Microsoft KB Archive/188136

= No Sound in MS-DOS-Based Program After Changing Preferred Device =

Article ID: 188136

Article Last Modified on 1/23/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition

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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:

 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

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

 Click Start, click Run, type sysedit in the Open box, and then click OK. 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. On the File menu, click Exit. Click Yes when you are prompted to save the Autoexec.bat file.</li></ol> </li> Restart your computer.</li> 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

</li></ol>

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

Keywords: kbenv kbhardware kbprb KB188136

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