Windows95 system sound conflict

Have you tried removing and reinstalling the sound drivers?

When I switched the cards ,I also reinstalled the Sound Card and
the drivers.

What kind of ISDN-adapter do you have? Can you solve the problem by removing this adapter?

You've got a conflict between the IRQ or DMA settings on the sound card and the ISDN card.  Go to the Control Panel>System>Device Manager and check for the two devices in question.  Look at their resources and make sure there is no conflict.

There is no conflict that Win95 can identify ,the ISDN card is
from German Telecom and does not use DMA. The IRQ´s were the first things I checked and there was a possibility of a conflict
there, because the ISDN card is not plug and play. We got around
the possible conflicts by removing one of the COM ports and by
assigning its IRQ to the ISDN card...

If you solved the problem with the assistance of one of the "experts",
please invite them to post an "answer",
and then you can "accept" the answer, and award the points.

If you solved the problem yourself, without any help,
send E-mail to 'linda@Experts-Exchange.com',
and ask that the question be removed.

JJKulha,
If you still have the problem, have you tried disabling the COM port in CMOS setup, as well as removing it in Win95?
Regards,
Ralph

I am confused. Is the problem solved?  If no, did he try removing the ISDN card yet?  If so, what was the result?

Apart from that, I would suggest checking for latest drivers for both peices just to be sure it is not something as simple as that.  Why drivers? Maybe a later driver revision solved such conflicts.

Another shot in the dark is that memory areas that these two devices occupy are too close together but not identified as such in Device Manager.  Try alternate addresses for the cards and test the result.  I've seen that before even though all "appeared" fine...

Darryl

If I remove the ISDN card the system runs like magic. It is only
with the card that the conflict exists. What was meant by disabling the COM port. The ISDN card is Internal and not a COM-port!
I have contacted the manufactor of the Card for help as well.
The Drivers I use are the latest I could get my hand on.
I´ll try the memory area alternating.

>  ?...The ISDN card is Internal and not a COM-port!"

I understand that, but it may be conflicting with a built-in COM port.

1) Which IRQ is the ISDN card using?
2) Does it have any kind of voice capability?
3) What Windows95 version are you using?
4) What version of DUN?

If ISDN card uses IRQ3 or IRQ4, then try to disable the corresponding COM port listed in your CMOS setup.
(COM1&3=IRQ4, COM2&4=IRQ3)

If it uses IRQ5, then change the soundcard's IRQ.

Your answers to the above may help.  Let us know your progress.
Regards,
Ralph

Irq is 3 and it is available because I removed a COM port from CMOS!

The card has voice capability ,but not yet available because I
cannot get sounds out correctly and do not have a microphone.

Windows95C (thinking about trying with NT soon...)
DUN ???

DUN = Dial Up Networking.  Since you have Win95C, you already have the latest version.
Is there anything listed in Device Manager relating to a "wave audio device"?
Ralph

No reference to "wave audio device". You are right ,the Dial Up
Networking is the latest...

Have you tried to change IRQ for soundcard?
Ralph

What was the result of manually relocating the memory areas of of either of those cards???

I cannot see what the IRQ changing of Soundcard will do, but I'll
try it...
I have not been able to try the relocating of memoryareas yet...

> I cannot see what the IRQ changing of Soundcard will do,

Most IRQs can only be used by _ONE_ device at a time,
i.e., either your ISDN device or your sound-card.

> but I'll try it...

Good. Please report back, good or bad.

Did you check the address for your sound card and ISDN card???

Whatever you do, DON'T try the alternate memory addresses, you might solve the problem.

It will take a while until I get to try to solve the problem next
because I am not home at the moment, I will add another comment
as soon as I get home.

System freezes are almost always memory address conflicts, and these are things which won't necessarily show up as hardware conflicts in device manager.  If your initial Input/Output range begins with 220, change it to one that begins with 240.  If it is intially 240, set it to 220.  If these settings are locked out in device manager, you may have to make changes in the BIOS.

tedoff,
the soundcard has three address ranges:
0220h-022Fh
0330h-0331h
0388h-038Bh
and the ISDN controller only one
0340h-035Fh
How do you think they may conflict and which setting to change?
I cant see changing 0220 to 0240 helping (I will try it though)

The conflict may not be directly between the two cards, but since you added the new hardware, Win95 may have allocated or reallocated sources which were free before, but now are conflicting, either with the ISDN, or the sound card.  Since sound cards use more hardware memory ranges, I thought it would be best to try adjusting it first.  You may wind up having to try different things, or change which address the ISDN is using.

Go to Device Manager and with "Computer" highlighted, click the properties button.
Here you will see a list of IRQs.
Check each to see if any are listing more than one device.
Let me know what you find.
Ralph

To Ralph:
That I have done as the first step even before I tried the ISDN
and soundcard combination.
To tedoff:
Windows does not let me touch the three memory address ranges I
mentioned in the last message, and the ISDN has a switch I have
to set to a address range I use...

I am still trying the different address ranges but until now without success.

I have tried to change the addresses but it did not help

Still getting lockups?  If you disable the ISDN in the control panel, do you still get lockups?

to tedoff
the problem is not solved by only disabling the ISDN.
If I physically remove the ISDN card I am OK.

Both cards are ISA, I assume.  Do you also have PCI architecture on your system board?  If so, can you go into the BIOS settings and make sure the IRQs the sound board and the ISDN are using are not on the PCI bus?  On some systems you can set whether an IRQ is usable by PCI and ISA, or just ISA.  If you can't make these changes, let me know.

JJKulha,
Does the startup screen on your computer list the installed hardware before the operating system loads?
If so, how many serial ports are listed, and what are their addresses?
Ralph

tedoff... How do BIOS setting tell me if the IRQ is on PCI Bus

rmarotta ... Ill get back to you soon about the addresses.

Depends on which BIOS you have.  You have to go into the CMOS setup, and look for the PCI or PNP configuration pages.  What system board do you have?  If I know that, I can find the manual online and find how to change BIOS settings for you.

tedoff
It is a Chain Tech motherboard ,I had a look where the IRQ´s are
defined and all except the ISDN card IRQ (3) are for PnP...
I cannot find anything saying wether the IRQ is for PCI bus or not...

rmarotta
startup lists 1 serial port with address 3F8, the other one was removed on purpose to allow us to use the IRQ 3.

thx again

tedoff
more accurately it is Chain Tech Motherboard 6BTM and the manual
says the following (amongst other things):
four 32-bits PCI slots
three 16-bit ISA slots (one PCI/ISA shared slot)??? what does that mean?
Award Sytem BIOS
Two Ultra DMA-33 PCI IDE Ports
On-board Ultra I/O
Two Channel USB ports ( I think inactivated, the comment in manual says: Now under compatibility testing with different peripherals!)

Does this say more to you than it does to me??

Okay, I was interested in seeing if the BIOS would recognize the card as a serial port at bootup.  This is not happening, so apparently it must be software configurable.

In re-reading this thread I discovered that you never said whether or not the ISDN card is functional.

Is it?

Ralph

OK, the place where you found IRQs are set to PCI is the PCI/PNP config page in your CMOS setting.  You said right now that the ISDN's IRQ 3 is set to "Legacy ISA"?  If so, change it to "PCI/ISA PnP", which is probably what all the other IRQs are set for.  Try reinstalling drivers for the ISDN card, and see if you still get lockups.

ralph
the ISDN card is functional.
tedoff
I already did that today... I also switched the cards around in their ISA slots, but only to make it worse, even basic system sounds freeze the system occasionally.
I also tried again without the ISDN card and everything works.
I have (for the second time) asked from the company I bought the
PC from how they would have installed a ISDN card with the config. Last time I got no reply (I live in Germany ,maybe that explains that. They do not have to provide any service here after
they have received the money. Not enough competition I guess!).

Jarmo

Okay, try setting the sound card to ISA Legacy instead of PnP, and see if you can change memory addresses in Windows95 for the sound card.  If they were locked out before, setting the IRQ for the board to non-PNP might free up your ability to change settings.

Jarmo, try this:

1) Boot into safe mode.

2) Run Device Manager and expand each listing, checking for duplicated device entrys.

3) If any duplicates are found, delete every occurance of the duplicated device.

Let me know what you find.
Ralph

tedoff , OK I will try that...
rmarotta , I did not find any duplicates...

tedoff
I changed the soundcard IRQ (5) to Legacy ISA along with its
DMA´s 1 and 5. I then changed the memory settings by selecting one of the available 6 settings the Device Manager shows.
This seems to make no difference what so ever. Can you suggest
any software (I have Sandra and TechFacts95 but they cannot help)
which could find the conflict. Otherwise I think I might just go
and buy me an ISDN card which connects through a COM port and behaves like a "normal" modem.
Jarmo

> "Two Channel USB ports ( I think inactivated, the comment in manual says: Now under compatibility testing with different peripherals!) "

Have you checked for a possible BIOS upgrade for your board?

Please list all resources that the ISDN card can use, and let me know what the current settings are. (IRQ,DMA,port addresses)
Ralph

I/O addresses 0300-031F
IRQ 3

The DMA´s I was talking about where for the soundcard.
The current soundcard settings are
I/O addresses 0200-022F
IRQ 5
DMA´s 1 and 5
Is that what u wanted?

rmarotta
no I have not checked for an BIOS upgrade. What difference do you think it could make.

The info I asked for was about the ISDN card.
How many resource options or settings does it have?

The latest BIOS upgrade for your board, which should include prior upgrades, is 08/07/98.
One of the priors included a fix for IRQ sharing which might help solve your problem.

Info about the BIOS upgrade and the file can be downloaded here:

http://www.chaintech.com.tw/BIOS/Models/6BTM.htm

Let me know if you need more.
Ralph

Sorry, I don't know of any software which could find the conflict.  I'm still thinking of what else you could check, but an external replacement modem (I recommend the 3Com Impact IQ) might solve all the problems in one shot.  It may be you have a bad piece of hardware (not unusual, although the symptoms are not especially indicative of that).  I'll continue to suggest further courses of action, though.

Sorry, I don't know of any software which could find the conflict.  I'm still thinking of what else you could check, but an external replacement modem (I recommend the 3Com Impact IQ) might solve all the problems in one shot.  It may be you have a bad piece of hardware (not unusual, although the symptoms are not especially indicative of that).  I'll continue to suggest further courses of action, though.

> I don't know of any software which could find the conflict.

Try "CTS IRQInfo(TM)", via a link on the page at:

http://WWW.TroubleShooters.com/ttools.htm 

or go directly to "Computer Telecommunications Services, Inc.",
at: http://WWW.CommInfo.COM

The address ranges have been checked and rechecked for several times.
The problem remains even after various different address settings.

Rmarotta
I´ll try the BIOS upgrade, thank you for that.
I am going to give you the possible address and IRQ combinations for the ISDN card soon, but I think the BIOS might be more likely to solve, since I have tried most of the address options.

Okay Jarmo,
Be very carefull!  It is possible to render the computer inoperable if the BIOS ugrade is done improperly.
Be certain to read and understand all directions before proceeding with it.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
Ralph

Ralph
Yes, I was about to ask you if it is safe to just go ahead and do
the BIOS Upgrade...
I have following questions. There are two different 6btm upgrades
available, normal and "overclocker" Bios. According to what they say I should use the overclocker , does it make any difference?
Also the instructions say that I need to startup the system without any TSR´s installed (TSR??) , what is the best was to boot ?
I think I understood the Instructions. I can always contact you through my Laptop if the Meltdown happens....?
Any big No-No´s come to mind...
Jarmo

I would suggest the "regular bios" dated 7/30/98 if it is newer than what you currently have.
Your current BIOS revision date is probably displayed on-screen when you power on the computer.
Ralph

The Instructions say (based on something printed next to a Jumper
on the board itself) that I should take the overclocker?

What about how to boot?

Jarmo

Ralph
Here I am again (this time with brand new bIOS) ,but still with
conflicts.
The new BIOS has some features (for example IRQ for PCI slot...)
which I have not tried yet.
The other possible setting offered to me by the devicemanager is same Address 0300 031F but IRQ 5. I will quit my job if that works, since it is used by the soundcard!!!
Ill play around a bit more I´ll let you know if I found anything.
Jarmo

Hmmmmmm,
Don't quit yet......
IRQ-sharing is possible using the PCI bus.
But your cards are ISA. (as I understand)

You  S T I L L  have not told me what resource assignments are possible on that ISDN card!

Ralph

> Here I am again (this time with brand new bIOS),
> but still with conflicts.

Try "CTS IRQInfo(TM)", via a link on the page at:
   http://WWW.TroubleShooters.com/ttools.htm
or go directly to "Computer Telecommunications Services, Inc.",
at: http://WWW.CommInfo.COM

This is "try-before-you-buy" software,
and is *VERY* good at displaying IRQ information.

Ralph,
Yes I have told you, see above.

The ISDN card resource possibilities are IRQ´s 3 and 5
both with address range 0300-031F
(5 is used by the soundcard)

Otta,
I´ll try it.
Jarmo

you checked for IRQ conflict before you started
you took out a com port to free IRQ3
have you checked since that the remaining com port didn't move to IRQ 3?

yes I have checked the IRQ settings again and again.

the COM port IRQ did not move all by itself, its defined in BIOS

Thanks, I´ll try it. I think I may get in trouble with IRQ 11 because the Video card and IRQ holder for PCI management both use
it. Why do you think that 5 for ISDN would make a difference?
Jarmo

IRQ 5 is an available one and is not normally used. If you run into problems with IRQ 11 try 15, it too is also available.

IRQ 14 is always used by the primary IDE channel,
and IRQ 15 will be used by a secondary IDE channel.

So, be careful before allocating IRQ 15.

Thanks Otta, that is something to be aware of.

Thank you both,
As I said, I will try the suggestion asap.
Jarmo