Multimedia: General MIDI Troubleshooting In Windows 3.x

MORE INFORMATION

Using Media Player as a Diagnostic Tool

1. Double-click the Media Player icon (usually found in the Accessories program group in Program Manager).
2. From the Device menu, choose MIDI Sequencer.
3. Double-click the Canyon.mid file listed in the Files box.
   
   NOTE: Canyon.mid is located in the Windows directory.
4. Click the Play button.
   
   NOTE: The Play button contains a triangle that points to the right, and a vertical bar.

Making Sure the Sound Card Is Properly Installed

1. Determine if the sound card can generate sounds from MS-DOS. Most sound card manufacturers provide programs for playing sounds and testing for problems with the sound card configuration. If the testing tools do not work, the Windows sound support fails.
   
   NOTE: Sound cards that fail to work at the MS-DOS environment level cannot be expected to work from within Microsoft Windows.
2. Make sure the sound card does not conflict with other hardware installed on the system (such as Base I/O Address, IRQ, or DMA Channel settings).
   
   NOTE: If the sound card supports digitized sound and wave (.wav) files, and .wav files can be played, the card is properly installed.

The Sound File Appears to Be Playing, But No Sounds Are Heard

The type of symptom described is usually caused by one of the following:

• The speakers are not turned on or are not connected correctly.
• The mixer control is not turned up for MIDI playback.
• The MIDI Sequencer is not installed.
• The MIDI Mapper is configured incorrectly.

Check the Speakers and Mixer Controls

1. Is there any sound when Windows starts? Do .wav files play when using Media Player?
   
   From the Device menu, choose Sound and play any file with a .wav extension.
   
   NOTE: This test will demonstrate properly installed speakers.
2. Check the Mixer settings.

Refer to the sound card manufacturer's user's guide for a discussion on MIDI playback while within Windows. Most sound cards use individual controls for the different types of sounds the card can play.

Verify the MIDI Sequencer Driver is Installed

1. Double-click the Control Panel icon. Control Panel is usually located in the Main program group in Program Manager.
2. Double-click the Drivers icon.
3. In the Installed Drivers list, verify that the entry exists for:

         [MCI] MIDI Sequencer
   						

4. If the driver is missing from the Installed Drivers list, choose the Add button.
5. Select [MCI] MIDI Sequencer and choose OK.
   
   If the driver is already installed on the system, the following message appears:
   The required mciseq.drv is already on the system. Do you want to use the current driver or install a new driver.
   Choose New and insert the disk being requested.
6. When you are returned to the Drivers dialog box, choose Close.

Checking the MIDI Mapper Configuration

1. Double-click the Control Panel icon. Control Panel is usually located in the Main program group in Program Manager.
2. Double-click the MIDI Mapper icon. If the MIDI Mapper icon is not present, this indicates that no MIDI-compatible driver is installed. Before proceeding, you must correct this problem by installing a MIDI-compatible driver using the Drivers application within the Control Panel.
   
   NOTE: Write down the name listed in the Name field so you have it for reference.
3. Choose the New button.
4. In the new MIDI Setup dialog box, type a name in the Name field and choose OK. The Description field can be left blank.
   
   NOTE: For testing purposes, the name can be anything. For example, you could type "mymidi" or "test" (without the quotation marks).
5. A MIDI Setup: '<NEW NAME>' dialog box appears (where <NEW NAME> is the name you used in step 4). For Basic MIDI, change the Port Name to the 'FM' or 'Synth' driver if one is listed.
   
   To change the driver, choose the word None. When the down arrow appears, select it to reveal your choices.
   
   Avoid choices that have OUT listed somewhere in the line. For example:

       - MIDI OUT
       - FM OUT
   						

   The choices listed depend on the sound card installed:
   
   
   • "Voyetra OPL3 FM Synth" is common for Media Vision cards
   • "Super Sapi Voyetra FM" is common for the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 cards
6. If no selections are available in the MIDI Mapper Port Name section, see your sound card user's guide or contact the sound card manufacturer. The sound card manufacturer is responsible for installation and playback of MIDI files from within a Windows environment.

Other Problems Preventing MIDI from Playing

The following are other situations that prevent MIDI playing:

• Norton Desktop for Windows 1.0 is installed
• You have upgraded from Multimedia Extensions version 1.0 and your previous MIDI Mapper configuration file has been renamed to Midimap.old. See C:\Windows\Readme.wri, section 7.0, for more information.

Manually Checking for MIDI Driver Files, Placement of Driver Files,

and File Modifications

1. The files listed should all reside in the C:\Windows\System subdirectory (where drive C is your hard drive and Windows is your Windows directory or folder).
   
   The installed MIDI driver filename can vary depending upon the sound card installed. Some examples for the Media Vision sound card are:

       - Opl3fm.drv
       - Mvproaud.drv
   						

   Examples of Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound card are:

       - Sndblst2.drv
       - Sbpfm.drv
       - Sb16snd.drv
   						

The drivers and settings listed below are based on the Media Vision ProAudio Spectrum sound card. The driver name from Media Vision are followed by an asterisk *. Refer to your sound card user's guide or contact the sound card manufacturer if you are not sure about the names and placement of drivers.

• Mciseq.drv
• Midimap.drv
• Timer.drv
• Opl3fm.drv *

All of the files listed below are in the WINDOWS directory.

Entries in System.ini

[boot]
sound.drv=mmsound.drv
drivers=mmsystem.dll

[drivers]
midimapper=midimap.drv
Timer=timer.drv
MIDI=opl3.drv *

[mci]
Sequencer=mciseq.drv
WaveAudio=mciwave.drv
				

Entries in Win.ini

[mci extensions]
mid=sequencer
				

Entries in Control.ini

[drivers.desc]
mciseq.drv=[MCI] MIDI Sequencer
midimap.drv=MIDI Mapper
opl3.drv=Voyetra/Media Vision OPL3 Stereo FM Driver *
timer.drv=Timer

[userinstallable.drivers]
MIDI=opl3.drv *
Timer=timer.drv

[related.desc]
MIDI=
Timer=
				

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