Sound Card install locks up Win95

[BarryS]

I have tried installing 2 different 16-bit ISA sound cards in an IBM 486SLC2 PC running at 66 MHz. The first one ran for a few days before causing lock-up problems in Win95. It was an IBM sound card with a Crystal Audio (now Cirrus Logic) chipset. After pulling the card, PC ran fine. I decided to try a plug 'n play FX-3D Plus ISA sound card from AOpen. While installing the drivers from diskette, it locked up; not even Ctrl-Alt-Del would work. Several attempts later I got the drivers loaded but Win95 would lock-up after install complete.

Any ideas as to what is causing so much disruption to my PC when I try and add a sound card? No IRQ conflicts according to MSD and Device Manager. PC even locks up in Safe Mode. The only way to restore normal operation is to remove the card. I have even tried other ISA slots on the motherboard.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[obenton]

ISA cards often have resources (IRQ, I/O, etc.) set by jumpers on the card or by a DOS configuration utility. Win9x doesn't necessarily assign those resources to the card, since it has no way of determining what they are. What you've got to do is check the resources that the card is using, and have win9x assign those resources to it. Or, conversely, see what resources win9x has assigned, and configure the card to use those resources.

[BarryS]

Any suggestions on how to get the past the system locking up during installation so I can make the changes to the sound card's resources?

Okay, I think I've figured out what I need to do. I rebooted machine w/o sound card and documented IRQ, I/O, and DMA Channel of everything in my PC. Nothing conflicting so I decided to re-install the IBM sound card since it worked for awhile. I rebooted the machine and it is working fine so far. I even played a CD while documenting the sound card's IRQ, I/O, and DMA. No conflicts reported.

I did REM a line in my config.sys file that would run an executable file called CWDINIT with switch /A. I traced the file to part of the IBM card install. Not sure what it starts since I have no manual for the card, but not launching it doesn't seem to hinder the card's operation.

I'll keep a watch on it. Feel free to continue to send along any other cures.

[This message has been edited by BarryS (edited 05-28-2000).]