Customer Service FAQ

We've gathered together some common support questions

General Windows Questions

Running Score in Windows NT, 2000 or XP

Running Score in Windows Vista

Can I run Score in Linux?

Difficulties running Score in Windows 95 or 98

Soundcard problems

Is there a Windows version of Score?

General Windows Questions

Q1. Windows has crashed or hung on me, what do I do?

A1. Don't panic. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. Try typing ctrl+alt+del. If you haven't completely hung, the task manager should come up with a list of running tasks. If one shows (unresponding), click on it, then on the End Task button. You may lose any unsaved changes - you probably already did! If it still doesn't return to normal after ending all the unresponsive tasks, choose Shutdown instead. Then restart the computer.

If there is no response at all of any kind. Turn the computer off. You may have to hold the power button for 4 seconds before it shuts off. Leave it for 30 seconds before restarting just to clear all memory.

Q2. On restarting, I get a blue screen, saying that I didn't shut down properly and it's running Scan Disk

A1. Well, you didn't, but everything should be OK. Scan Disk should verify this, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Pay attention to any errors that are reported during the scan and note them down. If you system continues to have problems, you will need to give this information to your support engineer.

Running Score in Windows NT, 2000, or XP

Q1. Can I run Score in Windows NT?

A1. Yes, but midi features won't work.

Q2. I've installed Score, but the mouse doesn't work.

A2. Change the Midi IRQ setting in Pref-4.scr to something other than 2/9.

Running Score in Windows Vista

Q1. Can I run Score in Windows Vista?

A1. Yes, but it isn’t straightforward. In a very few cases on 32-bit systems with Intel Mobile Pentium CPU’s, you may be able to run Score natively from a Command Prompt. More likely, you will need to install the open source package Dosbox, which will emulate a 16-bit Dos environment. There are still some problems and midi won’t work, but you can still use the system.

Q2. I've installed Score, but the mouse doesn't work.

A2. Change the Midi IRQ setting in Pref-4.scr to something other than 2/9.

Can I run Score in Linux?

Yes, but again you will need to use Dosbox. Some have successfully used Dosemu to run Score, one reportedly even with functioning midi, but we haven’t duplicated that in house. See the Scoreboard for details.

Difficulties running Score in Windows 95 or 98

Q1. I've just bought a new computer and installed Score according to the instructions in the manual. I get the message: "Program too big to fit in memory" in a DOS box or a similar message from Windows.

A1. By default Windows 95 does not install an extended memory device for DOS when loading. It tries to do this dynamically as you work, but sometimes needs help. If you put the following lines at the beginning of your C:\CONFIG.SYS file using EDIT, SYSEDIT or NOTEPAD, you should have enough conventional memory left to run score.

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS

DOS=UMB

DOS=HIGH

Q2. I've done the above, but MEM reports less that the required 585K of conventional memory available to programs.

A2. This is a bit of a gray area. First, at the C:> prompt type MEM /C /P to get a listing of running programes and devices in DOS memory. Then EDIT CONFIG.SYS again, and replace DEVICE with DEVICEHIGH wherever it appears, except in the lines in A1. For example:

DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE

DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)

Similarly, in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file you can put LH at the beginning of any line that has an EXE (executeable) file in it. For example:

LH C:\ULTRASND\ULTRINIT.EXE -dj

Again, at the C:> prompt type MEM /C /P to get a listing of running programes and devices in DOS memory. You should now have more available conventional memory because more devices are running in upper memory. (Their memory allocation will appear in the right hand column.)

Q3. I've done A1 and A2, but still not enough memory.

A4. Now it gets trickier. If you don't play and CDROM DOS games you can remark (REM) out the DOS CDROM driver, usually:

REM LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE

or something similar.

Q4. Done all that. Still no joy.

A4. Hmm... now it gets really complicated. This probably means you have Drivespaced your hard drive. Try changing the order in which your devices load. Smallest to largest and variations thereof. This is really a bit hit and miss. You might also try not loading some devices high, especially DRVSPACE. On one computer, I couldn't get DRVSPACE to load high until I removed HIGH from the DEVICE command, and voila it loaded high and I had enough memory to load SCORE.

Q5. Score is running, but now I can't get my midi card to work.

A5. If you have both a midi card and a sound card, you may find either an IRQ conflict or an address conflict. Typically, sound cards use IRQ 5 for midi and IRQ 10 for the CDROM 2 to 4 different port addresses. If you use a Soundblaster card, you can get a universal 15-pin to midi adapter and get the midi using the sound card on its midi IRQ (usually 5). Set Score to use the same IRQ as the midi on the card, and make sure that the Soundblaster uses the 330 port address (see below). If you still want to use the separate midi card you will probably need to set it to IRQ 2 or 9 (and change the IRQ setting in PREF.SCR) provided there is no other conflict. (Plug and play motherboards with Windows 95 tend to not like the conflict with LPT1 if you use IRQ 7, though this is still my preferred option for Windows 3.1.)

You can check for conflicts using the CONTROL PANEL -- SYSTEM -- DEVICE MANAGER for your midi card and your sound card (properties-resources tab).

To solve address conflicts try changing the sound card configuration to one which does not use the 330 address space, and set the midi card to use 330 - the only one which Score will recognise. Otherwise you may have to set the address on the sound card manually - change 330 to 300 or 340.

If you have several internal devices that use IRQ's you may find that there aren't any available. In this case, get an expert to help you set up another hardware profile which disables another device to leave a free IRQ to use with your midi card.

Soundcard problems

Q1. Why can't I get any midi in Score?

A1. If you have a PCI soundcard, you won't be able to. If you have a stand-alone midi card, make sure your midi cables are plugged in correctly: OUT to IN, IN to OUT on each end. If they are correctly attached compare the IRQ settings as in Difficulties, Q5 above.

Q2. (I don't use Score and) I'm getting truncated sounds or intermittent weird noises from my Emu Audio Production Studio.

A2. There may be a conflict with your card and your chipset drivers (likely to be VIA), contact your manufacturer for a more recent driver. 

Is there a Windows Version of Score?

Yes, but it is still in testing and is only available to current users of Score v4 or v3.11. See the Scoreboard for more information.