williams@nssdcs.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Williams (SYSGROUP)) (08/20/90)
I've just spent several hours trying to debug a strange failure on my new PC, and I haven't gotten anywhere, so I'm appealing to the collective wisdom of the net. Here goes... The Hardware: A generic 386 AT Clone, 25 MHz, 4MB RAM 85 MB SCSI Drive with an ST02 controller, two floppies (1.2MB and 1.44MB). Generic (AD-450) I/O board, with 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game Port. Microsoft Bus Mouse Sound Blaster sound card The failure: While using Kermit (version 3.01) to log in to work from home, (Courier 2400 modem) the system will suddenly stop writing incoming characters onto the screen. I can see them coming over the modem, I can give commands to the system, and watch the modem Received Data light flash just as expected but nothing writes to the screen. If I exit Kermit and restart it (the phone remains off hook) then suddenly everything is ok. File transfers are impossible in this mode. The incoming characters never make it to Kermit. What I've done: This is not a Kermit problem. Procomm does the same thing. I have found the problem will go away if I remove either my Bus Mouse card or my Sound Blaster card. It only occurs if both cards are installed. Note that it doesn't seem to matter if the drivers for the boards are installed or not. The physical presence of the boards is what matters. Since Com1 and Com2 are taking up Interrupts 4 and 3, respectively, I have assigned Int 7 to the Sound Blaster and Int 5 to the InPort (Bus Mouse). These are the only choices possible. The I/O addresses do not overlap. I have tried setting the I/O address on the Sound Blaster to a few of the other choices. I have tried the InPort at both of its addresses. I have removed the DMA jumper from the the Soundblaster. I have disabled the Game Port on the Sound Blaster (there are no instructions for disabling the Game Port on the I/O card). None of this has had any effect. If I can't resolve this, I have few choices. I can try and return/sell the bus mouse in favor of a serial mouse. I don't want to do this, since I need both of my serial ports. I would have to buy a Com3/Com4 board at some point. The other choice is to sell the Sound Blaster, and I don't want to do that, either. Help! Spoken: Jim Williams Domain: williams@nssdcs.gsfc.nasa.gov Phone: +1-301-555-1212 UUCP: uunet!mimsy!williams USPS: NASA/GSFC, Code 633, Greenbelt, MD 20771 Motto: There is no 'd' in "kluge"! It rhymes with "deluge", not "sludge".
zech@leadsv.UUCP (Bill Zech) (08/22/90)
<writer had problems with Sound Blaster and Bus Mouse in same system> I have a similar configuration, and I jumpered the Sound Blaster for interrupt level 2. Every thing works fine. I also have a tape drive on IRQ 2. You can put lots of stuff on IRQ 2 if you don't run them all simultaneously. - Bill
mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (08/22/90)
In article <3161@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> williams@nssdcs.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Williams (SYSGROUP)) writes: <woes about SoundBlaster + BusMouse + SerialCard deleted> Sounds like an interrupt conflict. A bus mouse card is simply another serial port, dedicated to the mouse. It probably has jumpers to select which interrupt it uses, as does the SoundBlaster card. A little research into the docs should help you resolve this. My SoundBlaster is still "in the mail". -- ___Mark S. Lord__________________________________________ | ..uunet!bnrgate!bmerh724!mlord | Climb Free Or Die (NH) | | Ottawa, Ontario. 613-763-7482 | Personal views only. | |________________________________|________________________|
dlow@hpspcoi.HP.COM (Danny Low) (08/22/90)
> 've just spent several hours trying to debug a strange failure on my new >PC, and I haven't gotten anywhere, so I'm appealing to the collective wisdom >of the net. Here goes... > >The Hardware: >A generic 386 AT Clone, 25 MHz, 4MB RAM >85 MB SCSI Drive with an ST02 controller, two floppies (1.2MB and 1.44MB). >Generic (AD-450) I/O board, with 2 Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game Port. >Microsoft Bus Mouse >Sound Blaster sound card Here's another possibility. CMS has found that the Sound Blaster has DMA conflicts with some SCSI controllers. The SB uses a DMA channel for the voice channel. Check the DMA channel usage on your system. Danny Low "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You" Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley HP SPCD dlow%hpspcoi@hplabs.hp.com ...!hplabs!hpspcoi!dlow
lyourk@cbnewsc.att.com (Loran N. Yourk) (08/22/90)
In article <3161@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> williams@nssdcs.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Williams (SYSGROUP)) writes:
<woes about SoundBlaster + BusMouse + SerialCard deleted>
Because the interupts have already been inspected, start
checking the I/O port addresses.
BTW... the Sound Blaster only uses the interrupt and DMA
channel if you are using the AD/DA converders.
Loran Yourk
att!lyourkbmarsh@cod.NOSC.MIL (William C. Marsh) (08/23/90)
In article <12551@leadsv.UUCP> zech@leadsv.LEADS.LMSC.COM.UUCP (Bill Zech) writes: ><writer had problems with Sound Blaster and Bus Mouse in same system> > >I have a similar configuration, and I jumpered the Sound Blaster for >interrupt level 2. Every thing works fine. I also have a tape drive >on IRQ 2. You can put lots of stuff on IRQ 2 if you don't run them >all simultaneously. I had put my SoundBlaster and an Everex Tape controller on IRQ5, but the tape controller would hang. After moving the SB, everything worked fine. It would seem to me, that from the symptoms, the SoundBlaster is always driving the IRQ line, rather than having a tri-state driver like COM ports. This would mean that the SB shouldn't be shared (IRQ wise, that is) with anything. I haven't traced the IRQ signals to be sure... Another Bill... -- Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA {arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil uucp: {ihnp4,akgua,decvax,dcdwest,ucbvax}!sdcsvax!nosc!bmarsh "If everything seems to be coming your way, you're probably in the wrong lane."
KRW1@Lehigh (08/24/90)
The Sound Blaster seems to have a very "dirty" I/O implementation. It's I/O addresses can conflict with devices hundreds of addresses away. For the mouse problem, try setting the mouse to use its alternate I/O address (/i2 on the driver). Dozens of jumpers later, I was finally able to get the SB to work in my development system having an MPU, and IBM Music Feature, and a bus mouse. -- Kevin