Problem with SCC-1 and Sound Blaster AWE32

[prcdsphynx]

Greetings....

I am still relatively new at this but figure there might be someone out there would know the answer to this...  I just recently purchased an MT-32 and SCC-1 off of ebay for a pretty good price and am wanting to use it on my classic gaming system.  It is a Pentium II-233 with 80MB RAM, 2 GB HD with a Diamond Viper V330 video card.  I also have an SB AWE32 with the Roland SCC-1 and MT32. I am pretty sure I have all the cabling connected correctly.  The problem occurs when I try to get the SCC-1 to function properly in DOS.  I am currently running Win98SE and DOS 6.22.  

At first, whenever I ran CHKSCC from DOS, when it tried to detect the card it told me "Other card uses dataport address!".  I finally figured out I needed to use IRQ 4 or 5 as the others were all used by various devices on my machine.  However, The card will only work in both DOS and Windows when I have it set to port 332H/333H, but for some reason it isn't recognized by any DOS games. I have the AWE32 set to P220 I5 D1 P330 E620 T6 and the SCC-1 is on IRQ 4.  When I set it to port 330H/331H, Windows doesn't detect the MPU-401 device at all, but CHKSCC still does, and it still does not work in any DOS games.

I guess my question is, what are the best settings for port address and IRQ on both the AWE32 and SCC-1 to get the card to work properly in both Windows and DOS?  I know this is a loaded question as it really depends on system configuration, so if need be I can send more detailed info.  If it seems like I'm rambling or this doesn't make any sense its probably because I spent all night last night trying to get this to work.  Thanks in advance!

[Tom]

I assume CKKSCC is some sort of DOS utility for the SCC-1?  I'm not sure I'm following this properly, but do you have both the AWE32 and SCC-1 using the same addresses?  330H?  That's not possible.  

The MT-32 uses IRQ 2/9 at 330H for Sierra games, period.   This should work fine in Windows and DOS.  (I have no experience with the SCC-1, but I would assume the same would apply for Sierra games, in DOS and Windows.)  There's a "MIDI PORT CHANGER" utility (http://66.49.226.244/utilities/drv.zip) that might be of use if you can't configure your interfaces this way.)  But you can have two devices set to the same memory address without having conflicts, and probably, detection problems.

I set my AWE32 to IRQ5 at 300H, which connects to a SC-8810 sound module, and the MPU-IPC interface is set at IRQ2/9 at 330H (and can't be changed) to connect to the MT-32.  Windows should be able to handle a multitude of sound cards and such, but DOS will probably have some limitations because of the software's requirements for MIDI output.  

Don't know if this helps at all....

[Zemus]

Alternatively, you could disable the MIDI port on the AWE32 since you already got one on the SCC-1. There should be a jumper somewhere on the card.

I have the same combo as you (AWE32 and SCC-1) and I believe my AWE32's IRQ is set to 7 and the SCC1's is set to 5.

[Tom]

I was thinking he wants to use both devices together?   :?:

[Zemus]

Oh, I thought he was using the AWE32 for digital sound and the SCC-1 for General MIDI/MIDI interface for the MT-32.

[prcdsphynx]

Yep, youre right Zemus, I am wanting the AWE32 for the sound and the SCC-1/MT-32 for the MIDI... sorry for not claryfying that.  When I changed the port to 330/331 on the scc-1 and disabled the awe32's mpu-401, that's when windows stopped recognizing it.  i think im going to play with the settings on the awe32 some more and try setting it to irq7 when i disable the midi port, and set the irq on the scc-1 to 5, as it wont let me use 2 or 9, thats when i get the dreaded "Other card uses dataport address!" error with the CHKSCC utility.  I may also try the "MIDI PORT CHANGER" as it sounds promising.  I'll post wirh my results....thanks again for all your help and quick response!

[prcdsphynx]

Oh, and just an afterthought.... what else do you think could cause my SCC-1 to not work on IRQ 2/9 besides a conflict with another card (as I removed everything except the video card and had the same problem)? A resource on the mobo maybe, perhaps something I can configure from the BIOS Setup? Im almost 100% positive this is the source of my problem...

[NOPIK]

Change your SB MIDI port to 300, for example:
repalce P330 with P300 in SET BLASTER in DOS autoexec.bat file
or, choose manual device configuration in Windows and set port address to 300.

[Zemus]

The BLASTER variable only tells programs which ports the card uses, it doesn't physically set the card to those addresses. You'd have to do to that on the card itself. If it's a PnP card, then I think you have to use a configuration utility.

[NOPIK]

Config will run in autoexec.bat Without it you can use card only on old 386-486 without P'n'P support.

[Alistair]

I assume this will help me trying to run an AWE32 and Roland SC-55? Never solved this problem, had it for eons.

Obviously the AWE32 as a MPU interface, a line in for the SC-55 and as digital audio for games, and the SC-55 for MIDI music.. it's always conflicted. Never had conflicts with the AWE32/MT-32 combo, though..

- Alistair

[NOPIK]

Mmmm... Did you mean "conflict" in Sierra games?
This is not a hardware conflict but poor SB+MPU driver.

[Alistair]

Yes, Sierra games- I'm trying to use the AWE32 for digital audio and the Roland SC-55 for MIDI.. the PC refuses it. Locks up, even.

What do you mean by a 'poor SB+MPU driver'? I don't follow. If there are better drivers, where can I get them?

Regards,
- Alistair

[DrJ]

I've had to change my midi port on my AWE32 and after that, I have perfect music with my MT32/SCC-1 combo. Digital music through my SB and midi through my SCC-1 on my MT32. If I want, I can even switch to my SW60XG for midi. Once you have it totally settled, you classic box will be a great music machine!

[NOPIK]

Driver tries to get status from MPU, so if it is not compatible with MPU-401, error occured "Device can't be initialised", after that, depending on sound hardware: a) everything work; b) work only MIDI; c) Work only sound. I can't remember exactly what to do with SB16 cards to make them work (SoundScape worked smoothly)...

[Juho Sippola]

I remember that it needed slight tweaking to get those two cards work seamlessly together when I had AWE32PnP and SCC-1 in same machine. With all DOS drivers installed I had to modify AWE32's MIDI port to 300 from a configuration file which probably was CTPNP.CFG in SB16 directory.

IRQ problems? Try to set IRQ 2/9 from PCI/ISA PnP to Legacy ISA in BIOS. It might help but sometimes it could cause problems like Windows unwilling to boot.