Odd bot problem (Aren't they all?)

[wdc]

I wonder if someone can figure out THIS problem -- that I ran into in resurrecting an old pc running Windows 3.1.

About a year ago, the pc stopped booting to the desktop, instead hanging up after it displayed the Microsoft flying windows screen (with the text “Microsoft Windows Version 3.1.”) After hours of fiddling with AEB, config.sys, etc. I removed all my application programs and reloaded the Original Software (including the OS) from the CD that came with the pc. I was disappointed to find that the pc still stalled on boot at exactly the same screen.

I happened to leave the pc in that stage for about an hour. When I returned, I was surprised to see an error message to the effect that an error was found in Sound Blaster 16 and, remarkably, that the previously stalled screen was gone! After clicking a few OKs, my desktop of icons reappeared, for the first time in a year!

The pc seems to be working fine. But I still have the problem of booting it. (Waiting an hour for the Sound Blaster error message to appear is hardly convenient.)

Needless to say, I’d welcome any ideas. … wdc

[AlaricD]

Perhaps is you posted the contents of that Sound Blaster error, we could figure out why the error occurs and how to resolve it. I imagine you aren't getting any sound, and running Windows without sound isn't all that fun....

[wdc]

AlaricD: Yes, I should have posted these error messages.

After 20-30 minutes (whatever makes the pc wait this long?; is there a setting somewhere that specifies this period?) the Window Version 3.1 screen disappears and is replaced with this message:

Sound Blaster 16
A configuration or hardware problem has occurred. Rub the driver applets in the Control Panel to reconfigure the WAVE and MIDI drivers. OK


When I click the OK button, the message changes to:

Sound Blaster
ERROR
Configuration problem
the Wave and Midi driver is not enabled OK

When I click OK, my desktop icons appear and I can move between screens, File Manager, Multimedia, etc.
"What does "Run the applets in CP mean?

Hope this makes sense to you. I appreciate your help. .... wdc

[AlaricD]

Originally posted by wdc

"What does "Run the applets in CP mean?

Hope this makes sense to you. I appreciate your help. .... wdc

In the Control Panel, there should be an applet called "Drivers". There, you should be able to see an entry for "Sound Blaster 16" (or something similar-- as I'm not at my Windows 3.1 system I'm running from memory)-- ensure that the hardware settings specified there match the hardware settings assigned to the card.

I'll try to get some screen shots up, but that should at least point you in the right direction.

[wdc]

AlarcD and others: Here are the latest results.

When I clicked on Drivers in Control Panel, I got a list of about a dozen files, several of which seem "sound-related." When I clicked on two of them (SB16 Aux Audio and SB16 Wave and Midi Driver) I got their version numbers. On two others, I could get nothing to come up when I clicked them . But on SoundBlaster 16 Mixer, I got this message:

'Cannot load the SB16 Mixer driver. The driver file may be missing. Try installing the driver again or contact your system administrator."

I then went to DOS and did a DIR on directory SB16. But I could not spot anything there that looked like the Mixer.

What is the next step? Can I copy a specific file (which file?) from my CD? Or perhaps someone can send me the missing file? ... wdc

[AlaricD]

http://us.creative.com/support/downl...=15&OSName=DOS

According to the README:

Windows Drivers
───────────────

The following files will be updated:

   VSBPD    386     CSPMAN   DLL     SB16AUX  DRV     SB16FM   DRV
   SB16SND  DRV     WFM0006  ACV     WFM0007  ACV     WFM0011  ACV
   WFM0200  ACV     WFM0202  ACV     WFM0203  ACV     MIDIMAP  CFG
   SBAWE32  DRV     AWEGUI   DLL     AWEMAN   DLL     SYNTHGM  SBK
   SYNTHGS  SBK     SYNTHMT  SBK     VSBAWE   386     WFM0201  ACV

I believe that SB16AUX.DRV incorporates the mixer functions-- the driver update should correct the SYSTEM.INI to reflect the new driver package.