LAPC-I dead?

[ufoufo]

I bought a LAPC-I a while ago second hand. It had been lying in the closet bacause I didn't have any ISA-slot machine. Now I got a Pentium and put the card in it.

I can't seem to get any life out of it. I tested it with Magic Carpet, Ultima Underworld and TIE Fighter Collector's Edition and they all are either silent or hang with MT-32 selected.

Is there anything to do? DOS 6.22, Matrox G100 videocard (PCI), 32 MB memory, Compaq Deskpro 2000.

[Cloudschatze]

If possible, try the card in another PC. This would rule out or identify the LAPC-I as the culprit.

Hopefully your card is fine. I have a "dead" LAPC, and though Roland offered last year to repair it, I procrastinated, and am now told that they cannot even work on it.

[ufoufo]

I am going to try it on the other PC. There wasn't any documentation with the card, but as I understand there is no need for any drivers or so, every program talk directly to the card.

It is possible to change base address with two jumpers from 330 to 336. However, MPUSETUP.pdf document also talks about setting IRQ with jumpers J01 to J06. In my card these jumpers are not selectable. Is that something I should worry about?

[Cloudschatze]

In my card these jumpers are not selectable.

Are they labeled differently, or do the IRQ jumpers not even exist?

You will want to configure your card to use address 330 and IRQ 2/9 (default).

If you have a revision 01 card, the jumper placement should look like this:
http://www.crossfire-designs.de/images/articles/soundcards/roland-3.jpg

[ufoufo]

The card is exactly as in the picture, but in the place of jumpers J01 - J06 there are only marks in pcb. No jumpers. The marks or dots have been connected in J01, so I guess it is hardwired to IRQ 2/9. I could cut that with a sharp knife and solder other jumper, but then again it probably wouldn't do anything.

It says MODEL LAPC-I ASSY 75420300 00 in the PCB.

[Cloudschatze]

The card is exactly as in the picture, but in the place of jumpers J01 - J06 there are only marks in pcb. No jumpers. The marks or dots have been connected in J01, so I guess it is hardwired to IRQ 2/9. I could cut that with a sharp knife and solder other jumper, but then again it probably wouldn't do anything.

It says MODEL LAPC-I ASSY 75420300 00 in the PCB.

Revision 00 board. You're right, it is hard-wired, though some of the later 00 boards have the jumpers.

If the address is set to 330, there's nothing more to configure on the card. Let us know what happens when you try it in another PC.

[Great Hierophant]

Hopefully your card is fine. I have a "dead" LAPC, and though Roland offered last year to repair it, I procrastinated, and am now told that they cannot even work on it.

Ask them if they would fix an MT-32, CM-32L, MPU-401/AT or Super MPU.  If they can still fix those modules then they should be able to fix the LAPC-I.

[Cloudschatze]

Ask them if they would fix an MT-32, CM-32L, MPU-401/AT or Super MPU.  If they can still fix those modules then they should be able to fix the LAPC-I.

I recall that the issue was not whether they could fix the LAPC-I, but rather, that they no longer had the proper diagnostic equipment for ISA-based hardware.

I performed my own diagnostics, and found the handshake controller to be the defective chip. Luckily, this chip is still available from Roland, at a cost of $21. Since it's a surface-mount chip, I'll probably have a local electronics shop perform the work, though I'm sure Roland could do it at a greater cost.

The total cost of repair may surpass a that of a replacement board. Still, we're dealing with a finite supply of remaining LAPCs, which makes it all the more worthwhile to me.

[ufoufo]

I got mine to work!
After testing in other PC with same results, I found out that one of the capasitors had a broken leg. Soldered that and behold: Ultima Underworld's sound setup recognizes the board and I get some sound in games.

I also find out that my computer which I saved from going to trash from work was more powerful that I suspected. It is actually a P3 @ 600 MHz.

The games I tested didn't sound like I though they would (missing notes, wrong instruments etc.). Ultima Underworld still hangs when the game starts, but I believe it is because of too little base memory.  These issues could be result of number of different things (computer speed issues, maybe Roland option in TIE Fighter means other Roland cards etc.). What is the best way to test / demonstrate the card in DOS? Demo, game, program??  

[Cloudschatze]

You might try a game which uses the default MT-32 patches, such as King's Quest IV, Police Quest II, The Secret of Monkey Island(?). If the music still doesn't sound right (compare with an MP3 sample of the same music, if available), then the LAPC-I may be at fault.

If it does sound correct, follow-up with a game featuring a custom sound bank, such as most later Sierra games, Strike Commander, Legend of Kyrandia, etc. On faster computers, the SYSEX information tends to be sent too quickly, which causes a buffer overflow, resulting in "wrong" music.

I've never encountered this with an LAPC-I though...

But then, I've never used one in anything faster than a 486.

[NewRisingSUn]

You might try a game which uses the default MT-32 patches, such as King's Quest IV, Police Quest II

PQ2 does use a custom sound back, as does KQ4 in later versions (1.006.004, 1.023).

[Tom]

Could I get a copy of that KQ4 MT-32 patch bank?  I thought I had all of Sierra's banks -- never knew Sierra used one in KQ4.

[ufoufo]

I tried Monkey Island and Star Trek 25th Anniversary. Monkey Island sounds funny; different sounds and I don't get the melody either. Notes can also "hang" even if you exit the game. Star Trek sounded quite good, but I am not  sure whether it was really correct.

I think I need a break for a minute :wink: I ran to many different problems besides the sound card. Conventional memory, Buffers and Files, IRQs and DMAs, things that I used to be quite good at, but I have happily forgotten. I will try the card in different PC, but not now. I still have a MT-32 and it actually plays very well in my primary PC using either Dosbox or ScummVM. Right now Dosbox feels very easy.

Thanks for all advice I got!

[NewRisingSUn]

Could I get a copy of that KQ4 MT-32 patch bank?  I thought I had all of Sierra's banks -- never knew Sierra used one in KQ4.

(link removed)

PATCH.001 is the bank in Sierra's own format, KQ4.SYX is what you send to the MT-32.

Obviously, this will not sound right with the MIDI files you recorded from your earlier, non-patchbank-using version of KQ4. (Even in those early versions, the instrument mapping was that way in the game's sound resources, but instead of sending a patch bank to the MT-32, MT32.DRV just did the mapping itself.)

Useless trivia: KQ4's instrument mapping is the same used for the Apple IIgs version AGI games' MIDI files. Wonder which came first...

[Tom]

Thanks!

I primarily wanted it for any new timbres I may not already have.  Though I would be curious to know if anyone has ever recorded any KQ4 music that would require this bank.