I have an old Pentium computer that I want to use as a DOS/old Windows game machine. It is running Windows 98 (not SE) The soundcard is an AWE64 Gold ISA. I've installed the card and it works fine in windows. I also gathered the required files and edited the autoexec.bat and config.sys to load the DOS drivers on startup. The drivers all load fine--but when I boot the computer into DOS, I get this message: Could not detect PnP soundcard. Please be sure the hardware is properly insterted. If the problem persists contact technical support. ERR012: AWE32 Initialization failed. I have no sound in any games (obviously). I've researched this extensively and verified I have the correct drivers and DOS applications. I seriously doubt the sound card is damaged. Is there anything more I can do to try and remedy this problem? For reference: My Autoexec.bat -- SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T4 @ECHO OFF PROMPT $P$G PATH c:\windows;c:\windows\COMMAND;C:\;c:\pkzip SET DIRCMD=/O SET TEMP=C:\PBTOOLS\WINTEMP SET WINPMT=[WINDOWS] $P$G SET CTCM=C:\AWE64 SET SOUND=C:\AWE64 SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0 C:\AWE64\MIXERSET /P /Q C:\AWE64\AWEUTIL.COM /S My Config.sys -- DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH,UMB DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.exe NOEMS I=B000-B7FF FILESHIGH=50 BUFFERSHIGH=20 STACKSHIGH=0,0 FCBSHIGH=1 DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.SYS DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE FILES=20 DEVICE=C:\AWE64\CTCM.exe REM the next two lines are not required for all games DEVICEHIGH=C:\AWE64\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /WIN95 /BLASTER=A220 I:5 D:1 H:5 DEVICEHIGH=C:\AWE64\CTMMSYS.SYS

Try looking in your bios setups for PnP. There's a good possibility that your bios has such. They may be one of the "main" screens, or they may be under ADVANCED. If you find settings, ensure that they're enabled. Your config file settings look OK, though it's been a long time since I had an AWE64 set up on one of my machines. I have a CD for that, but alas it's still packed (I moved in June) as I no longer need it.

The only options I have under the BIOS are "Use PnP OS" and "Use BIOS Setup." Use PnP OS is currently selected. Under PnP OS I have the options "Windows 95" "Use other PnP OS" and "Disable." It's currently set to Win95. Under BIOS PnP Setup (which is not selected), it gives me a list of IRQs: IRQ 4 - Available IRQ 5 - Available etc. I can change "available" to "used by ISA device." There is also an option to enable/disable ISA Shared Memory (it's disabled right now). So, to recap, currently the BIOS is set to Use PnP OS, Windows 95 (no other options are selected).

I wonder why you are getting this error message: "ERR012: AWE32 Initialization failed." When you are trying to install an `awe64' driver.

*ahem* Because some of the drivers are virtually unchanged between the two. In fact, for DOS, the AWE64 requires some files that are found in the SB16 archives. I promise you, I have the proper drivers. That is, of course, unless Creative decided to bundle the incorrect drivers on the AWE64 installation CD.

Luna is correct, the drivers for the AWE32 are the same as for the 64. The only difference between the two cards is, The AWE32 has 32 hardware sound fonts and the AWE 64 has 32 hardware and 32 software sound fonts. The extra sound fonts are software driven, and not dependant on the drivers for the card.

Well, in any case, I fixed the problem--sort of. If I do a cold boot into DOS mode, the card inits fine...but if I try to reboot into DOS from Windows, it fails. :( I'd like to be able to fix this problem, but I can live with it if I can't. I still have no idea what's wrong, although--since a cold boot seems to be the answer--maybe it has something to do with another driver/device/set environment that is conflicting? I have no clue...