Plug and Play Tips for DOS/Windows 3.1x
======================================================================
Welcome to the world of Plug and Play (PnP).
If you are going to install your Creative PnP card in a PnP system
like Windows 95, you only need to "plug" the card into your personal
computer and the card will "play" shortly after the system reboots.
However, if you want to install this card in a non-PnP environment
such as DOS/Windows 3.1x, you need to use Creative PnP Configuration
Manager (CTCM) and Creative PnP Configuration Utility (CTCU).
Please install CTCM & CTCU in sub-directory //PNPDOS .
The information in this text file is organized as follows:
1. Installing CTCM & CTCU
2. Using CTCM
3. Using CTCU
4. The CTCU Interface
5. PnP Concepts
6. PnP in DOS/Windows 3.1x
7. Creative's Approach to PnP
8. Common Questions and Answers
9. Copyright Notice
Part 1 ==================================================================
1. INSTALLING CTCM & CTCU
----------------------
To install CTCM and CTCU in DOS/Windows 3.1x:
1. Exit to DOS if you are in Windows 3.1x.
2. Enter sub-directory(\PNPDOS).
3. Type INSTALL and press <ENTER>.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the
installation.
The installation program will install CTCM as a DOS device
driver by adding the following line to the CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE=<C:\CTCM>\CTCM.EXE
where <C:\CTCM> is the directory of your CTCM files.
This CTCM statement will be placed before all the statements
that load other low-level device drivers (such as CTSB16.SYS
and SBIDE.SYS) so that your Creative PnP cards will be
configured before these device drivers try to use them.
The installation program will also add the following lines to
the AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
SET CTCM=<C:\CTCM>
<C:\CTCM>\CTCU /S /W=<C:\WINDOWS>
where <C:\CTCM> and <C:\WINDOWS> are the directories of
your CTCM/CTCU and Windows 3.1x files respectively.
After the installation, CTCM and CTCU will be invoked each
time you boot your system. CTCM will scan for and configure
Creative PnP cards. CTCU will run in silent mode and update
the parameters needed by your Creative and Windows drivers.
2. USING CTCM
----------
To re-configure a Creative PnP card:
1. Exit to DOS if you are in Windows 3.1x; or shut down to
MS-DOS Mode if you are in Windows 95.
2. Change to the directory of your CTCM files. The default
directory is C:\CTCM.
3. Type CTCM and press <ENTER>.
CTCM will configure your Creative PnP card(s) and update
the BLASTER environment variable if it detects a Creative
audio card in your system.
NOTE: CTCM configures Creative PnP cards only. But it can
work with or without another PnP configuration
manager installed in the same system. Just make sure
that the statement which invokes CTCM in your
CONFIG.SYS file is placed AFTER the statement that
calls the other configuration manager.
3. USING CTCU
----------
Creative PnP Configuration Utility (CTCU) allows you to view,
free or re-allocate resources reserved for a card. So you
should run CTCU when one of the following situations happens:
a. Your PnP cards' settings do not work properly.
For example, some systems do not support high DMA (Direct
Memory Access). If one of your PnP devices is set to use
high DMA, you need to run CTCU to select another set
of configuration which does not use high DMA.
b. You need to add resource settings for new and existing
legacy (non-PnP) cards.
c. You have changed the resource settings of legacy cards.
d. You have removed a legacy card from your system.
NOTE: CTCU does not access the resource settings database
used by ICM. So, do not use CTCU to change or
disable your card settings if you already have ICM
installed and working properly. Use ICU instead.
To run CTCU in DOS/Windows 3.1x:
1. Exit to DOS if you are in Windows 3.1x.
2. Change to the directory of your CTCM and CTCU files.
The default directory is C:\CTCM.
3. Type CTCU and press <ENTER>.
The CTCU interface appears.
The CTCU command has two optional switches: /S and
/W=C:\<WINDOWS>. You can type it in the following way:
CTCU /S /W=<C:\WINDOWS>
where <C:\WINDOWS> is the directory of your Windows 3.1x
files, and the switches are as follows:
Parameter Description
/S Notifies CTCU to run in silent mode.
This means that CTCU will not display any
messages or screens. It will simply update
the parameters required by the Creative
drivers. If you do not use the /S switch,
CTCU will run in full-screen mode.
/W Informs CTCU to update the PnP hardware
information of your Windows drivers in the
SYSTEM.INI file. If you do not use this
switch, CTCU will prompt you to enter the
name of the directory where your Windows
files can be found.
4. THE CTCU INTERFACE
------------------
When you run CTCU in full-screen mode, you can pull down the
menu to select one of the following sections:
4.1 PnP Cards section
4.2 Legacy Cards section
4.3 System Devices section
4.4 PCI Devices section
You can use your mouse or keyboard to move around and select
an item or action in CTCU:
Mouse Action
- To pull down the CTCU menu or select an item in the menu or
box using your mouse, click on the item.
Keyboard Action
- To pull down the CTCU menu using your keyboard, press <ALT>
followed by a key.
For example, to pull down the Menu, press <ALT, M>.
- To select an item in a menu or box, use the arrow keys to
move your screen cursor to that item.
- To move your screen cursor from box to box within the same
window, press <TAB>. To see more details about the item,
double-click the item or press <ENTER> after you have moved
your screen cursor to that item.
NOTE: The instructions in the following sections are written
with the assumption that you will use your mouse in CTCU.
4.1 PnP Cards Section
-----------------
NOTE: You can use this section to view the resource settings
of the PnP cards in your system and change the settings
of Creative PnP cards only.
When you select the PnP Cards section from the CTCU menu, the
Plug and Play window will appear, listing the PnP cards in the
system. Choosing a card here will, in turn, display a list of
logical devices on that particular card.
To view the resources for a PnP device, double-click the device
you want. Alternatively, select the device from the list and
click the Resources button. The Resources window will appear.
Resources Window
----------------
The Resources window displays the current resource settings of
a particular logical device. The settings shown may include
input/output (I/O) ranges, interrupts, Direct Memory Access
(DMA) channels and 32-bit memory ranges, depending on the PnP
card you have and the configuration chosen.
To change the resource configuration, click the down arrow
next to the Configuration box and then select a suitable
configuration which has all the settings that your card needs.
To disable a logical device, click the Disable check box. A
mark will appear in the box, informing CTCM not to configure
this device the next time it runs.
Reconfigure Button
------------------
To view or change a resource setting, double-click the setting
you want, or alternatively, select the setting and click the
Reconfigure button in the Resources window. Depending on the
setting that you have chosen, one of the following windows
will appear:
a. I/O Range window
b. Interrupt window
c. Direct Memory Access window
d. Memory Range window
The I/O Range window displays the current I/O resource setting
and a list of possible settings. To change this setting,
select one from the list. Make sure that the new setting does
not conflict with the other cards' settings. Then double-click
the new setting or click the OK button.
The Interrupt window displays the current interrupt resource
setting and a list of possible settings. To change this
setting, select one from the list. Make sure that the new
setting does not conflict with the other cards' settings.
Then double-click the new setting or click the OK button.
The Direct Memory Access window displays the current DMA
resource setting and a list of possible settings. To change
this setting, select one from the list. Make sure that the
new setting does not conflict with the other cards' settings.
Then double-click the new setting or click the OK button.
The Memory Range window displays the current 32-bit memory
resource setting and a list of possible settings. To change
this setting, select one from the list. Make sure that the
new setting does not conflict with the other cards' settings.
Then double-click the new setting or click the OK button.
NOTE: Each of these windows has a Conflicting Devices
message box which will inform you of any hardware
conflicts that may result from the settings you have
just selected for your card.
To see the list of settings available in each window,
click the down arrow next to the Choices box.
Test Button
-----------
Once you have reconfigured the resource settings of your card,
select the setting and click the Test button in the Resources
window. CTCU will test the settings allocated to your device
and inform you of the outcome.
If the testing is not successful, you should reconfigure and
test the settings again.
NOTE: CTCU supports the testing of Creative's audio and
wavetable devices only.
4.2 Legacy Cards Section
--------------------
NOTE: You can use this section to enter, view or change
the resource settings of all the legacy (non-PnP)
cards in your system.
When you select the Legacy Cards section from the CTCU menu,
the Legacy window will appear. You can view, alter or add a
legacy (non-PnP) card's resource settings by clicking one of
these buttons:
a. View All button
b. View button
c. Add button
d. Remove button
e. Change button
View All Button
---------------
Clicking this button in the Legacy window opens the View All
window, which lists all the resources you have reserved in
your system. These resources are grouped by type and displayed
in four boxes: Input/Output range (I/O), Interrupt Request
line (IRQ), Direct Memory Access channel (DMA), and 32-bit
memory range (Mem).
View Button
-----------
Clicking this button in the Legacy window opens the View
window which lists the resources reserved for a selected legacy
card in your system.
Add Button
----------
Clicking this button in the Legacy window opens the Add window
where you can enter details for a legacy card in your system
if it is not listed in the Legacy Window.
NOTE: You must enter the card's name in the Card Name field.
The other fields can be left blank if the card does not
use that resource(s).
Remove Button
-------------
Clicking this button in the Legacy window removes a selected
card's settings from your system. Once the settings are
removed, you can proceed to remove the card from your system.
NOTE: To re-install the same card, you have to enter the
card's original settings again.
Alternatively, you can retain a card's resource
settings by simply marking the settings for retrieval
in the Change window (refer to the next section).
Change Button
-------------
Clicking this button in the Legacy window opens the Change
window which displays the current resources that have been
reserved for a selected legacy card. You can also change any
of the resources as well as the card's name here.
NOTE: To store a card's system settings for future use,
select the Card Removed check box in the Change window
and click OK. To re-use the same resources after
re-installing the card, simply clear the check box to
retrieve its original settings.
WARNING: Be very careful when you add or change resource
information for a legacy card. Verify that all the
hardware settings of the legacy cards in your system
tally with what have been specified in CTCM. Filling
in incorrect data may reserve resources which will not
be used by any device. In addition, CTCM would not be
informed of resource(s) actually reserved by the
legacy card. This may in turn lead to resource
conflicts.
4.3 System Devices Section
----------------------
NOTE: You can use this section to view but not change the
resource settings of the system devices in your computer.
When you select the System Devices section from the CTCU menu,
the System Device Resources window appears, listing all the
resources used by your system devices.
These resources are grouped by type and displayed in four boxes:
input/output range (I/O), interrupt (IRQ), Direct Memory Access
channel (DMA) and 32-bit memory range (Mem).
4.4 PCI Devices Section
-------------------
NOTE: You can use this section to view but not change the
resource settings of the PCI devices in your computer.
When you select the PCI Devices section from the CTCU menu,
the PCI Devices window appears. You can view one or all of
existing PCI cards' resource settings by clicking one of these
buttons:
a. View All button
b. View button
NOTE: Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus is a
newly developed bus system that utilizes a 33MHz 32-bit
data path. This bus architecture transfers data at a
much faster rate than standard ISA bus.
View All Button
---------------
Clicking this button in the PCI Devices window opens the View
All window, which lists all the resources used by the PCI cards
in your system.
View Button
-----------
Clicking this button in the PCI Devices window opens the View
window which lists the resources reserved for a selected PCI
card in your system.
5. PNP CONCEPTS
------------
When you add a hardware card to your personal computer (PC),
you must reserve some system resources -- such as input/output
address spaces, interrupts, Direct Memory Access channels or
memory spaces -- for the card. You must also make sure that
there is no hardware conflict, that is, the resources reserved
by one card are not used by another card in the same system.
Before Plug and Play (PnP) was introduced, you can reserve
system resources only by manually changing the settings of
some dip switches or jumpers on a legacy (non-PnP) card.
This can be quite difficult since you have to understand how
the hardware settings correspond to the system resources that
your card requires. It can also be very tedious since you may
need to change the dip switch or jumper settings several times
before your card can be configured without any hardware
conflict.
With the emergence of Plug and Play (PnP), a revolutionary
design philosophy and a new PC architecture specification, the
PC, hardware cards, drivers and the operating system can now
work together without such user intervention.
You no longer need to change any hardware settings on your card
before it can work properly in a PC. Instead, a PnP BIOS or
software would find out the types of resources each card needs
and allocate the resources accordingly.
Generally, a PnP card requires one of the following to work:
5.1 PnP System BIOS
5.2 PnP Operating System
5.3 PnP Configuration Drivers and Utilities
NOTE: The PnP BIOS specification went through several
revisions. The version 1.0a specification was
finalized in May 1994, with further clarifications
documented in October 1994. As a result, older PnP
systems shipped are not fully compliant with this
specification. So, there are some compatibility
problems. For more details, read the section
"PnP in DOS/Windows 3.1x" below.
5.1 PnP System BIOS
---------------
The PnP system BIOS is the lowest level of your PnP system.
Its main functions are to provide information on the resource
settings of your system devices and to configure PnP cards.
Some PnP system BIOS configure PnP cards automatically. Other
BIOS give you an option in their setup utilities to disable
their PnP configuration capability. Please refer to your
system manual for more details.
5.2 PnP Operating System
--------------------
A PnP operating system provides a fully PnP user environment.
It can support PnP cards on its own, with or without a PnP
system BIOS. Its main functions are to determine which
resources have been reserved by the legacy and PnP cards in
your system, and then dynamically allocate free resources to
newly added PnP cards.
Windows 95 is an example of a PnP operating system. When you
install or upgrade to Windows 95 for the first time, it will
automatically determine the resource settings of the existing
cards in your system and allocate other resources to new PnP
cards.
When you add a legacy card later, however, you will need to
run the "Add New Hardware" wizard in Control Panel so that
Windows 95 can detect this card. To avoid any conflicts that
may be introduced by the hardware settings of this new legacy
card, Windows 95 may also re-assign different resources to
existing PnP cards.
5.3 PnP Configuration Drivers and Utilities
---------------------------------------
If you do not have a PnP operating system, you need to install
a PnP configuration driver and utility to perform the
allocation and configuration functions of a PnP operating
system.
A PnP configuration driver determines the resource settings of
all your system devices and legacy cards, configures PnP cards,
and provides relevant configuration information to other
drivers or applications that access your PnP cards.
A PnP configuration utility allows you to view, enter or change
the resource settings of the PnP and legacy cards in your
system. The new or changed settings are then used by the PnP
configuration driver to configure new PnP cards.
Intel Configuration Manager (ICM) and ISA Configuration Utility
(ICU) are examples of a PnP configuration driver and a PnP
configuration utility. For more details, please read the
section "PnP in DOS/Windows 3.1x" below.
6. PNP IN DOS/WINDOWS 3.1X
-----------------------
DOS/Windows 3.1x is not a PnP operating system. So, to
configure PnP cards, you need to install a PnP configuration
driver and a PnP configuration utility.
Currently, a generic set of PnP configuration driver and
utility that you can find in the market for the DOS/Windows
3.1x environment is ICM. Consisting of Intel Configuration
Manager (ICM) and ISA Configuration Utility (ICU), this driver
and utility set was developed by Intel Corporation as an interim
solution to facilitate PnP configuration when a PnP operating
system is not available. It may come pre-installed in your PC
or bundled with your PnP cards.
However, due to the compatibility problem mentioned earlier
(please refer to the note in the section "PnP Concepts" above),
you may encounter one of the following error message or problems
when you use ICM version 1.43 to configure your PnP card:
- "Error: Failed NVS write, Error=82h"
- Failure to detect PnP BIOS machine
- Failure to assign new configuration to PnP card
And ICM may not be able to configure your PnP card properly.
7. CREATIVE'S APPROACH TO PNP
--------------------------
To solve problems similar to those mentioned in the previous
section, we have developed a set of DOS-based PnP configuration
driver and utility for the DOS/Windows 3.1x environment. They
are called Creative PnP Configuration Manager (CTCM) and
Creative PnP Configuration Utility (CTCU).
CTCM can be loaded as a device driver through a statement in
the CONFIG.SYS file. It can also be run from the DOS prompt.
It configures Creative PnP cards only and provides configuration
information to other drivers or DOS applications.
CTCU is used when your DOS/Windows 3.1x system does not have
ICM and ICU. It allows you to perform the following functions
on the devices in your system:
a. Enter, view, change or remove the settings of legacy cards.
b. View, change, or disable the settings of Creative PnP cards.
c. View the settings of system devices and non-Creative PnP cards.
7.1 Why Use CTCM and CTCU?
----------------------
There are several reasons why we offer CTCM and CTCU:
a. CTCM provides a consistent method for configuring all
Creative PnP cards. It works with or without PnP BIOS or
ICM. If your PnP BIOS or ICM has already configured your
PnP card(s), CTCM will simply retain those settings.
b. If the PnP BIOS or ICM did not configure your Creative PnP
cards properly, due to incompatibility problems similar to
those mentioned in the section "PnP in DOS/Windows 3.1x"
above, CTCM may be able to allocate resources to these cards.
c. You need not reboot your system after using CTCU to change
Creative PnP card settings, if you do not have any DOS device
drivers (e.g., SBIDE.SYS or CTSB16.SYS) loaded. You only
need to run CTCM to reconfigure the card. This is possible
because CTCM can be activated from the DOS prompt, unlike ICM.
7.2 Limitations of CTCM and CTCU
----------------------------
If you use a non-PnP operating system like DOS/Windows 3.1x
and do not have a PnP BIOS or ICM, your PnP card works like a
software-configurable card.
In such an environment, CTCM needs to know which resources have
been reserved by all the legacy and PnP cards, and system
devices in your system before it can allocate conflict-free
resources to your new Creative PnP card.
CTCM can get the resource settings of PnP cards and system
devices from the PnP cards and BIOS. But you need to use CTCU
to enter the resource settings of all the legacy cards in your
PC, and then run CTCM to configure your Creative PnP card.
You may still encounter hardware conflicts if the resource
settings specified through CTCU are incomplete or wrong. If
this happens, use CTCU to select a different group of resources
for the Creative PnP card that caused the conflict. You may
need to try a few combinations until you find one that works.
This can be tedious, but it is easier than the legacy way of
changing dip switches or jumpers.
8. COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
----------------------------
This section gives the answers to some common questions that
you may have while installing a Creative PnP card in the DOS
/Windows 3.1x environment.
8.1 General Question
----------------
Question: I have a PnP BIOS as well as a PnP operating
system or a PnP configuration driver and
utility. Which one should I use to configure
my PnP card?
Answer: If you have a PnP operating system or a PnP
configuration driver and utility, it is better
to let your PnP operating system or
configuration driver configure your PnP card.
Try to set your BIOS so that it will not
configure PnP cards since it may not have
access to the hardware setting information of
your legacy (non-PnP) cards and thus may give
your PnP card some settings that will conflict
with those of existing legacy cards.
8.2 ICM (or other Configuration Manager) Questions
----------------------------------------------
Question: Must I remove ICM (or another configuration
manager) in order to use CTCM?
Answer: No, you do not have to remove ICM (or another
configuration manager) to use CTCM. If both
CTCM and ICM are installed in your system,
just make sure the CTCM statement in your
CONFIG.SYS file is placed after the ICM
statement.
Question: What should I do if I cannot configure my
Creative PnP card using ICM?
Answer: If you cannot configure your PnP card using
ICM, try removing ICM. Then use CTCU and
CTCM to change and reconfigure your card
settings.
For more details on using CTCU or CTCM, please
see the sections "Using CTCM" and "Using CTCU"
above.
8.3 CTCU Questions
--------------
Question: Can I run CTCU to change or disable my card
settings if I have ICM in my system?
Answer: No, do not use CTCU to change or disable your
card settings since CTCU does not access or
update the resource settings database used by ICM.
You should use ICU instead to change or disable
your card's settings if ICM is already loaded
into your system.
Question: I cannot run CTCU in full-screen mode. Why?
Answer: If you try to run CTCU in full-screen mode
after loading SHARE.EXE into your system, CTCU
will not load successfully. The reason is this:
SHARE.EXE file has been opened by the Overlay
Manager and because of sharing restrictions,
the Resource Manager will fail when it tries to
load CTCU.EXE.
So if SHARE.EXE is loaded, you have to unload
SHARE.EXE before running CTCU.EXE in
full-screen mode. To do this, comment out the
line that loads SHARE.EXE in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file and then reboot the machine.
If SHARE.EXE was loaded from the command line,
and not from a statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file, you do not need to change the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file, but you still need to reboot the system.
Note: CTCU.EXE will successfully run in silent
mode, even if SHARE.EXE is loaded.
8.4 CTCM Question
-------------
Question: How do I use CTCM to configure both legacy and
PnP cards in DOS/Windows 3.1x?
Answer: First run CTCU to add information about the
hardware resources used by these legacy cards.
Next, run CTCM to configure your Creative PnP
card(s).
Alternatively, if you do not know your legacy
cards' settings, use CTCU to change the settings
of your PnP card. Then run CTCM and test
whether your card works properly. This is a
trial-and-error method since CTCM will not be
"informed" about the resources that have been
reserved by your legacy cards. You may need to
try different combinations of settings before
you can configure your PnP cards successfully,
without any hardware conflicts with existing
cards.
Question: My system hangs or reboots whenever I load CTCM.
What should I do?
Answer: The memory area of your PnP BIOS machine is
probably mapped by EMM386 using the HIGHSCAN
option and thus, can get corrupted easily.
When it does, CTCM will not work properly.
To solve this problem, remove the HIGHSCAN
option in the EMM386 statement in the
CONFIG.SYS file.
For example, change the statement
DEVICE=<C:\dir>\EMM386.EXE HIGHSCAN <other parameters>
to
DEVICE=<C:\dir>\EMM386.EXE <other parameters>
where <C:\dir> is the directory of your EMM386
programs, and <other parameters> are the other
parameters in the EMM386 statement.
9. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
----------------
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means without the prior written consent of
Creative Technology Ltd.
Copyright © 1996 Creative Technology Ltd. All rights reserved.
Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows 3.1x, and Windows 95 are trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation. All other products are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Part 2 ==================================================================
This section contains additional information to supplement the
manual. Please read all the sections before you proceed with
the installation.
This file contains the following sections:
1. DOS drivers
2. Blaster line
3. Online documentation
1. DOS DRIVERS
During custom installation, you have the options to include the
following DOS drivers to your CONFIG.SYS file.
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS
where :
BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5 indicates the hardware resources used
by your audio card.
The CTSB16.SYS driver has been improved to support different
models of audio cards. The BLASTER switch will not have any
effect if you are using a Plug and Play audio card. For such
cards, the hardware resources will be allocated by the PnP
Configuration Manager. In this case, PnP Configuration Manager
has to be loaded before your DOS audio drivers.
2. BLASTER LINE
The BLASTER line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file,
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
will not have any effect if you are using a Plug and Play audio
card for the same reason as above.
3. ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
To help you access information on the applications in this package
easily, we have compiled the online documentation so that it can be
accessed from your audio card's group window. Just click on the
icon(s) with names that start with the words "How to Use".
******** END OF README.TXT ********
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
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.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.