Forum Rules - Formats - Spotlights  -  Home - Library - New Additions

MCI device drivers, Windows 3.1.

TwiggyTwiggy
edited April 2017 in Software
I installed the display drivers provided by Toshiba for my specific system (the t2100) under windows 3.1.

Works great, instead of 16 colours at 640x480, it now runs in 256 colors, at 800x640.

However, when I open media player it says no MCI device drivers are installed, the laptop does not have a built in sound card, so unless I get the pc speaker driver, I know I cannot play sound, but I should be able to play video, al bet it without the sound.

Anyone know what's wrong, or where I can get the appropriate drivers?

Comments

  • BigCJBigCJ
    Google says it's a no sound driver error. Snag the PC speaker driver from the Library and it might fix it.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    BigCJ wrote:
    Google says it's a no sound driver error. Snag the PC speaker driver from the Library and it might fix it.

    Yeah it probably, is, however when I close the message, it also closes media player. What if I need to watch a video and do not care about sound?

    I'm going to install the driver but still, shouldn't close the program.
  • BigCJBigCJ
    Doesn't matter. Old Windows was kinda retarded that way, all or nothing. I don't know if the PC speaker driver will fix the problem, and I'm totally unaware of any "dummy" drivers that will allow the video to play without a real sound device. Didn't they come out with external sound cards that hooked up to the parallel or serial port?
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    BigCJ wrote:
    Doesn't matter. Old Windows was kinda retarded that way, all or nothing. I don't know if the PC speaker driver will fix the problem, and I'm totally unaware of any "dummy" drivers that will allow the video to play without a real sound device. Didn't they come out with external sound cards that hooked up to the parallel or serial port?

    the port replicator I bought takes care of sound, but it just is not here yet.
  • BigCJBigCJ
    Unless the PC speaker driver fixes it, or you can find a "dummy" driver to emulate an MCI device, your best bet would be to wait for the port replicator/sound doohickey.

    How's that supposed to work?

    There's some stuff that never wants to work properly under Win3.11. I remember WinPlay3 never played nice no matter what I did.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    BigCJ wrote:
    Unless the PC speaker driver fixes it, or you can find a "dummy" driver to emulate an MCI device, your best bet would be to wait for the port replicator/sound doohickey.

    How's that supposed to work?

    There's some stuff that never wants to work properly under Win3.11. I remember WinPlay3 never played nice no matter what I did.

    Not sure, but it has line in and out, as well as a volume adjusting wheel, so I assume it has a sound device built in.
  • BigCJBigCJ
    You may want to look up how to configure this thing to be ready when it arrives. It would be a real plus if it's a SoundBlaster compatible device. Almost everything worked with SB cards and compatibles.
  • thinkpadmanthinkpadman
    popeyewinter wrote:
    Not sure, but it has line in and out, as well as a volume adjusting wheel, so I assume it has a sound device built in.

    A port replicator is simply to connect multiple devices into (i.e. external monitor, keyboard, etc.) Just because it has a sound port, it still relies on the laptop to be capable of sound regardless.

    With the regards to the error message in Media Player yes it's going to come up with that message regardless of whether you had Windows in VGA mode, or your improved 800x600 resolution. The PC speaker driver should resolve that as Windows will allow WAV files to play then, though admittedly haven't tried video files. I'd suggest loading up Video for Windows - that will allow at least AVI files to play. Playing video on old machines wasn't something I'd had bothered considered much is in MP4 and in 720 or 1080p. It was still a time when WAV, MIDI, and AVI files were arguably the most popular for multimedia on Windows.

    There were some but not many external sound cards available, one was called a Disney Sound Source that was plugged in via parallel cable. There wasn't any such thing as a "dummy" sound driver. The closest "dummy" driver I've seen in Microsoft's loop-back network adapter.
  • BigCJBigCJ
    Honestly, the only reason I suggested he search for a dummy driver is because I figured one might exist. Never needed to use one before, but thought something like that may exist because of problems like OP's.

    popeyewinter, old formats like WAV and AVI for Win3.1 are typically big on file size and small on quality. What kind of videos are you planning on watching anyway? Severely pixelated video and non-existent sound don't provide the best viewing experience.
  • TwiggyTwiggy
    all these addons (the port replicator whith shipping alone and CAD to USD conversion is $100 alone) is going to cost me more than a desktop from that time.

    Since I'm gonna be using it as a desktop anyway, maybe I should just buy a desktop instead?
Sign In or Register to comment.