Configuring a multi-Pulsar PC

Submitted by: Subhuman (www.innerverse.com)
Date: December 4, 2000

PROBLEM: With more than one Creamware card, you can't load more than about 50% DSP (the limit of just one card) without getting a No more STDM Connections from board 1 to board 0 error.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK (so don't try it!):

I installed the most-up-to-date driver I had and tried many various IRQ combinations (shared on 5, one on 5, one on 9, etc). I tried just 2 cards at first, various ribbon directions, and different combinations of 2 out of my 3 cards. I tried reapplying the 2.01 patch over top of my 1.32 FULL -2.01 UPDATE install. None of this worked, so don't try any of it =)

SOLUTION
(What works for me on ASUS CUSL2 Motherboard (and probably others)):

1. Force everything to IRQ5, with nothing else on the same IRQ but your Pulsars and perhaps PCI Steering. (other IRQs might work as well). What I did finally was force both cards to IRQ 5 in my ASUS CUSL2 bios (slots 1/5 [shared] to IRQ 5). Plug and Play OS is ON in the BIOS as well.

2. Clean Remove: Then, I followed the "Remove Pulsar" description from Page 29 of the Installation Guide [From within Pulsar select: Pulsar2 Manual-Support -Page 29, "Deinstalling Pulsar Program Software and Drivers"] In short:

-- Click on START -Programs -Pulsar -Uninstall. [Automatic]
-- Delete C:\Windows\Inf\Pulsar.Inf (or Scope.Inf or Pulsar2.Inf)
-- Delete C:\Windows\Inf\Other\Creamware*.inf
-- Delete C:\Windows\System\Scope.Drv
-- Delete C:\Windows\System\Vaxed.VXD (Not responsible for broken stuff... this is from the manual, be sure to verify yourself)

3. I then rebooted my machine, and proceeded with a 2.01 FULL CD install (thanks GITM, "log/pass pulsar/pulsar - ftp.808multimedia.com - port 8021 - busy server so maybe slow....") which I was able to pull down at about 30K/sec via Cable Modem, or get it free from your Creamware Dealer on CDROM). Rebooted Machine again once complete.

4. Everything works perfectly, I can load my DSP meter to max. Feeling confident, I slipped the 3rd Pulsar into slot 2, and forced it to IRQ 5 as well, went back into WindowsME (which auto-found and auto-installed the driver), and was able to immediately load Pulsar and fill ALL 12 DSP chips. > Hope this helps someone. It's actually a pretty easy procedure once you know what to do.

Additional Notes:

1. When windows Detected my Pulsars (New Multimedia Device), I pointed it to the extracted FULL 2.01 install directory to get the drivers.

2. STDM Cable direction doesn't matter (says so in the manual).

3. Creamware STDM cables reach a 3 Pulsar setup with Pulsars in Slots 1, 2, and 5 (highly suggested as your CW slots if using a CUSL2 motherboard). No problems, it's not even super stretched.