I'm trying to get my Esoniq AudioPCI sound card to load up under DOS 6.22. So far, I've had no success.

I downloaded a few drivers from DriverGuide, one of which was fairly specific in being able to run this sound card under DOS. The file name for the download was SBPCI.ZIP, as it uses a SoundBlaster driver (Creative Labs bought Esoniq). When the driver loads during boot-up, I get an error message saying the driver failed to load because the device wasn't found. I know the sound card works as I took it out of another computer, and I know the PCI slots are fine because I've tested them each with my PCI video card. How can I get the driver to find the card and load on boot? I appreciate any help!

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

Download the driver from:

http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/ot...

Creative PCI Cards can be difficult to configure under DOS, but feasible. It is a 2 part driver, the first part loads the PCI Sound driver the second stage loads an Emulation Driver so it emulates a standard sound blaster variable.

I'm using the Sound Blaster PCI 128 Initialization Driver, and when autoexec gets to:

C:\DOSDRV\SBINIT.COM

I get the following message:

error: PCI device detect failed; Device not found.
PCI audio driver NOT loading.

I know the PCI slot works, as I tested each one with my video card. The sound card works; I took it out of the computer I'm using now with Windows XP, and it works great. I went through the instructions for installing it, and actually used that site, but I'm still getting this error.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

Some creative stuff won't load if the bios is set to a PnP OS. In cmos/bios setup, make sure PnP OS is set to NO. That option may instead ask if you're using windows 95. Again that would be NO.

The only OS option I can find in the BIOS is whether or not its OS/2.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

That usually has to do with allocating memory above 64 meg. If there is a PnP option it would be on a different cmos page. Do you know what bios you have--AMI, Award, Phoenix?

Its an Award BIOS, and I've looked through all the pages and haven't found a PNP option other than "Reset PNP Config Data" on the PCI & Onboard I/O Setup page.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

If you have that option it should be on that page. I've got it on a Award P-I cmos. Possibly that option isn't available for your board or maybe it's set to always YES.

That may not be the problem any. You may have the wrong drivers. What is the chipset on that card--that is, what is written on the (usually) the largest chip?

http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/ex...

AUTOEXEC: should include something similar to:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330
SET CTSYN=C:\DOSDRV
C:\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE

CONFIG should include something similar to:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI
DOS=HIGH,UMB

Last but not least run MSD and check that the Sound Card is on IRQ10 and the Graphics Card is on a different IRQ, usually 11, if another IRQ is sharing the Sound Card it causes conflicts, as per the advice about non P'n'P O/S above..............

There are many Creative cards that will not work unless you boot into Windows 9x, then go back to DOS 'mode'.

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I have the same problem. I am booting from a Dos disk with the SB DOS drivers on the C. I have set the Bios to PnP OS = No.

My card has the CT4740 chipset and is an original SoundBlaseter 16 PCI. The card does work in Windows Me so I know it is fine.

My config.sys has the above plus CDRom drivers. My autoexec is the same, again with the added CDRom drivers.

Any help is appreciated.

I guess the directories and files referred to in #8 are actually there. That is, you have a directory on c: named DOSDRV with a file named SBEINIT.COM.

You may need to reserve IRQ 5 in cmos/bios setup for a legacy device.