Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp

Hello Vectra Experts,

I have just posted this note under "comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard" but figure that
I should probably post it here too to get HP Vectra Experts' opinions.

I have been trying to install a ProAudio Spectrum 16 soundcard along with Texel
SCSI CD-ROM Drive (model3024) onto HP Vectra 486/33U PC and not able to succeed.
The sound card I got is a Media Vision OEM to LaserWave, called Spectrum 16, which
I heard to be exactly the same (hardware-wise) as the conmercial one.

When I ran "install" program, one of the first thing it asked me to do was to select
a DMA channel & an IRQ for the soundcard.  The program proposed some default settings
(I think it propsed DMA 3 or 1 and IRQ 7).  I accepted the default but the verification
failed for both DMA and IRQ.  I then tried every allowed settings for DMA and IRQ
(by the way, I did try DMA 1 or 3 with IRQ5 which I thought should be available) but
could never succeed.  It always complains about DMA conflict and IRQ conflict.
I disabled SoundBlast and M401 (I think?) emulation and Joysticker and still dit
not help.  (For the folks who used the "install" program came with the Media Vision
Driver Kit, you would not be able to set the above emulation and would not be able
to select DMA beyond 3 or IRQ beyond 7 through the "install" program.  But the
"install" program I got from LaserWave allowed me to do them even though that did
not help.  And, to let you know, I had tried both "install" disk sets and neither
worked.)

After I ignored the error messages and hit "continue", it started to load a lot of
stuff into the system.  I have been trying to contact Media Vision but have not been
able to get explanation for that.  I don't know if the installation was successful
or not.  Could I ignore the error messages or not?  At last, I installed the
Window Driver, as manual said, and did not seem to get any further problem.

I have not got a valid CD to try out the installation.  All I have is the Sony
Laser Library CD pack (6 CD's, supposed to be sold with Sony CD-ROM Drive and
some other things as a bundle) which could not be installed on my system because
the "install" program came with the CD pack was looking for Sony CD-ROM Drive
and refused to install the necessary stuff to allow the CD's to work.  Strange.
I will post another note to ask if anyone knows how to get around the installation
procedure.  Anyhow, I tried a couple of "demo" programs in the Sony CD's (which
I thought may not rely on the Sony installation procedure).  Some times it worked
and the other times it failed.  When it failed, there was error message on the
monitor saying something like "CD-101: read failure".  And, I would not be able
to read from the CD-ROM Drive until I ejected and reinserted the CD.  I don't
know if the failure was because of lack of proper initialization by Sony "install"
program or because of DMA/IRQ conflict.

For the experts out there, here is some information about my PC:
  It's 486/33Mhz, EISA, and has 2 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel Port, 1 Mouse Port,
  Flexible Disk Device Controller, & Hard Disk Controller all built into the
  system board.  There are one 3.5 Flexible Drive, one 5.25 Flexible Drive, and
  one Hard Disk Drive, all of them were from HP, on the system.  The CD-ROM Drive
  seats on the bottom slot under two Flexible Drives.  The PAS 16 is the first
  add-on card in one of the five available I/O slots.

Following are the DMA and IRQ's, which are supposed to be available, in the Vectra:
  DMA - 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7
  IRQ - 5, 10, 11 (and one more which is either 9 or 15)

Thanks in advance for your help !!!

Regards,
Jinn
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp