COMMON QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ========================== This file contains answers to some commonly-asked questions. Please go through all the sections below when you encounter a problem before calling Technical Support. This file contains the following sections: 1. Installing Windows 3.1 Drivers for Sound Blaster 16 1.1 Setup Windows 3.1 Drivers Again 1.2 Using DRIVER applet in Control Panel (OEMSETUP.INF) 1.3 General 2. "Block Type 9 Not Recognized" error with Voice Editor II 3. Changing Hardware configuration 3.1 DMA Conflict with Adaptec 1542 card 4. DOS drivers 4.1 Bypass loading of DOS drivers 5. General 5.1 Eliminating Unwanted Noises 5.2 Audio Sources Setting 5.3 Playback Digitized Sound Smoothly 5.4 Error message appears when WINSETUP.EXE runs 1. INSTALLING WINDOWS 3.1 DRIVERS FOR SOUND BLASTER 16 1.1 SETUP WINDOWS 3.1 DRIVERS AGAIN Q1. How can I setup my Windows 3.1 drivers again? A1. You may setup Windows 3.1 drivers again by running INSTALL from your Sound Blaster directory at the DOS prompt. Select "Setup Windows" and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup. 1.2 USING DRIVER APPLET IN CONTROL PANEL (OEMSETUP.INF) Q1. My drivers are not installed when I use the driver applet in Control Panel to add the drivers. What do I do? A1. Before you choose to add any Sound Blaster 16 drivers, you should first remove all the existing Sound Blaster drivers shown in the "Installed Drivers List" and then restart Windows. Chances are existing versions of Sound Blaster drivers are installed when you start-up Windows and cannot be over-written. You must also restart Windows after adding all the drivers for these new drivers to take effect. Refer to your Windows User Reference Manual for more detail on the Driver applet. 1.3 GENERAL Q1. No matter what I try, I can't get sound in Windows. What should I do to fix it? A1. Here are some points you can check: a. If you installed Windows 3.1 using the "Express Installation", Windows scanned your hard disk for programs to be installed. As a result, older versions of the Sound Blaster applications may have been installed if they were on your hard disk at the time of installation. Please remove these icons. To do this, click on the icon once to select it, then press the delete key. Windows will ask you for confirmation. Repeat the above procedure for each icon. b. Open the Driver applet in Control panel. You should at least have the following driver names in the Installed Drivers list: Voyetra / Sound Blaster SuperSAPI FM Driver Creative Sound Blaster 16 Auxiliary Audio Creative Sound Blaster 16 Wave and MIDI MIDI Mapper Timer [MCI] CD Audio ;this is only for owners of CD-ROM drives [MCI] MIDI Sequencer [MCI] Sound If one or more of the drivers do not exist, you must install the driver(s) using the Driver applet in Control Panel (See your Windows manual for more details). c. Check your SYSTEM.INI by choosing RUN from the File menu of the Program Manager and typing NOTEPAD SYSTEM.INI in the command line box. Examine the [drivers] and [sndblst.drv] sections. They should look something like this: [drivers] Timer=timer.drv Midimapper=midimap.drv Aux=sb16aux.drv MIDI=sb16fm.drv Wave=sb16snd.drv MIDI1=sb16snd.drv [sndblst.drv] port=220 int=5 dmachannel=1 hdmachannel=5 MIDIport=330 d. If Windows refuses to install a device driver or if you get the error message "Device not found" when playing a Wave or MIDI file, or a CD, be sure that you have the following settings in the [mci] section of SYSTEM.INI. [mci] WaveAudio=mciwave.drv Sequencer=mciseq.drv CDAudio=mcicda.drv; this is only for owners of CD-ROM drives If one or more of the drivers do not exist, you must install the driver(s) using the Driver applet in Control Panel (See your Windows manual for instructions). Do not type in the entries into the SYSTEM.INI because the files have to be expanded and installed into your SYSTEM directory by Windows. 2. "BLOCK TYPE 9 NOT RECOGNIZED" ERROR WITH VOICE EDITOR II Q1. "Block Type 9 Not Recognized" error is encountered when using the program VEDIT2.EXE in Sound Blaster Pro package with the Sound Blaster 16 card. DO I have a corrupted file? A1. VEDIT2.EXE Version 2.10 or earlier does not support 16 bit ("block type 9") data when using the Sound Blaster 16 card. You can still perform recording provided you select "Record to Disk" option instead of "Record to Memory". 3. CHANGING HARDWARE CONFIGURATION 3.1 DMA CONFLICT WITH ADAPTEC 1542 CARD Q1. How can I reconfigure my SB 16 if I have an Adaptec 1542 card using DMA 5? A1. To avoid DMA conflicts between your SB16 and the Adaptec 1542 card which is using DMA 5, you may change the SB16's DMA from 5 to either 6 or 7. Run DIAGNOSE.EXE and follow the program's instruction to complete the setup. 4. DOS DRIVERS 4.1 BYPASS LOADING OF DOS DRIVERS Q1. I do not want to load the DOS drivers at system startup. What should I do? A1. To bypass the loading of the DOS drivers CTMMSYS.SYS and CTSB16.SYS, press the ALT key during system starts up until the driver prompts you for confirmation. 5. GENERAL 5.1 ELIMINATING UNWANTED NOISES Q1. When I record in either Windows or DOS, it hisses a lot. What can I do? A1. Using the mixer, adjust the recording volume for your input source to the optimal level. Bringing the record level close to maximum will help to produce noise-free recordings. Also, set the record level for other input sources to zero. This ensures that the only recording is from sources that you want to record. Q2. I just upgraded from SBPro to the SB16 and now some of my games sound hissy. Do I need to return the SB16 for replacement? A2. The high quality 16-bit CODEC plays back every detail of the 8-bit sample including the coarse resolution of the staircase waveform. Hearing the "hissing sound" is like seeing all the sharp edges of a 320x240 picture on a very sharp 1280x1024 monitor. SB16 has a Treble control to suit your needs on different sound quality. To eliminate the unwanted "hissing sound", you can set the Treble level to zero. 5.2 AUDIO SOURCE SETTINGS Q1. I can't hear anything from the speakers, but when I run the diagnostic program, it sounds okay. What do I do? A1. Check the mixer settings for the various sources. Use the programs SB16SET.EXE in DOS or CTMIXER.EXE in Windows to adjust the settings to a higher level. 5.3 ELIMINATING JERKY DIGITIZED SOUND PLAYBACK Q1. The playback sounds jerky. Is my card defective? A1. If you are in Windows, this may be due to your choice of Windows swap file. Temporary swap file tends to be fragmented causing jerky playback. If possible, use a permanent swap file to eliminate this problem. Refer to your Windows manual for instructions on creating a permanent swap file. Loading a disk cache program such as SMARTDRV will also eliminate this problem. To load SMARTDRV, refer to your DOS or Windows manual for instructions. 5.4 Error Message Appears When WINSETUP.EXE Runs Q1. When I start Windows and WINSETUP runs, it gives me a dialog box saying it can't find the environment. A1. The BLASTER environment is not set or is incorrectly set. This program requires that your BLASTER environment is set correctly and tallies with your Sound Blaster 16 card. You can type "SET" at DOS prompt to check the environment settings. For more details on the BLASTER environment, refer to your Getting Started manual. ********* End of CQA.TXT *********