Did you test the es1868 and als100 in some other build?
If they don't make any sound there too then it's your speakers killing the output drivers of the cards when the ground connection between PC and speakers is disrupted for any reason (bad contact in audio jack, broken audio cable).

Are you saying that after a few sessions there is no sound after boot from cold on first game you try? Or are you saying that in a single gaming session when exiting to DOS from several games, the sound stops working, with no reboot in between?

Yes, both cards were tested and are working, and i really dont know if i made somekind of reboot in between... I only know that i can install fresh dos and the problema Will persist.. Im really out of ideias here..

Anyone got any ideas? i don't think the problem is in the MA-8, i tested with some Teac Powermax with the same results... i also tried another audio jack.
What i realize is that the fresh builds only work for a while and stop working even if i format and install new software... It happened in both builds..

an idea... if those are old cards, they might have coupling capacitors on the outputs which dried out.
Post a photo of each card.

pitchshifter wrote on 2023-11-13, 12:16:

i tested with some Teac Powermax with the same results...

Same results is "no sound at all"? Temporarily working sound?

What power supply are you using? Some sound cards require a negative voltage rail. I'm not saying it's exactly your issue but it's worth investigating.

vstrakh wrote on 2023-11-14, 08:10:

pitchshifter wrote on 2023-11-13, 12:16:

i tested with some Teac Powermax with the same results...

Same results is "no sound at all"? Temporarily working sound?

I didn't try those in a fresh build, already when i had no sound in these builds. I just though the MA asked for more power, but i guess not.

weedeewee wrote on 2023-11-13, 16:23:

an idea... if those are old cards, they might have coupling capacitors on the outputs which dried out.
Post a photo of each card.

Unfortunately, the Aztech isn't detected at all, she was the chosen one at first, but i think she's dead...
And the ET4000 also, but it has bad video, but thats for another topic. 😀

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-11-14, 13:10:

What power supply are you using? Some sound cards require a negative voltage rail. I'm not saying it's exactly your issue but it's worth investigating.

A usual AT, but i noticed with the multimeter that i have around -8 or 8 in the -12 / +12.
Could be it? i didnt give importance because i saw somewhere that -12 and 12v, were used in com/lpt ports..

pitchshifter wrote on 2023-11-15, 14:18:

weedeewee wrote on 2023-11-13, 16:23:

an idea... if those are old cards, they might have coupling capacitors on the outputs which dried out.
Post a photo of each card.

Unfortunately, the Aztech isn't detected at all, she was the chosen one at first, but i think she's dead...
And the ET4000 also, but it has bad video, but thats for another topic. 😀

Since this was about the sound cards. all three seem to have coupling capacitors to the output jack.

and yes, 12V power supply tends to be used for the amplifier stage. Sometimes directly, sometimes with the addition of an extra voltage regulator like on the Avance Logic and Aztech card. 78 05
I think the Ess card also has a voltage regulator though different package. to92

So yes, your problem could very well be your power supply not delivering the required 12V.

Well, i must say thank you all!!
It was indeed the PSU, i would never guess it... strange because that PSU+Case were in a socket 7 build with no issues whatsoever...
Again, thank you all !!!

Excellent news! I'm glad you got it solved. Alot of ISA soundcards need the negative voltage rails for their amps to function properly.