Audio driver for Realtek HD Audio Hardware? [Testing thread]

[Dave-H]

Thanks for sticking with this @deomsh, I really appreciate it!

This is the Device Manager details of the Audio Driver, which shows no conflicts.

As you can see there are other conflicts in the system, which have always been there, both on the "Direct memory access controller" and the "System timer".
I have never been able to resolve these conflicts, I assume they're just because I'm using a motherboard that just isn't designed to work with Windows 98.
They have never seemed to cause any problems, perhaps until now!
This is the "Direct memory access controller" problem -

And this is the "System timer" problem -

They don't seem to be conflicting with each other, but with "Motherboard resources".
Could this have any bearing on why the sound still isn't working?

If so, I fear that it won't be resolvable.

[deomsh]

@Dave-H: Thanks for all your information! At least your High Definition Audio Controller's memory address is the same as noted in HDACFG.INI.

Things are getting more complicated, but more challenging too.

You said you "have never been able to resolve these conflicts". Maybe a silly question, but have you already tried a Windows install with SETUP /p i  ?

I took a look on my own system, but for me its impossible to change settings in Direct memory access controller or System timer, disabling not possible. I am not sure about the first, but as far as I remember Watler  told me during our lengthy conversations that some Timer is needed.

This (maybe) can be tested with HDARUN.EXE. It must reside in your Windows directory. Included in my INF-File for testing purposes (HDARUN.EXE is ment for Win3.x in Standard Mode, in Enhanced Mode it's not needed).

So enable Windows Startup Sound, set "Mytimer=0" in HDACFG.INI and reboot.. Next: try to enable "HDA Sound" as Audio Device in the way you described earlier, but stay in Windows, NO reboot. Then open HDARUN.EXE and click "Event On". If your System timer is the (only) culprit you will be surprised.

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by deomsh
Typo's, corrections

[Dave-H]

OK, I tried that, and was rewarded with the Control Panel "Sounds" applet actually coming to life, in that the test facilities weren't all greyed out, and I could push the test play button on all the system sounds. Sadly, although they all went through the motions of playing, there still wasn't a peep from the loudspeakers!

My HDARUN.EXE window looked exactly like your grab, with the same numbers in the windows.
What actually is the writing under the windows? Mine looked exactly the same, with the windows covering the lettering.

Should I put the "Mytimer" setting in HDACFG.INI back to as it was before now, or leave it at 0?

There is still absolutely no sound from the speakers at all on Windows 98, even when I boot up or shut down. There isn't even the quietest of clicks or pops. I would have thought that there would be something at least as the driver was being loaded, but nothing.

[deomsh]

@Dave-H: Did you mean: with the HDACFG.INI-setting Mytimer=0 "the Control Panel "Sounds" applet actually coming to life, in that the test facilities weren't all greyed out, and I could push the test play button on all the system sounds" while with Mytimer=1 everything was grayed out? What about the option "HDA Sound" as Audio Device in Multimedia properties, is that option stable with Mytimer=0, even after a reboot?

If this is true, this is a big step forward. In my opinion Windows "Wave device" is in that case delivering sound to the driver.

If you open Sound Recorder and start playing a WAV-file, with HDARUN enabled, is the slider moving?

If yes, we maybe can ignore your configuration issues in Device Manager for the time being and try next logical step (out of three): to check if the memory address (-range, for a buffer) that the driver needs to send data to the Azalia Controller, is actually "outside the reach of Windows" (this address is different from the one of the cardmemregisters and now shown as the one delivered by HDATSR, somewhere in the 1MB-4MB region).

BTW: I think the writing under the HDARUN windows is "This program runs wx3ac97.dll", bad placement, maybe a glitch of the programmer, its not important.

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by deomsh
Corrections

[ABCDEFG]

If there exist some free I/O ranges it should not be so hard to resolve conflicts. Like this ¬

Or through registry ¬

But be careful!

[Dave-H]

@ABCDEFG

Thanks, I do seem to remember trying all that when the conflicts first appeared, and I didn't have any luck resolving them.
As they didn't seem to be causing any problems, I didn't pursue it.
If they are now causing issues I will have another go though!

@deomsh

I tried just rebooting, and yes the "HDA Sound" option in the Multimedia Properties does seem to have stuck.
However the system sounds option has its test play button greyed out again.

The Sound Recorder doesn't seem to want to play some WAV files at all, but for others it just produces a stationary waveform in its display, and playing produces nothing.

[Dave-H]

Oops, I spoke too soon!
I've just booted into Windows 98 again, without having changed anything, and the "HDA Sound" option has gone again!
As you can see, there is an option there, but it is blank.

[deomsh]

@Dave-H: If the slider of Sound Recorder is moving, there is a stream of sound, I think we can try the next step. Maybe the memory addresses provided by HDATSR are somehow overwritten because of your Windows configuration. My idea is to disable HDATSR and give the driver a memory address just above 1 GB (is working on my System). So temporarily you will have less memory. Can be later fine-tuned if things work. I am not sure if this will conflict with your special memory driver, but don't think so.

Configuration: following must be set (some values will be allready there).

AUTOEXEC.BAT
(.......)
REM C:\%WINDIR%\HDATSR

SYSTEM.INI
(.......)
[386Enh]
(.......)
MaxPhysPage=40000
(.......)

HDACFG.INI
(.......)
[BUSMASTER]
myPCIHI=$4012
myPCILO=$0000
myPCI=$40120000
aPCIHI=$4011
aPCILO=$0000
aPCI=$40110000

[HDA_269A8086,948015D9]
(.......)
Mytimer=0
Verbinterface=$1
wait1=$100
wait2=$100
pcipatchB=$0000
(.......)
SleepingWidget=$02
VolumeWidget=$0C
OutputWidget=$02

[Volume]
PCM=$FFFFFFFF

Back in Windows start HDARUN, click "Loop" (no other buttons!) and try to play a WAV file in Sound Recorder (the slider must be moving). Check behaviour of the "HDA Sound" option, and the DMA address of "Audio for HDA Sound 2017" (as you did in your post of 1 April).

BTW: before closing HDARUN, first close Sound Recorder, then click "Loop" once again and close HDARUN. 

 

[Dave-H]

Sorry for any confusion, but the slider was not moving in the Sound Recorder.
The play button greyed out as expected when pressed, and a static waveform then appeared in the window with some files, but the slider did not move across.
It could be manually dragged and the waveform then displayed, but nothing else.

Now I have made those changes, the slider does move across when I play a file, and shows the playing waveform, but still no actual sound.

"HDA Sound" has returned to the playback settings option.
Here's what "Audio for HDA Sound 2017" now shows.

[Dave-H]

Just booted into Windows 98 again, and the "HDA Sound" playback option had gone again!
It seems to be completely random as to whether it appears or not.
If I go into the Multimedia Properties "Devices" tab and select "Audio for HD Sound 2017" and select its settings and press OK on them, this usually (but not always) returns the option.
After getting it back this time I went to the Sounds Properties again, and found that the test play button was available again.
However, pressing it now pops up this, which I haven't seen before.

Still not a peep from the speakers at all.
Is it actually possible that we're wasting our time here because this driver just doesn't work with this hardware?
Just wondering now!
Has anyone actually had this working with this actual hardware?

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Dave-H
Addition

[deomsh]

@Dave-H: I am sorry to hear that your Sound System is not stable in combination with HDA2.DLL. This problem must be resolved first before we can move on.

If you're afraid wasting your time, better go for another option. In the meantime I have found your motherboard manual; if I'm right you have two normal PCI-slots, so maybe there is a PCI-soundcard that suits your needs.

I think I found the datasheet of your chipset too (needed for step Three) and I am reading it already. So plenty of time to waste

If you'd like to continue, I'd suggest first retesting after commenting out following devices in your SYSTEM.INI:
[386Enh]
;; device=convmem.vxd
;; device=c:\programf\afterdar\adw30.386
;; device=dva.386 (unless you really need DVA.386 ??)
 

[Drivers]
 ;; Adwrap=c:\programf\afterdar\adwrap.drv
 

[Dave-H]

Don't worry, I'm not actually ready to give up yet!

I was just asking the question as to whether this might not actually be an impossible problem to resolve.
If you're confident we can still get there, I'll carry on for as long as it takes.
The complete silence from the hardware on Windows 98, not even the faintest click or pop on startup, did make me lose faith for a moment there!

I well remember exactly the same scenario some years ago trying to get my old motherboard's on-board Ethernet controllers to work in Windows 98, where there were also no normal drivers.
After a huge amount of work with people here, (and an enormously long thread), we got there, using an Intel DOS driver!
Thankfully there are the same Ethernet controllers on the latest motherboard, it was only the audio hardware they changed.

I'll try with the new settings and let you know how it goes.
Thanks again.
Cheers, Dave.

[pangoomis]

Ethernet is much, much easier to deal with than HD Audio/AC'97 so not a fair comparison.

As for HD Audio, even if the Win3.1 driver works, it would require special settings per every PC, and that's not really convenient.

So far, haven't seen it working other than for walter (the author) and deomsh.

@deomsh Does the HD Audio works in games (specifically Direct3D games with some kind of audio acceleration) , and programs? (Audacity and alike)

[deomsh]

@Dave-H: That's the real spirit.  I noticed your NDIS2-driver in your MEM output. Nice project too, I've did one for RTL8189.

I am "confident" in so far, IF it's possible to get "HDA Sound" as stable Playback option it's worth to move on.

In this respect you didn't answered my question yet if you tried in the past a Windows install with SETUP /p i

Regarding the sound of silence it can be worth trying to plug-in your speakers (better use headphones!) one by one in all other available jacks, and listening during boot-time if you hear the slightest "plop" or "click".

[Dave-H]

Well I tried again with the changes made to system.ini, but sad to report that there seems to be no difference.

The "HDA Sound" option still seem to come and go as it pleases, and even when it's there sounds don't play.
In fact now the slider on the Sound Recorder isn't moving across when a file is played any more, and although the test sounds option isn't popping up the error message about the card possibly being in use any more, it's still not producing any sound when a file is played.

I am using @rloew's RAM Limitation Patch 7.0 by the way, just in case this is relevant, but I'm sure you realised that already.

Sorry I completely forgot to respond to the the query about installing  with the SETUP /p i option.
It's so long ago that I last installed Windows 98 that I can't remember if I used that option, but almost certainly no as I would have been installing on what was then a fully compatible system.
I have to say that I'm not too enthusiastic about the thought of reinstalling Windows 98 from scratch again just on the off-chance that it might fix this!
The system as it stands has been so tweaked and customised over the years that it would take forever to get it back to as it was again.
One or more of these tweaks may now be causing this problem of course, but how to eliminate them from blame I really don't know.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Dave-H
Typo