PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

ISA sound cards can be especially complicated to configure because they often use a

separate set of values for different functions. For example, there are sound cards that require

a separate port address, DMA, and IRQ for general use, another set of values for Sound

Blaster emulation, and a third set of values for MPU-401 emulation. That’s nine resources

to configure for a single expansion card!

As you can see, there is no universal set of steps for configuring an ISA sound card.

The only way to know exactly what values need to be assigned and how to assign them is

to refer to the manufacturer’s documentation. If the manual for the card is unavailable,

many sound card manufacturers publish installation guides on their Web sites.

PCI Sound Cards

Many of the difficulties associated with configuring an ISA sound card are eliminated with

PCI sound cards. Although there are still a number of resources that need to be assigned,

this is typically accomplished by the Plug-and-Play BIOS in conjunction with an operating

system that supports Plug and Play, like Windows 95/98/2000. In most of these cases, cer-

tain system resources, such as IRQ and DMA, cannot be assigned manually.

A few conditions must be met before a PCI card can be installed:

 There must be an available PCI slot.

 Many older motherboards use an earlier revision of the PCI BIOS that may not

be compatible with newer sound cards. Check with the motherboard manufacturer

if you have an older PCI motherboard and are not certain that the PCI BIOS

revision may be less than version 2.1.

 Motherboard manufacturers commonly develo psystem BIOS u pdates after the

motherboard is released. Sometimes these updates are designed to address issues

such as Plug-and-Play device enumeration that can affect whether or not a card

is successfully installed. Check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if

there are any critical BIOS updates available. Always use caution when upgrading

a system BIOS (see Chapter 4 for more details about BIOS upgrades).

To install a PCI sound card, you will typically follow these steps:

1. Insert the card into an available PCI slot (see Chapter 10 for the precautions
   that should be observed when dealing with expansion cards).


2. Connect the audio cable following the manufacturer’s instructions.


3. Power on the system.


4. When the operating system prompts you for an installation disk, insert
   the manufacturer’s driver disk and point to the directory specified in the
   manufacturer’s documentation.

Although Windows 98/2000 includes drivers for a handful of PCI sound cards, in most

cases you will need the manufacturer’s drivers to set u pthe card correctly. If a driver disk is

Chapter 21: Audio/Visual Devices^555