VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Need help with sound on a dell inspirion 8100

Topic actions

First post, by Unite

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi, first post so let me begin by saying hello.

I picked up an old dell inspiring 8100 yesterday for some classic dos and windows gaming. Spent last night installing windows 98 which is fine but I'm having some issues with the sound.

The laptop has an ESS Maestro PCI Audio (WDM) device. In windows the sound is mostly fine but I get no cd audio which seems weird. In dos only sound effects work, there is no music or sometimes it causes the game to crash. Doom and duke3d for example run with sound effects only were the likes of screamer 2 just crashes with dos error 2002. Strangely the screamer 2 setup program works fine and plays sound on the test but the game crashes.

Any idea on how I can get sound working?

Last edited by Unite on 2018-02-28, 12:14. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 3, by Unite

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Well I've fixed my cd audio problem. Seems it's was just a software issue and the crap bundled cd player with windows didn't like playing from the 2nd cd drive. Winamp though works fine.

Dos games though..... I've added set blaster to autoexec.bat but no joy.

Would be grateful of any help.

Reply 2 of 3, by Unite

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Well I got it sorted, sort of... The ESS sound chip doesn't support sound blaster in terms of FM synth but selecting general midi or MPU-401 in game settings does work. Only issue are those games that don't give you a separate option for sound effects and music such as screamer 2. Unfortunately here there is no option to get the game running even with just sound effects.

Reply 3 of 3, by JidaiGeki

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Hey unite, welcome to vogons!

I've got the same laptop, but haven't yet gotten to testing it out, still need a power adapter ... However, others here have written about the usefulness of the Maestro 3 chipset in DOS - Laptop ESS Maestro 3i - DOS drivers - looks like it's the same as your experience.

Any tips or links you have would be welcome too!

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window