A while back I reported that I couldn't get two soundboards to work in my
Dell XPS T600 Windows 2000 system. The system came with a Yamaha soundboard
chipset on the motherboard, which worked well with Writelog under Windows
98. When I upgraded to Windows 2000, I got major computer hash noise through
the mic interface -- probably some sort of difference in what hardware on
the soundboard is being initialized by the OS. I decided to install a
standalone soundboard in the hope of fixing the noise problem. I also wanted
to dedicate a soundboard to Writelog so I wouldn't have to hear myself
through the speakers on SSB/RTTY and wouldn't have to worry about system
sounds being transmitted over the air.
I installed a Creative 16-bit Soundblaster which greatly reduced the noise
through the mic interface to the point of being quite acceptable.
Unfortunately, no matter what I tried, I could not get both soundboards to
work at the same time. Whenever they were both active in the system, any
mixer app I tried (Windows, Creative, Writelog) would work only with the
Yamaha soundboard and not the Soundblaster (yes, I set Writelog's soundboard
index in the ini file correctly.) The Windows mixer would display an error
message when I tried to select the Soundblaster, even though it was listed
as an option. The Creative mixer would just display a thin vertical bar on
the screen when the Soundblaster was selected, but would display normal
mixer controls when the Yamaha was selected. All the controls would be
disabled in the Writelog mixer when the SoundBlaster was selected through
the ini file, but would operate normally when the Yamaha was selected. All
the mixers worked fine if I disabled one of the boards and enabled the
other. After trying every imaginable combination of hardware installation,
software settings and resource reallocation, I gave up and disabled the
Yamaha board in the BIOS and just used the Soundblaster for Writelog and
Windows. No noise, but only one soundboard.
This afternoon I was playing a Reader Rabbit CD learning game with my
daughter and encountered problems with the audio skipping. Troubleshooting
instructions on the Learning Company website suggested turning off hardware
acceleration on the soundboard. I did that, but the audio still skipped. I
wondered if it was a problem with the Creative Soundblaster driver, so I
disabled the soundboard in the Hardware Manager, rebooted and enabled the
Yamaha soundboard chipset in the BIOS. Unfortunately, the Reader Rabbit
audio still skipped with the Yamaha soundboard, regardless of the
acceleration setting. I re-enabled the Soundblaster and was getting ready to
reboot to disable the Yamaha, when I got curious and ran the Windows mixer
app. I selected the Creative Soundblaster -- and *didn't* get an error
message! Lo and behold, the Creative mixer worked, too!! I set Writelog's
ini file to soundboard index 1, and the WL mixer worked!!! Amazing. I moved
some cables around and tested all Writelog's SSB and RTTY functions --
perfect. Now Writelog can use the Soundblaster and Windows can use the
Yamaha (which has the speakers.) All the mixers work with both cards
enabled.
At first I thought it could be related to the hardware acceleration setting,
but determined this wasn't the case. In fact, when I rebooted with both
soundboards enabled, the mixers went back to their old behavior -- not
working with the Soundblaster. After several tests, I determined that the
simple sequence of disabling and then enabling the "Creative Soundblaster
AudioPCI (WDM)" in the Hardware Manager is all it takes to make the mixers
work with both soundboards. This is bizarre, but not so bad. I can leave the
Soundblaster disabled most of the time, enabling it only when I need to use
Writelog for SSB or RTTY. It only takes a few clicks of the mouse to enable
the second soundboard. After use, I can just disable the Soundblaster. No
big deal if I forget -- I just have to disable/enable to make it work.
Again, just a few mouse clicks and it's fine until the computer is rebooted.
I guess something is going wrong in the boot sequence when two soundboards
are detected, and that this problem gets fixed when the second soundboard is
reinitialized by the Hardware Manager.
Don't you just love Windows? All you have to do it stir the boiling
cauldron, throw in a handful of crows feet, some witch hazel, some garlic, a
handful of exotic plants -- and it'll do what it's supposed to do.
73, Dick WC1M
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