file that is placing it there as well, but it doesn't show.
One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

The BLASTER string being loaded by the driver at bootup
seems reasonable. The SB PCI 128 card I'm using now loads
WDM drivers, as did the onboard Realtek sound chip I was
using.
It looks like the BLASTER string is one one of those
things that happens "behind your back".
It doesn't affect anything here, I'm just curious to under
what really happens in the internals of my machine.

Thanks again.

BarryG

-----Original Message-----
Barry,

You won't find that string in the drivers as the purpose
of the variable is I
think to let DOS programs, primarily games, know where
the SB card is located
and the addresses it is using. As a result I think the
drivers for the card
set the current values and also write them to
autoexec.bat each time the
system boots. Since these are not required other than in
real mode I suspect
Win Me's regenv32.exe ignores this entry in autoexec.bat
when transferring any
changes to autoexec.bat to the registry each time the
system shuts down.

The sound blaster variable contains four and sometimes
five parts:

SET BLASTER=A??? I? D? T? (the order can, I think, vary)

Where I? is the IRQ address of the card, usually 5 but
sometimes 7
D? is the DMA channel
and T? is the type of card involved. I think values here
can range from 1 to
4 or 5.
A??, and seemingly in your case M???, is the base I/O
port number. Usually,
this is 220.

Addendum. I've just been checking on Win Me running in a
virtual machine
where the sound card is an emulated SB16. As in your
case autoexec.bat
contains no BLASTER entry nor the registry nor does
cmdinit.bat which is run
each time you open a command prompt. This reinforces my
impression that the
BLASTER value is created by the SB16/Creative drivers on
boot up. In my case
the value is as follows:
BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 P330
Similarly I've just checked on a real box running Win Me
which has an
Ensoniq/Creative PC128 and again the BLASTER value is
added by the drivers
when the system boots. I'm not currently in a position
to check but seem to
recall that on another box here with an SBLive! and Win
Me using VXD drivers
rather than WDM drivers, that if I disable the DOS
emulation mode I no longer
see the BLASTER entry.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:

Mike,

The funny thing is, I was using an on-board sound card
until last week, then I disabled it and inserted a
genuine
Sound Blaster, and blow me down if the same BLASTER
environment string isn't still there!

If I add a BLASTER variable with different values using
the environment tab in msconfig, then the string
reported
with SET is the string I add. If I then remove it again,
back comes the "default" string.
Curiously though, grepping every file on the hard disk
only shows BLASTER to be present in the registry as a
recent search string. I would expect it to be inside the
file that is placing it there as well, but it doesn't
show.
One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

.

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 22:39:57 GMT,"BarryG"
penned this whopper in
microsoft.public.windowsme.general

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

The BLASTER string being loaded by the driver at bootup
seems reasonable. The SB PCI 128 card I'm using now loads
WDM drivers, as did the onboard Realtek sound chip I was
using.
It looks like the BLASTER string is one one of those
things that happens "behind your back".
It doesn't affect anything here, I'm just curious to under
what really happens in the internals of my machine.

Thanks again.

BarryG

-----Original Message-----
Barry,

You won't find that string in the drivers as the purpose
of the variable is I
think to let DOS programs, primarily games, know where
the SB card is located
and the addresses it is using. As a result I think the
drivers for the card
set the current values and also write them to
autoexec.bat each time the
system boots. Since these are not required other than in
real mode I suspect
Win Me's regenv32.exe ignores this entry in autoexec.bat
when transferring any
changes to autoexec.bat to the registry each time the
system shuts down.

The sound blaster variable contains four and sometimes
five parts:

SET BLASTER=A??? I? D? T? (the order can, I think, vary)

Where I? is the IRQ address of the card, usually 5 but
sometimes 7
D? is the DMA channel
and T? is the type of card involved. I think values here
can range from 1 to
4 or 5.
A??, and seemingly in your case M???, is the base I/O
port number. Usually,
this is 220.

Addendum. I've just been checking on Win Me running in a
virtual machine
where the sound card is an emulated SB16. As in your
case autoexec.bat
contains no BLASTER entry nor the registry nor does
cmdinit.bat which is run
each time you open a command prompt. This reinforces my
impression that the
BLASTER value is created by the SB16/Creative drivers on
boot up. In my case
the value is as follows:
BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 P330
Similarly I've just checked on a real box running Win Me
which has an
Ensoniq/Creative PC128 and again the BLASTER value is
added by the drivers
when the system boots. I'm not currently in a position
to check but seem to
recall that on another box here with an SBLive! and Win
Me using VXD drivers
rather than WDM drivers, that if I disable the DOS
emulation mode I no longer
see the BLASTER entry.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:

Mike,

The funny thing is, I was using an on-board sound card
until last week, then I disabled it and inserted a
genuine
Sound Blaster, and blow me down if the same BLASTER
environment string isn't still there!

If I add a BLASTER variable with different values using
the environment tab in msconfig, then the string
reported
with SET is the string I add. If I then remove it again,
back comes the "default" string.
Curiously though, grepping every file on the hard disk
only shows BLASTER to be present in the registry as a
recent search string. I would expect it to be inside the
file that is placing it there as well, but it doesn't
show.
One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

.


Yes, the soundblaster variables are merely for backward compatibility with
98 and 95 systems, they are ignored by ME, except in DOS gaming modes I
think. (could be wrong there)

--
"Time will bring to light whatever is hidden;
it will cover up and conceal what is now shining in splendor."
Horace (65 - 8 BC); Roman poet.

Mike

Alot of things can happen "behind your back" some good some bad mostly
of no import.

SB16 was the standard that *all* the soundcard mfr's used to use (and
still do, afaik)... if you're using the WDM drivers then my guess would
be that the "Devldr16" Creative driver is doing those settings, totally
oblivious to the fact that WinME doesn't have RealMode DOS.



Rick


BarryG wrote:

Mike,

Thanks for the info.

The BLASTER string being loaded by the driver at bootup
seems reasonable. The SB PCI 128 card I'm using now loads
WDM drivers, as did the onboard Realtek sound chip I was
using.
It looks like the BLASTER string is one one of those
things that happens "behind your back".
It doesn't affect anything here, I'm just curious to under
what really happens in the internals of my machine.

Thanks again.

BarryG


-----Original Message-----
Barry,

You won't find that string in the drivers as the purpose

of the variable is I

think to let DOS programs, primarily games, know where

the SB card is located

and the addresses it is using. As a result I think the

drivers for the card

set the current values and also write them to

autoexec.bat each time the

system boots. Since these are not required other than in

real mode I suspect

Win Me's regenv32.exe ignores this entry in autoexec.bat

when transferring any

changes to autoexec.bat to the registry each time the

system shuts down.

The sound blaster variable contains four and sometimes

five parts:

SET BLASTER=A??? I? D? T? (the order can, I think, vary)

Where I? is the IRQ address of the card, usually 5 but

sometimes 7

D? is the DMA channel
and T? is the type of card involved. I think values here

can range from 1 to

4 or 5.
A??, and seemingly in your case M???, is the base I/O

port number. Usually,

this is 220.

Addendum. I've just been checking on Win Me running in a

virtual machine

where the sound card is an emulated SB16. As in your

case autoexec.bat

contains no BLASTER entry nor the registry nor does

cmdinit.bat which is run

each time you open a command prompt. This reinforces my

impression that the

BLASTER value is created by the SB16/Creative drivers on

boot up. In my case

the value is as follows:
BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 P330
Similarly I've just checked on a real box running Win Me

which has an

Ensoniq/Creative PC128 and again the BLASTER value is

added by the drivers

when the system boots. I'm not currently in a position

to check but seem to

recall that on another box here with an SBLive! and Win

Me using VXD drivers

rather than WDM drivers, that if I disable the DOS

emulation mode I no longer

see the BLASTER entry.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



BarryG wrote:


Mike,

The funny thing is, I was using an on-board sound card
until last week, then I disabled it and inserted a

genuine

Sound Blaster, and blow me down if the same BLASTER
environment string isn't still there!

If I add a BLASTER variable with different values using
the environment tab in msconfig, then the string

reported

with SET is the string I add. If I then remove it again,
back comes the "default" string.
Curiously though, grepping every file on the hard disk
only shows BLASTER to be present in the registry as a
recent search string. I would expect it to be inside the
file that is placing it there as well, but it doesn't

show.

One of life's little mysteries I suppose.

.