Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!news From: smsmith@hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) Subject: Re: Soundblaster (386-33 "incompatibilities") Message-ID: <1991Apr26.205714.19177@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> Keywords: music Sender: news@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: hpuxa.acs.ohio-state.edu Organization: The Ohio State University References: <16884@chaph.usc.edu> <1991Apr26.192948.13193@en.ecn.purdue.edu> Distribution: usa Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1991 20:57:14 GMT Lines: 82 gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) writes: > >I've got an Adlib card right now with a 386SX-16. I may soon have >the opportunity to buy a 486. I heard from somewhere that the >Soundblaster cards don't function properly in high speed machines >(like a 386-33). So, is this true? And if so, at what level of >speed does the Soundblaster start to mess up? (Could I use a >Soundblaster in a 486 or 386 without the turbo button on?) Does >the same problem affecting the Soundblaster also effect the Adlib?? >James Gurganus (gurganus@en.ecn.purdue.edu) As far as I know the speed problem occurs only on 386-33's and only with Soundblasters. It's a software problem, not a hardware problem. Here's a summary of responses I posted one or two months ago after I complained about Soundblaster's "incompatibilities" with my new 386-33: -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1991 23:32:50 GMT Lines: 61 Thanks to all of you who responded! I got over a dozen email letters from 386-33 owners. My problem was (is) that my Soundblaster would not work correctly with most of the games I had. Symptoms included buzzing, screeching, missed notes, and tinny music. The severity of the problem depended on the game I was running. Ultima VI was the worst. Wing Commander sounded OK (usually) though now and then there were sustained notes that could only be remedied by exiting to DOS and restarting the game. About half of the 386-33 owners who emailed me said they had the same problems with the same games. One person said that I should just forget about running a SB on a 386-33 because everyone they knew who had a SB in their 386-33 had problems with it. Those that experienced no problems were usually not running the same games as I was, so I realized that different software had different effects. One very informed person posted an article in response to mine (you may have read it). This person, in summary, said that the problem had to do with the drivers written for the particular game, and that the fault was Creative Lab's because they sent out the wrong info to the game developers. Apparently there are timing problems with faster machines, and the drivers need to be written so that they will work correctly on 386-33's. This explains why some games work OK and others don't. Here again are the games I'm running: Ultima VI: Screeching, tinny music, missed notes. Krynn: same as Ultima VI Secret: same as Ultima VI Wing Commander: OK 99% of the time; occasional sustained buzzing. My major concern, and the motivating force which led me to post my query to the net, was that I thought it could be a hardware problem; so I wanted to take care of it as soon as I could while everything was still under warranty. Temporary solutions: 1) Run system at a slower speed. Works fine. 2) Turn memory cache off. Works fine. 3) Run application with QEMM loaded. Helps to slow things down a bit so that the screeching goes away, but Ultima VI still sounds funky. Conclusions: It's a software problem which hopefully will be ironed out as new games are developed. Now I just configure my system so that it will be OK for the particular game I'm playing: Turn cache off for Ultima VI and SSI games, and no change needed for Wing Commander. Stephen M. Smith \ + / ,,@ ircc.ohio-state. \ + / {7%*@,..":27g)-=,#*:.#,/6&1*.4-,l@#9:-) " edu> \ + / BTW, WYSInaWYG \ + / --witty.saying.ARC