As a lot of other people here I am trying to run some old DOS games, so far I have everything set up bar my sound, which is proving to be somewhat more of a challenge than I expected. Could someone please explain the procedure for getting onboard sound to work in DOS?

This may or may not be possible. (More often than not, it isn't possible to get integrated sound hardware working in a real mode environment, but this depends on a number of factors.) What kind of onboard sound hardware are you using? Are you trying to use the Integrated Audio-Codec 97 built into an Intel motherboard? If so, you're out of luck. Assuming this an i810 chipset-based board: You can't get the sound to work in DOS because you don't actually have any sound hardware. The "sound card" and modem are supposedly built into the chipset, but the truth is: The audio (and modem) hardware doesn't actually exist--it's all done in software. It's all virtual. The Integrated Audio-Codec 97 controller enables software audio and modem by using the processor to run sound and modem software. It requires software, but using this you need no modem or soundcard. This forces your processor to do triple duty, making it act as a modem and as a sound card beside its regular tasks. Real mode functionality is not supported with these systems because without the funky software, the sound card does not exist. All you have to do is plug in an old ISA Sound Blaster right? Not with these systems--the 810 chipset does not support the ISA buss. Quite frankly, I don't think you have too many options other than: 1. Not using real mode DOS 2. Finding software that somehow provides sound under DOS. I can't imagine how this would even be possible and I've never heard of any such software, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. 3. Finding a decent PCI sound card that actually works properly in real mode. I have it on good authority that such things exist. This may be your best bet. 4. Get a motherboard with an ISA buss and use a "legacy" sound card. If you're *not* using the i810 built-in sound but something else, tell us what that something else is. In some cases, the sound hardware is virtual, but in some cases, the motherboard has actual PCI audio, MIDI, game port, and synthesizer hardware built-in (although in some cases the synth may be a soft synth). If your motherboard has actual PCI sound hardware built into the board *AND* that built-in hardware supports real mode, you're in luck. Well... probably. Most PCI sound cards I've tested that are allegedly fully real mode DOS compatible have real mode support that leaves a little to be desired. You may need to buy an actual ISA sound card (if your system has an ISA buss) or a decent PCI sound card that offers acceptable real mode DOS compatibility (if your system doesn't have an ISA buss).