PC Compatibility Card - GIMO no sound troubleshooting

[jessenator]

So for the most part I've got everything working with the PC compatibility cards that I've accumulated, save the sound aspect.

The kit I recently purchased came with the relatively rare GIMO connector, which is supposed to integrate audio as well as video connection to and from the card and the Mac motherboard with a single connector. Having gone through the steps of setup, and everything is working fine (sidenote, I had to find an old ISO of the SoundBlaster vibra 16 driver to get the driver itself to recognize the hardware on the 12" card), but with the GIMO connection by itself, I get no sound output at all.

Per the instructions, you're supposed to set sound monitoring source in the control panel to CD, but nothing. I also tried the Sound In option, which of course doesn't work because it's looking to the input audio jack. Then I decided to disconnect the GIMO and use the audio cables that go into the CD Audio in on the motherboard, and bam, I've got sound! ...with caveats*.

I did a fresh install of everything, with v. 1.6.4 of the PC Compatibility tools on both sides (running OS 7.6.1) and also tried an install of 8.1, and a fresh install of v1.6.4 of the software, and attempted to update to v2.0, with it only being successful on the mac side.
I'm tempted to go back to 7.5.3 just to do it all as it was on the original Mac OS version it was meant for, but i don't want to.

*Additionally, I wonder if this is a hardware limitation of the SoundBlaster on these cards, but there is no 4-OP FM generator on it. While plugged into the CD audio input, there is digital audio (I'm playing Dark Forces for reference), 


Anyhow, if anyone has any insights, I'd be much appreciative. Thanks.

 

[NJRoadfan]

The Vibra 16 should have OPL3 FM sound onboard. DOS software should detect it at 388h (standard Adlib hardware port for OPL2/3).

 

[jessenator]

Heh, I should've updated this. For some reason the Win95 install I tried didn't install jack, including the volume mixer—the MIDI levels were nearly 0 it turns out, but without that particular component installed, it was just REEAly quiet. Installed windows 98 and it auto-detected most everything, as well as installed most everything, so I didn't need any of the supplied drivers (on the Windows side) post-DOS drivers like CD-ROM, etc. Also I was able to balance all the audio as well, so the sound card portion is perfectly fine.

Still no audio at all from the GIMO-only configuration, however.

I'll keep trying.

 

[jessenator]

Update I'm up and running on Windows 98. I also decided to update to the 2.1.7 (third party) drivers.

Well, I definitely get a video signal routed into the internal monitor-out while using the GIMO card/ribbon connector, but I still don't have an option to select another monitoring source, on the MacOS side, other than CD-audio, so I have to keep the audio connected from CD—>SBlaster—>Motherboard to get any sound.

Also, another weird quirk I'm discovering is that on the Windows side, it only shows 640x480 as selectable despite that the ATi Mach64 is more than capable of supporting more. I'm hopign that's a driver thing.

And related to resolution, when my Mac side is set to anything larger than 640x480 when the PC launches, the mouse goes bonkers and I can't do anything. I have to set the Mac's resolution to 640x480 before launching the PC at all.

Thirdly, since I'm making this list up as I go, does anybody have a non-corrupted .EXE of the PC Compatibility 2.1.7 (third party) drivers for the windows side? Or was it because I unzipped the .ZIP containing the .EXE installer on my OS X 10.4.11 side then copying it that's causing problems?

Fourth, unrelated, but I think my replaced floppy drive in the 4400 has crapped the bed, so now I'm out 2x manual-inject drives >