Defective Parallel Port Card May Cause .WAV Sounds to Repeat

• Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11
• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups versions 3.1, 3.11

SYMPTOMS

When you play a .WAV file on a Sound Blaster 2.0 sound card (or a compatible card, such as Media Concepts), repeating sounds may occur.

CAUSE

If the driver settings for the sound card are known to be correct but .WAV sounds still repeat, the problem may be caused by a defective parallel port card.

If the repeating sound occurs after the sound card has been used several times, a defective parallel port card is a likely cause. With a defective parallel card, the IRQ conflict arises because the interrupt lines are locked by the defective card so that the controller cannot correctly receive interrupt signals from the sound card. Other peripherals (such as serial ports) may be affected as well. The defect shows as an inability to properly use devices that require interrupt control (for example, modems) under Windows 3.1.

NOTE: The interrupt settings on the parallel port card do not have to be the same as the Sound Blaster settings for this problem to occur. The defective parallel port card may or may not affect Sound Blaster from an MS-DOS-based program.

The same repeating sound problem occurs when the sound card interrupt setting and the interrupt chosen when setting up the sound card driver in Windows 3.1 are not the same.