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MediaForte SF256-PCP User Manual

4-channels pci audio board
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SF256-PCP
4-channels PCI Audio Board
User Manual

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Summary of Contents for MediaForte SF256-PCP

  • Page 1 SF256-PCP 4-channels PCI Audio Board User Manual...
  • Page 2 User Manual...

  • Page 3: Read This First

    Read This First The following diagram describes the board layout and the various connectors found on the SF256-PCP PCI sound card: J2 J3 Antenna In * Line In Mic In Front Speaker Rear Speaker Game/MIDI Port Legend Description Auxiliary connector (optional)
  • Page 4 Pins configuration The following shows the pins configuration of jumper J1, J2, J3, J4, J5, and J6: J1, AUX (optional) Pin 1 Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin4 Left Ground Ground Right J2, VIDEO Pin 1 Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin4 Left Ground Ground...
  • Page 5 Setting Up SF256-PCP To install the sound board: 1. Switch off your system and all peripheral devices. 2. Leave the power cable connected to the grounded outlet so that your system is grounded. 3. Touch a metal plate on your system to ground yourself and discharge any static electricity that might damage the components on the board.

  • Page 6: Minimum System Requirements

    Minimum System Requirements Pentium 133MHz CPU Microsoft DirectX version 5 16MB RAM (32MB if using 4MB sound library software wavetable) Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0 Active speakers (connects to the Front speaker jack) Positioning Your Sound Speaker This section decribes how to position two pairs of powered speakers or external amplifier speakers for best surround-sound effect.
  • Page 7 Connecting SF256-PCP to External Devices The SF256-PCP PCI sound board allows you to connect it to several other external devices as shown in the diagram below: FM Dipole Antenna Cassette and CD Player SF256-PCP sound board Microphone (CON5) ANTENNA (CON1) LINE IN...
  • Page 8 The antenna jack connects to a dipole anrenna for proper reception of FM radio signals. The location or orientation of the antenna may be adjusted for optimum reception. This jack is only present on model SF256-PCP-R with built-in FM Radio on board. Game / MIDI Port, CON6...

  • Page 9: Installation Under Windows 95

    Installation Under Windows 95/98 This chapter guides you through the installation of the SF256-PCP PCI sound board under Microsoft Windows 95/98 environment. The installation is divided into two sections : Audio and FM radio (optional feature only available on model SF256-PCP-R).
  • Page 10 5. You will see the SF256-PCF PCI Audio/Game Device detected as shown below: 6. Click Next and Windows will start copying files into your harddrive. 7. Click Finish to complete the installation and reboot your system. User Manual...

  • Page 11: Installation Under Windows Nt

    Installation Under Windows NT 4.0 This chapter guides you through the installation of the SF256-PCP PCI sound board under Microsoft Windows NT4.0 environment. The installation is divided into two sections: Audio and FM radio (optional feature only available on model SF256-PCP-R).
  • Page 12 8. Type D:\NT4 and click OK (where D: is your CD-ROM drive). 9. The following dialog box below will appear: 10. Select SF256-PCP Wave, Mixer, and MIDI and click OK. 11. Reboot your system when prompted. Install Joystick You may install the joystick using the drivers supplied with the Microsoft's Windows NT CD-ROM disk.
  • Page 13 6. Select Unlisted or Updated driver and click OK. 7. Next, insert the Microsoft Windows NT CD-ROM disk and type D:\DRVLIB\MULTIMED\JOYSTICK\x86 (where D: is your CD-ROM drive). 8. Click OK. 9. Select Analog Joystick Driver and click OK. 10. Select any port address 0x0200 or 0x0201 and click OK. 11.
  • Page 14 User Manual...
  • Page 15 Installing Software Application The SF256-PCP PCI sound card is bundled with a few software applications as listed below: Ezaudio AudioRack Application (Win95/98/NT) Yamaha Soft-Synthesizer Application (Win95/98) RadioAKTIV Navigator (Win95/98/NT) - only applicable to model SF256-PCP-R Ignore the installation for RadioAKTIV if your sound card does not have the built-in FM Radio function.
  • Page 16 Auto station scanning is also available in additional to conventional manual tuning. Be sure that you have purchased the model SF256-PCP-R with built-in FM Radio. To install the RadioAKTIV navigator: 1. Insert the SF256-PCP Installation CD into the CD-ROM drive.
  • Page 17 MMX technology. The S-YXG50 transforms your computer into a music synthesizer. To install Yamaha S-YXG50 Application, do the following: 1. Insert the SF256-PCP Installation CD into the CD-ROM drive. 2. Click on the Install Yamaha SoftSynthesizer button. 3. Follow the on screen instruction.
  • Page 18 Note: If the autorun feature is disabled in your system, you may install Yamaha SoftSynthesizer application manually by running the file SETUP.EXE from the directory D:\YAMAHA on the CD. The following interface shows the Yamaha Player: Music / Title display Tempo display Tempo setting Power Switch...

  • Page 19: Specification

    Specification PCI Bus Master Interface q Ensures low system overhead for audio data transfer q Plug-N-Play compatible q 32-bit PCI Bus Master, PCI 2.1 compliant Compatibility q Sound Blaster Pro, Roland MPU401 (UART mode) q Microsoft Direct Sound and MMSystem support q Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 q Microsoft Windows Sound System q Support Adlib Music Synthesizer, Real DOS Sound Blaster...
  • Page 20 Effects Synthesis q Advanced audio effects such as reverb, chorus, flange, echo on all Wave and MIDI playback Digital Audio q Support DirectSound and DirectSound 3D games in Windows 95 and Windows 98. q Record, compress and playback 16-bit digital audio in stereo/mono q <...
  • Page 21 q Enable Reverb supports games taking advantage of Creative’s EAX Environmental Audio Extensions q Select default environment to preset to your personal preference for non-EAX DS3D game titles Analog/Digital Mixer q 7-channels record source and playback mixer with stereo inputs for Line, CD-audio, Music Synthesizer, Auxiliary input, Video input and mono inputs for Phone, PC speaker and Microphone q Selectable mixing of input sources for recording and...
  • Page 22 Digital Tuning FM Radio (on SF256-PCP-R model only) q Frequency range: VHF Band II (88MHz to 108MHz) q 75 ohms dipole antenna to improve reception in PC q User-friendly GUI provides ease of tuning q Alarm and sleep function turn ON/OFF to specific time...

  • Page 23: Faq And Troubleshooting

    What are the Configuration Problems? What are DMA channels and PCI? Example: The SF256-PCP PCI sound card has been functioning fine and well. After adding some new devices to your computer, you are puzzled why it stops working. Sometimes you may experience similar situation when you replace your fax-modem card.
  • Page 24 "Resolving Hardware conflicts under Windows 95/98" on page 5 within this chapter. Understanding SB System Resource SF256-PCP PCI sound card's Legacy Audio refer to SB legacy resource of your sound card and contains the following: 1. Input / Output (I/O) Address 2.
  • Page 25 2. Double-click on the System icon. 3. In the System Properties dialog box, click on the Device Manager tab. 4. Double-click on SF256-PCP Legacy component, and then double-click on the Resource tab. You can use the information in the resource list to help you to configure MS-DOS games using your sound card.
  • Page 26 The resource list shows three I/O address range entries, one DMA entry and one IRQ entry. Some old games have difficulty detecting the PCI audio card at certain resource settings. as the game developer expects the PCI card to be fixed at a set of resources and would fail to load if those resources are not detected.
  • Page 27 Resolving Hardware Conflicts under Windows 95/98 Resolve hardware conflict using automatic settings: 1. Click on the Start button, select Setting and click on Control Panel. 2. Double-click on the System icon. 3. In the System Properties dialog box, click on the Device Manager tab.
  • Page 28 What are DMA Channels and PCI? Under Windows 9x, the SF256-PCP PCI Sound card is capable of full duplex audio. This means that the card can playback WAV file and record another WAV file concurrently. With the PCI bus, full duplex is possible without any DMA channels.
  • Page 29 What should I do if I have problem with playing games? Make sure that you have the game set up in a music option that the SF256-PCP PCI sound card supports i.e. use SF256-PCP Internal FM in the Multimedia properties' MIDI tab. If your game takes advantage of DirectX or DirectSound be sure that you have the latest DirectX installed.
  • Page 30 Can I install two sound cards? Having another sound card in your system in addition to the SF256-PCP PCI Sound card will greatly increase the chances of having system conflicts. We highly recommended that any other sound devices and their associated Windows drivers be removed before installing the SF256-PCP PCI Sound card.
  • Page 31 Why are some of the Windows Multimedia Components (i.e. Media Player) are missing? If you install the SF256-PCP PCI sound card after Windows 9x is installed, Windows will not install the sound utilities that you would expect to find. Features such as the Audio CODEC, the Media Player, and the Microsoft Mixer may not be present.
  • Page 32 Another way to save one IRQ is to make the BIOS assign IRQ5 or IRQ7 or IRQ9 to SF256-PCP PCI Audio. This way, ISA legacy audio can also be supportd via SF256-PCP PCI Audio. Please refer to the BIOS user manual of your motherboard to see the details on how to allocate the IRQ to PCI slots.
  • Page 33 Refer Chapter 2 Setting Up SF256-PCP Sound Board to check on the speakers connection. 3. To eliminate the possibility of a bad cable, try plugging a pair of high impedance headphones to the SF256-PCP PCI sound card's Front Speaker jack or Rear Speaker jack and see if you can hear any sound.
  • Page 34 How do I change volume and balance levels under Windows 9x? To make adjustments to SF256-PCP PCI sound card's volume settings and balance levels, use the EzAudio Rack Mixer. The Install Wizard adds the EzAudio icon to your taskbar. Click on the EzAudio icon and the EzAudio Rack pop-up on the screen.
  • Page 35 My microphone recording is soft, or with distortion, or not at all? For ease of installation, we recommend that you use a dynamic microphone. These require the least amount of setup. Do the following to ensure that your software is set up correctly: 1.
  • Page 36 Experience choppiness in Netmeeting or InternetPhone or other 3rd party conferencing software when you do video conferencing. If you experience choppiness in Netmeeting or Internet Phone, the followings may be the possible cause: 1. Check the modem connection. You need to check whether your modem connection speed has dropped, or the modem connection speed at the other end may be low.
  • Page 37 In Windows 9x, the installation does not Auto-run after the CD-ROM is inserted. 1. Double-click on the My Computer icon on your Windows desktop. 2. In the My Computer window, right-click on the CD-ROM drive icon. 3. On the shortcut menu, click AutoPlay and follow the on-screen instruction.
  • Page 38 If there is an error message No Radio Card detected, then it means that wrong version of the RadioAKTIV navigator installed, or you have purchased the SF256-PCP PCI sound card without radio feature. The radio feature is only available on model SF256-PCP-R.
  • Page 39 Remove button. 5. The uninstallation of driver will take place. Reboot your system before re-installing the RadioAKTIV navigator. 6. After restarting Windows, insert the SF256-PCP Installation CD into your CD-ROM drive. 7. Click on the Install RadioAKTIV Navigator button to begin installation.
  • Page 44 Part Number: MAN-PCP Printed in Singapore...