Lab 8.4: Installing a Sound Card in a DOS System

Sound cards are used to convert electronic signals into electrical signals that a speaker can convert into sound. This lab presents the process of installing a sound card in a DOS computer. Sound cards tend to be difficult to configure because they often produce resource conflicts with other hardware devices. These conflicts often cause other peripherals to malfunction.

Upon completion of this lab, you will be able to install a sound card in a DOS system.

Set Up

For this exercise, you will need:

• A working DOS system

• A sound card and its DOS driver

• An audio CD-ROM disk

• An audio cable for the CD-ROM drive

• A speaker

• A DOS utility disk

Exercise

In this lab, you will determine which IRQs (interrupt requests) are available for new devices, set the sound card jumpers to an available IRQ, install the sound card, and then configure the system by installing a sound card driver.

Installing the Sound Card

To install the sound card, follow these steps:

1. Boot the computer and run the MSD utility to display the IRQ assignments:

   C:\>MSD 

2. Set the IRQ jumper on the sound card to an unused IRQ. Some Plug-and-Play sound cards may not have jumpers, and the sound card driver software assigns the IRQ automatically.

3. Disconnect all cables from the back of the computer.

4. Remove the computer cover.

5. Route the audio cable through the CD-ROM drive bay and attach it to the CD-ROM drive.

6. Insert the sound card into an expansion slot and attach the audio cable to the sound card.

   Tip

   Do not move the CD-ROM data cable to the sound card if it has a CD-ROM drive interface. Doing so will change the master/slave status of both the hard drive and the CD-ROM drive.

7. Close the cover, reattach the cables to the back of the computer, and reboot.

8. Insert the sound card driver disk into drive A: and enter SETUP at the A: prompt to install the sound card driver:

   A:\>SETUP 

9. Follow the prompts and reboot the computer.

10. To test the sound card, attach a speaker, insert an audio CD-ROM disk, and access the disk. The following command assumes that drive D: is the CD-ROM drive:

    C:\>D: 

11. If you can hear the sounds produced by the computer, the sound card is operational. If you can’t hear the sounds, check for resource conflicts.