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ESS Solo-1 DOS IRQ Problem

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First post, by appiah4

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I am trying out a Terratec 128 ESS Solo-1 sound card on my K7VM2 mATX motherboard. The board has only 2 PCI slots and Slot 1 is inaccessable due to the VGA cooler. PCI 2 shares IRQ with the AGP and defaults to IRQ 10. I can not change this, apparently, because there is no Plug n Play OS option or IRQ reservation choices in the BIOS. It is VERY limited. I can't even force an ESCD reset. So ESS Solo-1 is stuck at IRQ10.

Now, when I load the DOS drivers for this in TDMA mode (I did not try DDMA, and I suspect that might also work on the KM266 chipset though would it be better?) it finds the card at IRQ10. Here is the funny part, if I set BLASTER to A220 I1 D5 T4, it just.. works? I tried Doom, and it worked at IRQ5. I tried Duke3D and it worked at IRQ5.

So my question is, am I misunderstanding how this thing works? Do the drivers, once loaded, start listening at the IRQ of the SET BLASTER parameter independently from the card's IRQ? Or is it just by chance that I got success with Doom and Duke3D?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 1 of 5, by Kamerat

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I think the ESSOLO.SYS driver can emulate IRQ if it can't change the PCI IRQ to something proper for Sound Blaster. Run MEM /C /P to see if it's loaded as a TSR.

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Reply 2 of 5, by pc-sound-legacy

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"Do the drivers, once loaded, start listening at the IRQ of the SET BLASTER parameter independently from the card's IRQ?" Yes, I think this is it. I have the same behavior with a CMI PCI card. It has another IRQ itself but the DOS driver is listen to IRQ5. I think it is the same with the OPL2/3 ports.

Reply 3 of 5, by appiah4

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pc-sound-legacy wrote on 2021-11-28, 17:24:

"Do the drivers, once loaded, start listening at the IRQ of the SET BLASTER parameter independently from the card's IRQ?" Yes, I think this is it. I have the same behavior with a CMI PCI card. It has another IRQ itself but the DOS driver is listen to IRQ5. I think it is the same with the OPL2/3 ports.

Yeah the drivers seem to be doing some kind of IRQ emulation but it is very hit and miss and locks up in quite a few games. I've found that the Fortemedia FM801 chip is the best in these situations, its driver has nearly perfect IRQ emulation and captures IRQ5 without error, at least in games I've tried so far.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 4 of 5, by pc-sound-legacy

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I have had no issues with the ESS Solo-1, at least on P2/3 boards. And it features GM wavetable in Dos as wel, l if I remember correctly. FM801 sure also is a good choice but they are not so easy to find I guess.

Reply 5 of 5, by appiah4

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pc-sound-legacy wrote on 2021-12-28, 14:30:

I have had no issues with the ESS Solo-1, at least on P2/3 boards. And it features GM wavetable in Dos as wel, l if I remember correctly. FM801 sure also is a good choice but they are not so easy to find I guess.

Yeah, the issues with Solo-1 seem to get out of hand with ICH and later southbridges mostly.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

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