Sound Problem (IRQ vs PCI)

[Charger]

New SB512 pci installed in system:

abit bx133 w/piii 667
128 mb ram
Geforce 32 agp
pci modem

After installing card and driver all I get is an annoying tone in my speakers. Upon boot a message reads, "SB IRQ conflicting with PCI IRQ...SB16 emulation NOT loading."

I have checked in the device manager, but no devices are conflicting (IRQ is 5). What do I need to set in the BIOS to resolve this conflict? All devices are set to PNP/PCI. Would installing the card in another PCI slot help?

Thanks for your technical support!

[jet_rider]

I would try a different slot. I you do not need sound in a DOS mode you can turn off the legacy features for the card.

Free is always better

[Charger]

Ok...I'll try that tonight. Any other possibilities?

By the way, I just pulled an old SB16 ISA card out and installed the SB512 PCI. Is there a possibility that the old driver is causing the problem? If so, how/where do I remove it?

Any advantage to using a particular PCI slot for this card?

[glc]

The PCI soundblasters use 2 IRQ's if you have dos emulation enabled - one for the PCI card itself and one for the emulation. You can disable dos emulation if you don't need sound in dos, or you can allow "LPT IRQ Sharing" for the emulation, which will put the emulation on IRQ7. Both these settings can be found in the property sheets in device manager somewhere - either the SB 512 itself or in Creative Miscellaneous Devices. It may be called "SB16 Compatibility" or "Creative Legacy Device".

You can boot into safe mode and see if the old SB16 still appears in device manager - if so, remove it.

Yes, there is a sharing system with PCI slots. Slot 1 will share with AGP, and Slot 2 will share with an onboard ATA66 or 100 controller. Slot 3 generally doesn't share, and Slot 4 will share with Slot 5 and USB. Some boards are a bit different, but the concept is the same - there are 4 available IRQ's for AGP/PCI/USB. Most AGP video cards do not share too well, and Soundblasters definitely do not like to share.

Generally, the 4 shared IRQ's are 5, 9, 10, and 11. If the emulator is on 5, that knocks one out - so you should allow LPT sharing or disable the emulator - or remove COM2 and disable it in the bios to free up IRQ3 for the PCI etc.

[Charger]

Thanks!

I'll move everything around tonight when I get home. Hopefully this all works out.

[Charger]

Thank you GLC and Jet Rider!

Yes, once I took that stingy SB 512 off PCI slot 5 and put it on PCI slot 3(Where it can exist all by itself) it fired right up. Thanks for telling me where to stick it!

Cheers!