Member Avatar for Kamex

My brother just built my Mom a new computer, and I am in charge of setting up the software for it, as my Mom wants to duel-boot 98SE and XP. XP and 98 are both installed at this point, and I'm trying to get the drivers working for 98. Unfortunatly, the following error appears in the DOS prompt during startup before the gui appears after I installed the sound driver.

VORTEX ERROR #6: SOUND BLASTER EMULATION DISABLED IN WINDOWS, DRIVER NOT LOADED

After this occures, the gui boots, but before the start menu appears, a dialogue box comes up displaying the following text:

Your TBS Montego II adapter is not plugged into the Primary PCI bus. The MPU401, Joystick, Modem, and Sound Blaster capabilities may not work when on a Secondary PCI Bus. Please Consult your User's Manual for more details. Do you want this message displayed in the future?

Unfortunatly, we no longer have the manual, so I was hoping I could get some help here. Although I know dead nothing about hardware, the phrase "plugged in" suggests to me that this is a hardware problem. My brother insists this is not so, and he actually got quite angry when I suggested that he might not have put the computer together properly. He refused to even look at the error, so it looks like I'm on my own.

Be it a hardware or software problem, my Mom needs her Sound Blaster emulation to work because she plays several DOS games (hence the reason for the duel-boot in the first place). Any help is great appreciated. :)

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Brief expert note: the TBS Montego II family is an Aureal Vortex–based PCI sound card, and the Vortex drivers include a hardware/slot check that will refuse to enable Sound Blaster (DOS) emulation when the card is discovered on a non‑primary PCI bus. That check is what causes the DOS “Error #6” and the popup about “Primary/Secondary PCI bus” seen in the thread. (en.wikipedia.org)

Practical, ordered troubleshooting (non‑destructive first). Motherboards divide PCI slots into groups (primary vs. secondary); which physical slots are on the primary group depends on the board. The simplest, fastest test is to power the PC off, unplug it, and reseat the Montego II in a different free PCI slot (use the slot numbered closest to the CPU/AGP on many boards or any slot labelled PCI1/PCI2). The Montego II manual has the usual installation notes and bracket/slot guidance if the card is large or uses a breakout bracket. (manualzilla.com)

If moving slots doesn’t restore DOS/SB emulation, try software workarounds next. Several users found better results with generic Aureal AU8830/Vortex drivers (different OEM packages behaved differently), or by selectively loading the DOS Vortex TSR only when a pure‑DOS session is needed (the DOS TSR AU30DOS.COM is where the “Error #6” originates in many reports). Using a different driver package or delaying the DOS TSR can restore SB emulation for DOS games on some motherboards. (flaterco.com)

Context tying back to the thread: correctly explained the primary/secondary slot concept; ’s suggestion (run games from XP/DOSBox) is a practical fallback if hardware or drivers can’t be made to behave; ’s situation fits the common Vortex/Montego behavior above. Safe handling note: always remove power and ground yourself before moving expansion cards.

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

OH hell! Ditch the whole approach is my suggestion! Use Windows XP and run the games from there!

Check this article out for assistance with doing so.


If you really want to persist with the dual-boot, it sounds like you'll need to shift the soundcard to a different slot, or perhaps even replace it with a more well-behaved one to do what you describe.

Member Avatar for DMR

Your TBS Montego II adapter is not plugged into the Primary PCI bus... Unfortunatly, we no longer have the manual, so I was hoping I could get some help here. Although I know dead nothing about hardware, the phrase "plugged in" suggests to me that this is a hardware problem.

If you can give us the exact make & model of your motherboard (open the computer's case and look for that info stamped on the motherboard if necessary), I can probably give you info specific to your particular computer.

In general though, here's the basic (and I do mean basic) deal with the message you're getting:

Current computers/motherboards (both PCs and Macs) have more than one PCI bus/channel, regardless of the actual number of PCI slots provided on the motherboard.

How the slots are actually electrically split/divided beteween channels depends on the mobo in question, but it is often necessary to install certain PCI cards in slots on the Primary PCI channel. On a PC, the slots which are wired to the Primary PCI channel are usually those closest to the AGP video slot, although this is not always the case; it does depend on the construction of the particular mobo in question.

If you have your sound card installed in one of the lower (that is, further away from the AGP video slot or CPU), try moving it to one of slots closer to the above components. One note though- the AGP video slot oftem shares resources with one of the slots on the Primary PCI slot. The PCI slot in question is often the slot closest to the AGP slot, but again- that really depends on hte particular motherboard make/model.

My brother insists this is not so, and he actually got quite angry when I suggested that he might not have put the computer together properly. He refused to even look at the error...

Mmm, yes- people who "know everything about computers" often react that way when something comes up which might even hint at the fact that they really don't, but... let's leave that possible ego damage out of the equation for now. :mrgreen:

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