======================================================================= AU8820 Windows 95 Driver README.TXT ======================================================================= This is version 4.05.0112.12 Release Candidate 1 of the Aureal Vortex AU8820 Windows 95 driver. I. Overview ------------ A. WINDOWS 95 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: * 75MHz Pentium-compatible CPU (200+ MMX CPU recommended for full A3D performance). * 16MB DRAM (the Vortex hardware wavetable engine uses a native 4MB sample set. Samples are stored on disk and swapped to RAM as required. Typical DRAM footprint is <2MB. * 15MB hard disk space * CD-ROM drive * Access to Microsoft Windows 95 Installation CD-ROM. * Good-quality speakers or headphones and connecting cables. * Joystick and MIDI keyboard (optional). B. NEW FEATURES: 1. 64-Voice Wavetable The 1.10+ releases add a configurable 32-voice software wavetable engine to the 32-voice hardware wavetable engine already available. The Vortex Control Panel's MIDI tab selects between: * 32 voice pro mode (hardware only) * 64 voice gamer mode (32 h/w, 32 speed-optimized voices) * 64 voice pro mode (32 h/w, 32 quality-optimized s/w voices. Overall voice quality has been improved. 2. Intelligent Wavetable Voice Allocation If an application requires more than 32 wavetable voices, and a 64-voice wavetable mode is enabled, the Vortex drivers examines available CPU cycles before issuing new notes. If sufficient CPU cycles are available, the drivers create wavetable notes as required. 3. Improved MIDI performance Vortex now includes its own MIDI driver that replaces the lower-performance default MIDI driver supplied with Windows 95. The Vortex MIDI driver increases the number of games that can use wavetable in a DOS box. 4. Multimedia Application Installation During the Vortex driver installation, the driver requests the Windows 95 CD-ROM and installs the multimedia applets (Volume Control, Sound Recorder, Media Player, and CD Player) if not already installed on the system. 5. Enhanced Vortex Control Panel The panel organization has been improved. Individual tabs can be hidden and the control panel name can be changed with command-line parameters. Coding has been restructured to facilitate localization. 6. Improved Mixer The Windows 95 mixer now displays only those devices that are available on the system. The mixer also provides a +20dB gain switch setting for condenser/electret microphone support. 7. DirectSound Safe Mode Some DirectX games do not check the number of hardware buffers available before creating a new DirectSound buffer. This can result in no sound. A button on the Vortex Control Panel A3D tab lets you disable DirectSound hardware acceleration. 8. Multiple Sound Card Configurations The 1.10+ releases let users install sound cards from multiple vendors in their system. If two A3D cards are installed in one system, A3D will be used on only one of the cards, selected randomly. C. WINDOWS 95 DRIVER ISSUES: 1. Joystick Acceleration - When installing new joysticks, the standard analog gameport is used by default. Use the Gameport control panel's "Advanced" tab to select the Vortex gameport driver. 2. Changing audio hardware settings - Select "Base Configuration 6" before manually changing joystick or legacy I/O resources. See DOSGAMES.TXT in this directory for more information. 3. Multiple sound cards - Some sound cards, such as Ensoniq sound cards, do not correctly report their I/O port utilization to the operating system, which can result in device conflicts and hang the system. 4. Vortex settings in Autoexec.bat & dosstart.bat are not removed when the driver is removed from the system. 5. A system hang will sometimes occur if USB is enabled when the Vortex driver is installed (IBM 300GL and Sony VAIO). 6. If MIDI is playing, a playing note may hang when the system is suspended. II. QUICK START ---------------- 1. Remove any existing Vortex drivers from previous installations. 2. Install the Vortex hardware. 3. Install the Vortex Windows 95 drivers, Microsoft DirectX 5.0, and Vortex demonstration applications. In most cases, you will be able to insert the card into your computer, insert the Installation CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and follow the on-screen prompts for complete system installation. III. SOFTWARE INSTALLATION -------------------------- A. DRIVER INSTALLATION If you have older drivers in your system, please uninstall them first, as described in Section C below. 1. Power on the system, placing the Install CDROM in the CDROM drive. 2. Windows 95 displays "New Hardware Found" message and starts driver installation. 3. If Windows prompts you to provide the drivers for the PCI multimedia audio device, choose "Driver Disk Provided by Manufacturer" and select the installation CD-ROM's root ("\") directory. 4. You may also be asked to insert the Windows 95 CD-ROM during the install process. Note: Some Windows 95 versions (OSR2) do not show this prompt. Instead, they ask whether to search the diskette and CD-ROM drives for the appropriate drivers. Installed drivers may include Vortex PCI audio, Vortex wavetable, Vortex mixer, DOS modem port, Vortex gameport interface, Vortex MPU401 interface, and Vortex Sound Blaster emulation. Depending on the version of Windows 95 and the configuration of the system, you may be prompted to provide several file locations. Here are the CD-ROMs and directory locations for which you may be prompted: Vortex Installation & Driver Disk \Win95 Windows 95 Installation Disk \Win95 Microsoft DirectX 5.0 \directx\directx\dxsetup Vortex Application Setup \Setup PCI Multifunction Audio Device \Win95 B DIRECTX 5.0 INSTALLATION You may be prompted to install Microsoft DirectX 5.0 after Vortex driver installation. 1. When the DirectX setup panel opens, select "Reinstall DirectX". (Even if you do not have DirectX installed on your machine, the Microsoft DirectX 5.0 setup program still asks if you wish to reinstall). 2. You may receive some prompts as to whether to replace specific DirectX files on your computer. If you've previously installed an older version of DirectX on your machine, be sure to replace any sound-related DirectX drivers. Video DirectX drivers do not need to be changed. NOTE: You may be asked to reboot several times during installation. Reboot when asked. Additional software will continue to load when Windows restarts, until all components have been installed. C. UNINSTALLING WINDOWS 95 DRIVERS For driver releases prior to 1.0, please the UNINSTAL.BAT file as described in the previously distributed install guide. For driver releases 1.0 and later, you can use the following procedure: ======================================================================= 1. Open to the Windows 95 Device Manager (right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties"). 2. Open the "Multifunction Adapters" tree and select "Vortex Multifunction PCI Platform" 3. Press the "Remove" button at the bottom of the Device Manager window pane. 4. The drivers are now removed from memory, but are still on the hard disk. To delete the files from the hard disk: a. Open the Windows 95 control panel's "Add/Remove Programs" applet. b. To remove the drivers, double-click "Aureal Vortex". A Vortex uninstaller application starts. c. To remove the demo applications, double-click "Aureal Vortex Applications". There is no need to reboot the computer. For Technical Support please contact your board manufacturer. Aureal. A3D, A3D-I, A3D-Interactive, and the Aureal logo are trademarks and Vortex is a registered trademark of Aureal Semiconductor Inc. All other trademarks are owned their respective owners. ===================================================================== Aureal Semiconductor, Inc. (c) 1996-98, All Rights Reserved =====================================================================Download Driver Pack
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Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
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From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
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