> configure I/O, IRQ, DMA etc? As a kid I had no understanding of what these things were so I always tried random values until the sound worked without distorti

> configure I/O, IRQ, DMA etc? As a kid I had no understanding of what these things were so I always tried random values until the sound worked without distortion I got my start in the Win9x days. I cannot begin to describe how confusing it was (with no knowledge of PC computing history) to have sound working perfectly in Windows, only to start a game where sound would not work. Only to be greeted with a settings menu with hundreds of possible sound configuration options with no clue what to try to get sound work. If I actually got my start in the old 386 PC days, opening the case, reading the brand of sound card and looking at jumper settings would have been a start. But with some "ESS" sound chips not listed anywhere, no jumpers showing the settings, etc., it was a complete black box. Didn't have internet access to go to and research computer problems in those days, and I had no technically knowledgeable friends... Windows Help system was of no help, and it could be a considerable time sink with its terrible search function finding tons of irrelevant hits. Game documentation rarely provided clues. The way forward at the time would have been to buy one of the many non-distinct books on computers available on store shelves.