HELP.TXT -- Version 1.01 [9]
PCMCIA Sound Card Software -- Release 1.2
Copyright (c) 1994-1995 Media Vision Technology Inc. All Rights Reserved.
===============================================================================
Thank you for purchasing a Media Vision PCMCIA Sound Card.
This file is meant as a detailed supplement to your manuals,
including detailed sections on PCMCIA compatibility and
troubleshooting. Please see your manuals for general
information on the use and installation of your sound card.
This file is organized into the following sections:
- Installation Notes
- What your PCMCIA Sound Card needs to operate
- PCMCIA Software -- what is it and do I need it?
- Key Points to remember
- Troubleshooting (Card operation, Sound Blaster emulation, Windows)
INSTALLATION NOTES
==================
Certain options to the EMM386 memory manager can cause the
installation program to hang the system. It successfully
recovers from this situation, but you can prevent it from
happening by changing the options before you start the
installation. You can restore them after the installation
completes. Here's what to do:
1. If /HIGHSCAN appears, remove it.
2. If "NOEMS" appears, change it to "RAM".
The installation program requires that the sound card be
installed in a PCMCIA type II slot. If you have a PCMCIA
floppy drive and only one slot, do the following:
1. Create a new directory on your hard disk:
C:\> mkdir c:\mvinstal
2. Change to the new directory:
C:\> cd mvinstal
3. Copy the 4 installation disks into the new directory:
C:\MVINSTAL> xcopy a:\*.* /v
4. Remove the floppy card and insert the sound card.
5. Run the installation program:
C:\MVINSTAL> install
During the installation of Talk->To Plus, you will be asked
to choose the sound card you are using. There is no entry
for the Media Vision PCMCIA Sound Card; select "Media Vision
3D Sound Card". You should be able to install Talk->To Plus
from the floppy without the sound card installed. If you do
wish to install it from the hard disk, copy its disk 1 into
the directory C:\DISK1 and its disk 2 to the directory
C:\DISK2. Then run SETUP.EXE from C:\DISK1.
If you are currently running Card and Socket Services and
you decide to upgrade them with the versions supplied with
your sound card, remember to follow the instruction its
installation program gives about excluding D000-DFFF from the
memory manager. Your current Card and Socket Services may
have excluded a different region. The Sound Card Software
installation program only checks the memory manager exclude
region if Card and Socket Services are NOT running.
If you decide to install the Media Vision supplied Card and
Socket Services because the installation program warned you that
your current version can not support the joystick, remember to
remove the /J that the installation program added to SETSOUND.CFG.
If you are unable to complete the installation because of a
Card and Socket Services registration error, and it continues
to fail this way after the installation program is re-run,
try completely powering down the machine before re-running it
again. Simply rebooting may not fix the problem, as on many
machines, the PCMCIA controller is not reset by rebooting.
WHAT YOUR PCMCIA SOUND CARD NEEDS TO OPERATE
============================================
Your Media Vision PCMCIA Sound Card has been designed to
provide the maximum functionality while only requiring a
small set of system resources. Knowing what resources are
required may help you in configuring your system, and any
other PCMCIA cards you use, to work seamlessly with your
new sound card.
Your sound card requires one system hardware interrupt, or
IRQ, to communicate with the system. The card must have
sole access to the chosen IRQ, without sharing the IRQ
with any other system devices. The sound card installation
program will allow you to choose an available IRQ and
provide a quick test to verify the IRQ is free. Once
you've installed the sound card, if you ever reconfigure
any other part of your system (add a new device, install
another PCMCIA card, etc.) you will need to be sure not to
reuse the chosen IRQ. If needed, you can rerun the
installation program and choose a new IRQ setting for
your sound card.
Your sound card also requires two I/O "windows", or ranges
of port addresses, to communicate with the system. These
ranges are fixed at addresses 200 hex to 20F hex and
380 hex to 38F hex. You are not allowed to choose other
windows, so you must be careful to avoid setting up any
other devices to use these windows.
If you have PCMCIA software (Card Services and Socket
Services) installed in your system, you may need to verify
that Card Services has these resources available for your
sound card to use. See your PCMCIA system software manual
for more details.
At the time of this release of the software, the Media Vision
PCMCIA Sound Card will not work correctly with systems equipped
with PCMCIA controller chips manufactured by Databook. This
is not a compatibility issue with the sound card but rather
a resource allocation problem between the controller chip and
Card Services. Contact Media Vision Technical Support for any
available updated information.
PCMCIA SOFTWARE -- DO I NEED IT?
================================
When the acronym PCMCIA is used, it is actually denoting
both a hardware and software standard. Both the hardware
(the physical slots on your system) and the software (Card
and Socket Services) cooperate in order to provide the
most useful feature of PCMCIA -- the ability to insert
and remove cards while the system is already on, freeing
the user from specifically enabling or disabling cards as
necessary.
Unfortunately, the PCMCIA standard hasn't stabilized
enough yet to provide true "plug-and-play" functionality.
Headaches and hassles are quite common when configuring
your system to work with many cards and devices.
Another important drawback to PCMCIA, especially to the PC
game player, is the amount of conventional memory required
to run Card and Socket Services. When the PCMCIA software
generally requires at least 50k of conventional memory,
there is typically not enough free memory remaining to
play most newer DOS games. This is especially troublesome
when attempting to use a PCMCIA sound card.
Media Vision has attempted to alleviate this memory
condition somewhat, while still trying to make installation
and use of the PCMCIA sound card relatively painless and
hassle-free. The Media Vision card enabler SETSOUND.COM
(software that initializes and configures the card when
it is inserted) has been designed to not require all of the
PCMCIA software in many common situations. This allows you
to use the card, albeit with reduced "plug-and-play"
functionality, with much less memory overhead.
It is important to understand the different layers of
PCMCIA, what functionality they provide, and which ones
you can do without.
At the top level is Card Services, the largest and most
complex portion of PCMCIA. You can usually find this
device driver located in your CONFIG.SYS file, usually
named something with CS somewhere in the name (e.g.
CS.EXE, PCMCS.EXE, or AWCS.EXE). Card Services provides
the ability to insert and remove cards at anytime, in
addition to acting as a resource manager to control
multiple card systems. For example, Card Services
wouldn't let a modem card and a sound card request the
same IRQ while they were both located in the system.
The next level of PCMCIA is Socket Services, a smaller
hardware-specific driver that allows Card Services to work
with varied PCMCIA hardware. You can usually find this
device driver also in your CONFIG.SYS, usually named
something with SS somewhere in the name (e.g. SS365SL.EXE,
PCMSS.EXE). Socket Services is directly tied to the
PCMCIA hardware your system uses. If your system only had
Socket Services (no Card Services) present, you would only
be able to use your PCMCIA cards if they were inserted
into the system when your turned your machine on. You
would lose the ability to "plug-and-play" while the system
was running. Configuring the cards also becomes more
difficult, since there is no conflict avoidance available
when multiple cards attempt to use the same resources.
The bottom level of PCMCIA is the actual hardware, or
chip, that implements PCMCIA on your system. There are a
number of possible chip vendors that your system may be
using, but the most common implementation is based on the
Intel 82365 chip (often called "365-compatible"). If you
only had the PCMCIA hardware in your system, you would
have even less functionality than just Socket Services,
since there would not be a common software interface for
applications to talk to your card.
The Media Vision sound card enabler (SETSOUND.COM) has
been designed to run with Card Services, Socket Services,
or 365-compatible hardware. In order to free memory for
DOS games, you may be forced to temporarily remove Card
Services or Socket Services from your system. Be
forewarned, though, that you will be losing most of the
"plug-and-play" functionality that the PCMCIA software
provides. If possible, you should attempt to keep at
least the Socket Services driver present in the system.
If you are having memory problems, you should attempt the
following key steps until enough memory is free:
1) Remove Card Services, if present, from your CONFIG.SYS
file. Place a REM in front of the CS line in order to
comment out the line. Leave Socket Services in your
system.
2) If you're still short of memory, you may be faced with
removing Socket Services as well. If your system is not
365-compatible, you will not be able to do this.
3) If you have memory problems even after you've removed
both PCMCIA drivers, you may need to look elsewhere in your
system files for additional memory savings. Often DOS's
MEMMAKER utility will be able to help you rearrange your
drivers in order to free more memory.
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
======================
There are a number of important issues to remember when
using your sound card.
1) If you aren't using valid Card Services software,
remember that the system will be unable to automatically
configure your card if you remove and then reinsert the
card when the system is on. If you need to reinsert the
card, be sure to either reboot the machine (press Control,
Alt, and Delete simultaneously) or rerun the card enabler
(execute SETSOUND at the DOS prompt). If you are within
Windows when you need to insert the card, you will need to
exit back to the DOS prompt to run SETSOUND.
2) If you ever install new PCMCIA devices, be sure to
not use the resources already chosen for your sound card
(chosen IRQ or I/O address ranges; see above). If you aren't
allowed any alternate choices with the new device, you
may need to rerun the sound card's install program to
change its IRQ setting.
3) The most common problem you will face is not having
the necessary upper memory excluded when using a memory
manager. If you are using the Card and Socket Services
supplied with the sound card, remember that the region
D000-DFFF must be excluded. If you are NOT using Card
and Socket Services, the region D800-D8FF must be excluded.
Failing to do this can cause SETSOUND to give the error:
ERROR: Card not ready. This may not be the sound card.
4) Another common problem is an invalid IRQ choice. Your
system may hang or sounds may be distorted if you choose
an IRQ for the sound card that is either invalid or is
already being used by another device in your system.
The install program may not detect all IRQ conflicts,
so if you encounter unusual behavior, the first thing you
should try is using the install program to change the IRQ
setting.
5) The VirtualGame (VGame) software has been designed to
work with most DOS-based games on the market. It is able to
"emulate" Sound Blaster for most games, but there are a few
classes of games that will not work under VGame.
You will not be able to run protected mode games (e.g. Doom,
Raptor) under the VGame emulator. This restriction only
affects the use of the Sound Blaster emulation; the sound
card provides support for the Adlib standard completely in
hardware. If you configure the game to only use Adlib, it
should work fine without VGame. If you attempt to run a
protected mode game when your system is in the VGame mode,
the game will display an error and fail to load.
There are also some older games that make use of
Sound Blaster functionality that is difficult to emulate.
These games may not work correctly with the emulator
either.
We have verified the VGame system with over a hundred
different games, but there are sure to be more out
there that will have problems with the emulation. If you
find a game that does not operate well under emulation,
you should run the game without the VGame software
and setup the game to use Adlib only.
The VirtualGame emulator requires XMS memory. This means
you must be running HIMEM.SYS or another memory manager that
provides XMS memory.
6) For best emulation results, be sure you are in the
VGame environment when you are installing your game.
Most games attempt to identify your sound card during
installation, so you must be running the emulator for the
game to work correctly. It is also advisable that you
choose the most basic Sound Blaster choice your game
installation offers (e.g. Sound Blaster clone, or original
Sound Blaster).
TROUBLESHOOTING
===============
General Card Problems
---------------------
1) When I run SETSOUND, I receive an error saying my
card could not be initialized.
The SETSOUND enabler has been designed to be as flexible
as possible, and should be able to operate under most
conditions. In cases where errors occur, the message
displayed should be descriptive enough to diagnose the
underlying problem (try executing SETSOUND with the /V
option). The following are the most common errors
encountered.
No valid PCMCIA resources detected.
You don't have any compatible PCMCIA resources
available. Be sure to install the Card and
Socket Services included with your sound card.
A card was detected and initialized, but was determined
not to be a Media Vision sound card.
You are probably operating without Card Services,
and SETSOUND tried to initialize another card
inserted in your system. Be sure to specify exactly
where the card is inserted (use the /S option) or
remove other cards from your system when initializing
the sound card.
Card is not responding.
or
Card not ready. This may not be the sound card.
You are using a memory manager and you do not have
the necessary upper memory excluded. If you are using
the Card and Socket Services supplied with the sound
card, remember that the region D000-DFFF must be
excluded. If you are NOT using Card and Socket
Services, the region D800-D8FF must be excluded.
Card Services Error
or
Socket Services Error
Your Card or Socket Services may not have been setup
correctly. Verify that all the resources your sound card
needs are being made available by the PCMCIA software.
You may also be running an older, and therefore possibly
incompatible, version of Card and Socket Services. Your
best approach is to install the Card and Socket
Services that was included with your sound card.
2) SETSOUND told me that my system can only support an
8-bit interface. What does this mean?
When SETSOUND tried to initialize your PCMCIA hardware,
it determined that your hardware could only support an 8-
bit interface (16-bit interfaces are much more common).
Because of this, you may find the performance of the card
and your system may suffer under certain conditions.
Depending on the speed of your system processor, you may
find that the VGame emulation system doesn't work
correctly. The size of the hardware interface (8-bit vs.
16-bit) is dictated by the design of your system.
3) Why won't my joystick operate correctly?
There are two possible causes for this problem. First,
verify that your Card Services supports the joystick
registers. Many current versions of Card Services do not
allow a PCMCIA card to use the joystick registers (200 hex
to 207 hex). The sound card install program may have
warned you that your system would not support the
joystick. The install program adds a /J option to your
SETSOUND.CFG to remove the joystick interface under these
situations. Your solution is to either upgrade to the
SystemSoft Card and Socket Services included with your
sound card, or to remove Card Services from your system
(see above section). If you do change your system setup,
be sure to remove the /J from the SETSOUND.CFG file in
C:\MEDVSN.
Another possible cause of a non-working joystick interface
is that your system may not be supporting the joystick BIOS
interface. Many portable systems do not include the
joystick interface in the system BIOS. Be sure to run the
JOYDRV.COM utility to install the Media Vision version of
the joystick BIOS.
System Memory Problems
----------------------
1) I don't have enough free conventional or EMS memory to
run my DOS games.
This is a common problem with most systems (desktops
included). The most obvious fix is to remove portions of
your PCMCIA software -- see the section above concerning
this issue. It is also advisable to run a memory
optimization utility, such as DOS's MEMMAKER, in order to
rearrange your drivers and memory manager settings.
Unfortunately, there is no nice way to do this on today's
systems. Often it is a matter of trial and error and
many system resets before the correct memory configuration
is found.
VirtualGame Software Problems
-----------------------------
1) I'm not hearing any sounds from my DOS-based game. Why
not?
This could be caused by a number of problems. Make sure
you are currently running the VirtualGame emulator
(execute VGAME ON from the DOS prompt). Be sure your
game has been setup/installed correctly, choosing the basic
Sound Blaster hardware with the correct address, IRQ, and
DMA settings that the VirtualGame emulator displayed when
loading. Verify your volume settings are set to audible
levels (check both the volume knob and the MIXER.EXE
utility). Also verify that your game has all the needed
memory resources (conventional, EMS, or extended memory).
Often games will operate, but not provide sound, if the
memory resources are below a certain level. If all of
these have been verified, your game may not be compatible
with the emulation software.
2) My game fails to load, giving me an error message about
protected mode software, or a DPMI/VCPI interface failure.
Your game is a protected mode game, and will not work with
the VirtualGame emulator. You may configure the game to
only use the Adlib standard, and then run it without using
the emulator.
3) My system hung with a "VirtualGame Termination Error"
right in the middle of my game, forcing me to reboot.
Why?
The VirtualGame emulation program detected an abnormality
in the operation of your game. This is often caused by an
incorrect setup or insufficient EMS memory for the game to
operate correctly. Verify the game is setup correctly
(basic Sound Blaster) and that your system is providing
sufficient memory resources. If everything looks correct,
your game may not be fully compatible with the
emulation system.
4) VGame complains that I must have at least 1k of EMS
memory.
You are running the EMM386 that comes with DOS 5 with the
NOEMS option. Changing the NOEMS option to RAM will
satisfy VGame. However, this will reduce the amount of
conventional memory available. The best solution is to
upgrade to DOS 6.x .
Windows Problems
----------------
1) My system seems to hang after playing a small portion
of sound.
You probably have an IRQ conflict or IRQ setting error.
Verify the IRQ setting in your SYSTEM.INI file matches the
IRQ setting your SETSOUND.COM is using in your SETSOUND.CFG
file. Run the installation program to set the IRQ correctly.
2) The Sound Impression mixer contains a control for a CD
input, but the PCMCIA Sound Card does not have a connection
for CD audio.
This is a bonus "feature" of the Sound Impression mixer and
can be ignored.
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.