Question : Do I need SET BLASTER in AUTOEXEC.BAT?

I have a fairly powerful Win98SE system and I am now having problems with lack of resources having added so many cards to it. Last card I added is Adaptec 1520S ISA scsi card (for scanner). Maybe I would also add a Infra red port if I could.

Anyway, here I start in this ticket with the first easy? part:

Do I need a SET BLASTER line in my AUTOEXEC.BAT (how do I know whether my games and old multimedia CDs are 'DOS' ones)

A long standing problem I have ignored as it seemed to have no bad effects. It relates to the sound card. I have disabled on the onboard VIA AC97 audio and installed a Creative PCI Live 5.1 Soundblaster card (which seems to be working ok and has no problems in System Device list). However, when I boot I get this sequence of messages:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTSYN=C:\WINDOWS
SB IRQ Conflicting with PCI IRQ
Creative SB16 Emulation Driver NOT loading

The machine is being used for multimedia and games for my son (as well as more serious office and net applications by me) and they appear to work ok. Some are probably Win3.1 era. Others are more modern including MicroSoft Train Simulator.
It is not clear to me if I need the soundbaster in DOS at all (if that is what this part is trying to setup).
Also SB16 emulation is listed in some of the MS Sysinfo pages as if it is present and working.

Current resource usage from MS Sysinfo:

DMA:
0     (free)
1     Creative SB16 Emulation
2     Standard Floppy Disk Controller
3     ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
4     Direct memory access controller
5     Creative SB16 Emulation
6     (free)
7     (free)

[DMA 6 is nominally used by the AH1520 scsi card but I am still resolving a problem with it]

IRQ:
0     System timer
1     Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2     Programmable interrupt controller
3     Communications Port (COM2)
4     Communications Port (COM1)
5     Creative SB16 Emulation
6     Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7     ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8     System CMOS/real time clock
9     Adaptec AHA-152X/AHA-1510 SCSI Host Adapter
10     All-in-Wonder RADEON
10     Creative SB Live! series
10     VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
10     ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
10     ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11     Win95-98 Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller
11     ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11     SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
12     WheelMouse2 (PS/2)
13     Numeric data processor
14     Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14     VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15     Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
15     ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering


There is no forceed hardware (whatever that is).

Answer : Do I need SET BLASTER in AUTOEXEC.BAT?

Was this an upgrade from Windows 3.11 and/or Win95?

Below you'll find info regarding the frame address, but it applies to DOS operating systems, not Windows. I would suggest you rename both autoexec.bat to autoexec.old and config.sys to config.old then restart your computer.

EMM386 Not Installed--Unable to Set Page Frame Base Address

-----------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 5.0, 5.0a, 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22

----------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
When you boot your computer and EMM386.EXE loads (from the CONFIG.SYS file) you may receive the following message:

EMM386 Not Installed - Unable to set page frame base address


CAUSE
This message indicates that EMM386 was unable to find 64K of contiguous space needed for the expanded memory page frame.

When you specify the RAM switch (or no switch at all), EMM386 attempts to create a 64K page frame in the upper memory area (UMA). The actual amount of extended memory used will be 108K (64K + 44K = 108K). The extra 44K is used for tables that EMM386 sets up to emulate expanded memory.

This 64K of space acts as a window into expanded memory allowing programs to see all the available expanded memory 64K at a time.

RESOLUTION
If you receive the message noted above you can try the following:

Use the NOEMS switch if expanded memory service (EMS memory) is not needed.

Make sure HIMEM.SYS is installed above EMM386.EXE in the CONFIG.SYS file. Other devices should be loaded after EMM386.EXE.

NOTE: Some hardware configurations require certain device drivers be loaded before HIMEM.SYS. Specific examples are:

DMDRVR.BIN (disk manager)
EMM.SYS (expanded memory driver)
ADAPTEC.SYS (driver for Adaptec controllers)

If it is not an IBM machine, add the following parameters to the EMM386 command line in the CONFIG.SYS file:
      device=c:\dos\emm386.exe i=e000-efff (m9 or frame=e000) ram
The E000-EFFF memory range is generally not used by non-IBM machines. Including this range can allow you to find 64K of free contiguous memory.

Specify different locations for the page frame to begin, using the "mx" switch, where x is in the range of the following table:
      1---> C000              8---> DC00
      2---> C400              9---> E000
      3---> C800              10--> 8000
      4---> CC00              11--> 8400
      5---> D000              12--> 8800
      6---> D400              13--> 8C00
      7---> D800              14--> 9000
NOTE: Ranges 10-14 are for machines that have only 512K of conventional memory and the page frame is attempting to set below 640K.

For more information on EMM386.EXE switches, see page 606 of the User's Guide and Reference if you are using MS-DOS 5.0. If you are using MS-DOS 6, type "help emm386.exe" at the MS-DOS command prompt (without the quotation marks) and then press ENTER.


If the program requiring expanded memory can use the LIM 4.0 specification, then the 64K page frame can be set non-contiguously. To accomplish this, add the "Pn=address" parameter.

The following line in your CONFIG.SYS file sets the page frame by loading the four different pages in the indicated non-contiguous locations:
      device=c:\dos\emm386.exe p0=c800 p1=d400 p2=e000 p3=d000 ram

reghakr