Hi, wasn't Prince of Persia hard-coded to Port 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1? 😅
Sorry, I vaguely remember something like this. Also, there were many versions of PoP (v 1.x) I remember.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-01-20, 09:57:

Hi, wasn't Prince of Persia hard-coded to Port 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1? 😅
Sorry, I vaguely remember something like this. Also, there were many versions of PoP (v 1.x) I remember.

Hi,
I remember able to play pop 1 on irq 5 without any issues using an ess 1868f card (isa though). The later versions of pop do have the ability to configure the sound.

Now coming to Doom/Doom 2, these ones are usually an easy go with many cards, but solo 1 seems to be struggling with this.

Are you sure there's not a resource conflict? Something else on IRQ5?

Try setting a different IRQ (3 or 7 would be the usual options) and see if that works better.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-20, 14:28:

Are you sure there's not a resource conflict? Something else on IRQ5?

Try setting a different IRQ (3 or 7 would be the usual options) and see if that works better.

The card was first getting assigned to IRQ 10. Then I had to set the IRQ 10 to Legacy ISA in BIOS (only 2 options - Auto and Legacy ISA) to move Solo 1 to 5. The card then got assigned to it. Then checked that IRQ 5 is indeed shared by Via chipset controller if I can remember correctly (under System Information). However under Device Manager, the ESS Audiodrive was not showing any IRQ conflicts.

Now the question is how do I kick out the other shared ones in IRQ 5? Have tried doing that before with very limited success.

Before getting into a twist on that, test whether it's the problem. IRQ10 would have been problematic because it's one of the 16b IRQs and not commonly used by games for SB, but IRQ 3 and in particular 7 are common and can be used. IRQ 7 typically conflicts with parallel port. Disable that, reserve the IRQ for legacy/DOS and you should be good to test. If that works better than IRQ5, it's worth investing time/effort in cleaning up IRQ5. If not, your problem isn't IRQ conflict.

But I suspect it is - the music you are hearing is FM synth music from the OPL3-clone which only needs an address, not an IRQ. The sounds you don't hear do need the IRQ. Sounds in Wolf3D are the exception that prove the rule: that's also FM synth.

Spent a few hours getting the card to work but ultimately in vain.

Below is the irq allocation:

First thing is I tried is to disable pci irq steering from PCI bus option present under Device Manager. However, the IRQ holder for PCI steering was still present at irq 5. I read somewhere that the purpose of the IRQ holder is to prevent any IRQ conflicts and cannot be disabled.

Then disabled ACPI from the BIOS, but no go. Although the ACPI irq was no longer there, the IRQ holder is yet persisting at irq 5.

I set the IRQ 5 to legacy ISA in bios, but it was of no use. Another problem is that I am unable to modify the IRQ of the card to 7. Had set the Autoexec.bat to point to C:\Essolo.com and also the set blaster= A220 D1 I5 T4. The problem is that during next startup the set blaster variable gets wiped out from Autoexec.bat and it just sets as C:\essolo.com.

However when I start in DOS mode I am indeed getting the following message which indicates the card is initialized:

Despite this there is absolutely no sound fx for Doom, Doom2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Prince of Persia, etc. In addition, Duke 3D fails to start stating possible DMA conflict. However only ESS solo is assigned to DMA 1.

Below is the card irq and DMA under Device Manager:

Please let me know if there is a way to assign the card to a different IRQ as it seems to be stuck only at 5. Alternatively, is there a way to get rid of IRQ holder for PCI steering for good?

Have you seen this topic:
ESS Solo-1 easy(ish) setup with ESSOLO.INI (No Windows/ESSOLO.SYS Required!)

By changing essolo.ini you can set it to use different resources.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-21, 10:28:

Have you seen this topic:
ESS Solo-1 easy(ish) setup with ESSOLO.INI (No Windows/ESSOLO.SYS Required!)

By changing essolo.ini you can set it to use different resources.

Followed the steps and opened the .ini file using a hex editor for changing the IRQ to 7 and then restarted the system into pure DOS mode (using command prompt option at Win 98 startup). While the IRQ indeed changed to 7, there was absolutely no improvement. There was still no sfx in any of the games.

Then used a different motherboard (Soltek SL 65KV2). Here, I installed the card in the 2nd PCI slot and set this slot to use IRQ 5 (There is an option in this BIOS to set a specific IRQ for the PCI slot unlike M6VLR). Then restarted the system into DOS mode and the sounds were indeed working now. Tested different games such as Doom 1, 2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Prince of Persia 1, 2, etc. and the FM and digital sounds were all working fine. What I dont understand is why would the M6VLR board despite having the Via chipset (PLE 133T) not work properly with the ESS Solo 1 card? From what I had read, ESS Solo 1 works best on via chipsets. But not in this case.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-20, 20:07:

Sounds in Wolf3D are the exception that prove the rule: that's also FM synth.

I doubt if that is the case. I tested a different Solo 1 card (Formosa) on the Soltek mobo and while the FM worked in Wolf 3D, the digital sound was distorted. Similar was the case with Prince of Persia 1. However, on M6VLR using the previous Solo 1 card (SL v1.2), the FM and sounds on Wolf 3D worked without a hitch.

stealthjoe wrote on 2025-01-22, 12:25:

Followed the steps and opened the .ini file using a hex editor for changing the IRQ to 7 and then restarted the system into pure […]
Show full quote

dionb wrote on 2025-01-21, 10:28:

Have you seen this topic:
ESS Solo-1 easy(ish) setup with ESSOLO.INI (No Windows/ESSOLO.SYS Required!)

By changing essolo.ini you can set it to use different resources.

Followed the steps and opened the .ini file using a hex editor for changing the IRQ to 7 and then restarted the system into pure DOS mode (using command prompt option at Win 98 startup). While the IRQ indeed changed to 7, there was absolutely no improvement. There was still no sfx in any of the games.

The attachment IRQ 7.jpeg is no longer available

Then used a different motherboard (Soltek SL 65KV2). Here, I installed the card in the 2nd PCI slot and set this slot to use IRQ 5 (There is an option in this BIOS to set a specific IRQ for the PCI slot unlike M6VLR). Then restarted the system into DOS mode and the sounds were indeed working now. Tested different games such as Doom 1, 2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Prince of Persia 1, 2, etc. and the FM and digital sounds were all working fine. What I dont understand is why would the M6VLR board despite having the Via chipset (PLE 133T) not work properly with the ESS Solo 1 card? From what I had read, ESS Solo 1 works best on via chipsets. But not in this case.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-20, 20:07:

Sounds in Wolf3D are the exception that prove the rule: that's also FM synth.

I doubt if that is the case. I tested a different Solo 1 card (Formosa) on the Soltek mobo and while the FM worked in Wolf 3D, the digital sound was distorted. Similar was the case with Prince of Persia 1. However, on M6VLR using the previous Solo 1 card (SL v1.2), the FM and sounds on Wolf 3D worked without a hitch.

The best compatibility with the ESS Solo-1 is on boards with SB Link / aka PCPCI. You can alter the mode the card works in by editing essolo.ini following the guide posted above - it's not going to harm anything by trying a couple of different modes and you might find that your motherboard just happens to work better in one of the others.

Interestingly on my Thinkpad 240, with the ESS Solo-1 (actually 1E) I *still* had issues with Prince of Persia - I got *no* music, but *did* get in-game effects. My settings were port 0x220, DMA 1, IRQ 7 (both essolo.ini and SET BLASTER match).

Of 180 games tested so far on the Solo-1E, the following had issues:

- Prince of Persia (no music)
- Commander Keen (most titles) - no sound / only Adlib ... potential speed issue
- BAT II - no sound or music after selecting Adlib
- Laura Bow II - no digital audio
- Heart of China - crashes if Soundblaster is selected

... everything else (from Elvira, through Doom and Albion) worked as expected with FM and digital audio where it should have been.

stealthjoe wrote on 2025-01-22, 12:25:

dionb wrote on 2025-01-21, 10:28:

Have you seen this topic:
ESS Solo-1 easy(ish) setup with ESSOLO.INI (No Windows/ESSOLO.SYS Required!)

By changing essolo.ini you can set it to use different resources.

Followed the steps and opened the .ini file using a hex editor for changing the IRQ to 7 and then restarted the system into pure DOS mode (using command prompt option at Win 98 startup). While the IRQ indeed changed to 7, there was absolutely no improvement. There was still no sfx in any of the games.

Well, we can rule an IRQ conflict on IRQ 5 out in that case.

Then used a different motherboard (Soltek SL 65KV2). Here, I installed the card in the 2nd PCI slot and set this slot to use IRQ 5 (There is an option in this BIOS to set a specific IRQ for the PCI slot unlike M6VLR). Then restarted the system into DOS mode and the sounds were indeed working now. Tested different games such as Doom 1, 2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Prince of Persia 1, 2, etc. and the FM and digital sounds were all working fine. What I dont understand is why would the M6VLR board despite having the Via chipset (PLE 133T) not work properly with the ESS Solo 1 card? From what I had read, ESS Solo 1 works best on via chipsets. But not in this case.

OK, that motherboard is doing something. Both boards have 686B southbridge, so it's not a hardware difference.

Given they are Via southbridges from this era though, they have built-in legacy DOS SB emulation. If that's enabled it might well interfere with the Solo 1. Something to check maybe...

That said, the Via SB emulation is pretty much as good as the ESS Solo anyway, so potentially you could leave out the card altogether.

dionb wrote on 2025-01-22, 14:41:

Given they are Via southbridges from this era though, they have built-in legacy DOS SB emulation. If that's enabled it might well interfere with the Solo 1. Something to check maybe...

That said, the Via SB emulation is pretty much as good as the ESS Solo anyway, so potentially you could leave out the card altogether.

Despite having the same southbridge and built in audio, the difference in the sound card behaviour is puzzling. I have disabled it on both the boards in BIOS. The audio does work on the Soltek board if enabled but the one on M6VLR isn't working at all despite having tried several different drivers. Most likely a hardware fault which I really couldn't trace unfortunately. There is a separate thread on this BTW (Repairing onboard audio). So I actually got the Solo card for the M6VLR board which has a crippled audio.

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-01-22, 14:28:

You can alter the mode the card works in by editing essolo.ini following the guide posted above - it's not going to harm anything by trying a couple of different modes and you might find that your motherboard just happens to work better in one of the others.

Despite altering the essolo.ini file to use TDMA (changed the corresponding hex value) and setting it as 'read only', the sound configuration always defaults to DDMA while in DOS mode. So naturally, the same issue persists. No sound effects in most DOS games.

Do you boot direct to a DOS command line, or into Win98 and then to DOS? Could be the Windows drivers doing something if the latter.

For DOS prompt, I always press F8 after loading bios and then select Command Prompt prior to Windows startup.