Uncreative Labs

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

I recently picked up one of these on eBay. It was made as an OEM upgrade for Micron. It is basically just an EMU chip and some memory banks and plugs into a 16-bit ISA slot. However, I have been unable to get it working yet. I have tried two different DOS driver sets with it so far, and both of them fail. Is there special software needed to use this card?

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

http://america.hongfaith.com/Audio/soundblaster_ct19201.htm

http://america.hongfaith.com/_private/FAQ/AWE32FAQ.TXT

Its for upgrading a SB16 to AWE32, do you have a SB16 installed with the card?

2nd link is for the FAQ on the card.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Yeah. I found this document yesterday evening....and it seems that this card requires two special files. One is called AWEUTIL.EXE, and the other is AWEDIAG.EXE. I haven't had luck finding either. I can find AWEUTIL.COM, but according to the document the .COM file is different somehow.

I am currently trying to install the card in a non Plug n Play system that already has a non pnp SB16 installed. I am unable to detect the goldfinch in CTCU, which makes me wonder if it can work in a non pnp system at all.

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

Here is the link to the DOS drivers at Creative:

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download.asp?ainCategory=1&nRegionFK=&nCountryFK=&nLanguageFK=&sOSName=DOS&region=1&Product_Name=Sound+Blaster+AWE32&Product_ID=1848&modelnumber=&driverlang=1033&OS=15&drivertype=0&x=32&y=16

Here is a link to the aweutil.com v1.20:

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/download2.asp?MainCategory=1&Product=1848&dlcentric=279&Product_Name=Sound+Blaster+AWE32&filetype=3&OSName=DOS

Any of these help?

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

I'll have to take another look, but I'm pretty sure I've been through all the drivers on the Creative Labs website. The problem is that the "Goldfinch" was an OEM only card, so I don't think Creative Labs would support it. I've been on the Micron PC and Dell sites. I didn't find anything at Micron, but I did find some AWE software on Dell's. I have to install it to be able to see what's in it.

I've already tried AWEUTIL.COM. It certainly doesn't work. The AWE UPGRADE FAQ specifically says that you need AWEUTIL.EXE and that AWEUTIL.COM will not work.

I'll have to keep digging around OEM software packages to see what I can find.

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

Did you ever get that setup to work? I just got a CT-1920 myself (along with the cable).

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

No. It made me so angry I just threw it in the trash.

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

Ok. Seems like it is an OEM board and I suspect the SB16 it goes to must be OEM to have the header for the other end of the cable. So it probably doesn't work for any old SB16.

Do you still have the files for trying to set it up?

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

The header just passes an analogue audio signal back to the integrated or OEM SB16. There should be solder pads on the card for standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and possibly even a CD-ROM type internal audio header. You definitely don't need OEM sound to use these cards. As far as I know, getting these cards to work in Win9x/NT is no problem at all. However, I think there is a special version of the DOS driver for AWE32 that only works with the goldfinch cards. I was never able to find it. However, now that I look back, I doubt it would have been worth the trouble. AWE32 sounds like shit under DOS since you can't load custom soundfont banks. It only has 1mb of ROM samples (versus 2 or 4mb for a waveblaster). The worst part is that the TSR for AWE32 is HUGE. You're much better off with an MPU-401 card.

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

I just wanted to get it work for my collection, I have a large stack of sounblasters of all types in stock.

Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 264 Location: Ohio/USA

A little late, but this should be the upgrade CD

http://www.dm-zhe.com/pub/AWE.rar

Its the soundblaster 16/sb32/awe32 install CD for DOS/Win3.1/Win95 and has the drivers for the awe32 upgrade board.

I will try it in a few days.