• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Abit PB4 mobo (486), ISA sound card - OK in DOS, not detected in Windows

W

wjpl

Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Messages
12
Hello,

I have an Abit PB4 mainboard (Rev 1.3, 3 PCI slots, 3 ISA slots) and I tested it with 486 DX2/66 and AMD DX4 100 MHz. I use it currently with 32 MB RAM and S3 64V+ video.
It has currently Win98 installed (i tested it also with Win95), and I tried to install various sound cards - SB AWE64, ESS1879, and ALS120. They were not detected as PnP devices in Windows,
and they didn't work after installing them manually. But they showed up in AIDA16 report.

Currently I am testing the ALS120 card. I installed DOS drivers (SB16 emulation), and it works in Windows DOS-mode, i have sound in games. It even works in Windows, when I run a dos application in a window. But i don't get any sound in Windows itself, and it is not detected in device manager.

I tried to install Sound Blaster 16 drivers in Windows and use it with DOS drivers loaded in autoexec.bat, but it didn't work.

Does anyone have idea how to make it work? Maybe someone has the same motherboard?

There is an BIOS update available, maybe it would help (but I'm not sure if it's the case); unfortunately this mainboard probably has UV-erasable EPROM (i can feel a hole under the BIOS sticker), and I have no experience with updating such chips.
 
If all of the sound cards you've tested aren't working in Windows, but you've proven the cards themselves are fine because they work in DOS, then the most likely conclusion is that your Windows installation (or configuration) is damaged in some way. If this were my system, I'd back up any data unique to the system and then completely reinstall Windows.
 
Very good advice. Also, I would spotlight the sound card I intended to use in the system and ensure that it's in place for the new Win98 install. Win98 has a knack for finding hardware during the install process.
 
I read somewhere, that it might be a problem with BIOS; this board has PCI slots and is meant to have plug and play functionality, but originally it comes with EPROM - which is read-only (unless you erase it with UV). All PnP boards should be able to store ESCD tables in flash memory, but this one can't. And because of that PnP doesn't work properly. I read that someone with the same board had a problem with PCI video card - and he replaced the EPROM with new Flash memory, programmed with updated BIOS - and it's started to work fine. I will try to program an 1mbit flash chip, put it there and see if it will work.

I reinstalled Windows about 3 times, i tried Win 95 and Win 98, different BIOS settings, manual driver install, automatic driver install, 3 different cards and it didn't work. So it's definitely not a Windows problem...
 
Then it sounds like an ISA, non-PNP sound card is your only hope with that system. A Sound Blaster 16 (older version with jumpers) is a safe choice.
 
wjpl said:
Does anyone have idea how to make it work? Maybe someone has the same motherboard?
Click to expand...

I have the exact same board and I'm about to resurrect it. Last time I used it was in the 90s and it had an original AWE32 followed by a GUS, neither of which are PNP. I do now, however, have an AWE64 Gold which is so as soon as I get it up and running (should be this week) I will let you know what I find. I happen to have a spare flashable BIOS chip I could switch in so thanks for the tip.
 
ESCD is stored in CMOS memory, not flash. Just like the rest of your BIOS settings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top