No Sound in MS-DOS-Based Program After Changing Preferred Device (188136)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 98
This article was previously published under Q188136
If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/w98?sid=460

SYMPTOMS

After you change the preferred playback audio device on a computer with multiple sound cards, MS-DOS-based programs may no longer play sound.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if either of the following conditions exists:
  • Your computer contains both a sound card using a Windows Driver Model (WDM) driver and a sound card using a virtual device driver (VxD). In this configuration, the sound card using a VxD may prevent Sound Blaster emulation from starting even if it is specified in the Autoexec.bat file. This causes MS-DOS-based programs to use the sound card using a VxD.
  • Your computer contains two sounds cards that use WDM drivers. In this configuration, some MS-DOS-based programs bypass Sound Blaster emulation and attempt to communicate directly with the hardware on the sound card.

RESOLUTION

To work around this issue, use the following steps:
  1. Disable the sound card using the VxD in Device Manager. For information about disabling devices, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    ARTICLE-ID: 128919
    TITLE : Resources for Disabled Devices Not Freed Up

  2. Disable the "SET BLASTER=" line in the Autoexec.bat file. To do so, follow these steps:

    1. Click Start, click Run, type sysedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
    2. On the Windows menu, click Autoexec.bat, locate the line that starts with "SET BLASTER=," and then type rem, followed by a space at the beginning of the line.
    3. On the File menu, click Exit.
    4. Click Yes when you are prompted to save the Autoexec.bat file.
  3. Restart your computer.
  4. Create a forced hardware configuration based on Sound Blaster emulation for the sound card. Set the resources of the audio device to I/O=220, IRQ=5, and DMA=1. For information about creating a forced hardware configuration, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    ARTICLE-ID: 134472
    TITLE : Device Resources Not Updated with Forced Configuration

For additional information about troubleshooting sound in MS-DOS-based games, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: 128517
TITLE : MS-DOS-Based Game Plays No Sound or Shuts Down

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/8/2006
Keywords:kbenv kbHardware kbprb KB188136
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