Hmm. I thought, maybe JP5 pins 1-2 and 3-4 are a combo, as in, 1-2 select to enable one of the proprietary drives and then pin 3-4 select which one leaving pins 5-6 to enable IDE. So, you'd either enable 1-2 or 5-6 but not both.

Unfortunately, no juice...

I have tried 3 different multi-IO cards by now. I don't think there is a conflict.

My CDROM drive is set to Master (as in secondary master IDE).

I'm loading the OAK CDROM driver in my config.sys. I have used this driver over many years and a variety of systems and drives, always worked fine (this is my first time using it on a 286 though).

You probably need a special ESS driver. Generic ATAPI drivers will never find the CD-ROM unless you run that first. In my case (I don't have experience with this exact card but I do have a setup like this working on a ES1868 based card) I need to run ES1868.COM from CONFIG.SYS to "enable" the CD-ROM interface before loading the CD-ROM driver and MSCDEX. It will be different for your card but probably similar. Everything you need should hopefully be in this package:

http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1461&menustate=0

Thanks for that. Unfortunately I tried those drivers and they are for Windows (3.1x) only and the bits of DOS that's in there is for PnP configuration of the sound card, probably a later version of the card than I have. There are some other ESS drivers on Vogondrivers but none seem to apply (PnP) or work and/or include a CDROM driver.

I have no luck finding any non-PnP drivers or disks that belonged to this card whatsoever, not even a manual...

Starting to run out of ideas...

Through some googling I came across this thread. Fortunately I also have a SB32 (CT3600). I will give that a go over the next few days.

AWE32 & IDE/ATAPI CDROM

I use ctload on my vibra16, I can't remember but I think ess is not supported under ctload but here is the config I use anyway maybye will help

C:\<win95dir>\CTPNP
C:\<dir>\CTLOAD C:\<dir>\DRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /V /P:1E8,11,3EE
C:\<win95dir>\COMMAND\MSCDEX /D:MSCD001 /V /M:8

What's wrong with adding it as slave to your existing IO card? Unless you have two devices on it already, or it doesn't support ATAPI of course.

I have successfully used (a different revision of) this card's IDE controller with nothing but normal ATAPI DOS drivers in the past. ES688 requires nothing special. Make sure you have no other secondary IDE controllers working in the system.

There are no jumpers for setting the DMA and IRQ on my 688, they are hardcoded to IRQ7 and DMA 1. Regardless, without a silk screen I can't see what JP6 JP7 and JP8 (IRQ, DACK, DRQ) are set at for the CD-ROM interface; they may be in conflict with the card itself (IRQ and DACK/DRQ should not be 5 and 1 if they are 5 and 1 for the sound card)

konc wrote:

What's wrong with adding it as slave to your existing IO card? Unless you have two devices on it already, or it doesn't support ATAPI of course.

I second this, if it is possible. I had a 286 PC that had an IDE hard disk, and even with the very primitive IDE controller it had on it, it could still access the CD-ROM drive with the appropriate DOS drivers. I've found onboard IDE to be very temperamental on ISA sound cards in the past.

New idea:

pan069 wrote:

JP4: (not sure what a CD-ROM port is)
defaulting to 800h.

It's 300h default actually and it is possible that this port conflicts with something else in the system. I would try each of the other options (310h, 320h, 330h) to see if it does anything.

And what system exactly (brand/motherboard) is this? This is a shot in the dark really but 300h was reserved in the original PC spec so if it's an IBM BIOS or a very IBM-compatible clone then it might be that I/O port 300h is reserved and won't work. Here is a snip from the book "PC Hacks", page 185:

EDIT: also, have you tried jumpering away any and all IDE functionality from the multi I/O card, setting the sound card to primary IDE, and booting from a floppy? Just to make absolutely sure there is no conflict going on?

konc wrote:

What's wrong with adding it as slave to your existing IO card? Unless you have two devices on it already, or it doesn't support ATAPI of course.

Cable doesn't reach... 🙁

My case is desktop style and the hard drive location is next to the CDROM drive, not underneath (or stacked for that matter)...

appiah4 wrote:

... I can't see what JP6 JP7 and JP8 (IRQ, DACK, DRQ) are set at for the CD-ROM interface; they may be in conflict with the card itself (IRQ and DACK/DRQ should not be 5 and 1 if they are 5 and 1 for the sound card)

I have no information on JP6, JP7 and JP8. The sound (digital/FM) seems to work fine so its not conflicting with that.

JP3, IDE IRQ, is set to IRQ15 (Secondary), see also JP5 pin 7-8 (disabled, i.e. secondary). If JP3 is the IDE IRQ and JP10 is the sound IRQ, what IRQ would JP6 be for then?

It's odd that this cards prints all info except for those jumpers...

Really wish I could find a manual for this card...

pan069 wrote:

If JP3 is the IDE IRQ and JP10 is the sound IRQ, what IRQ would JP6 be for then?

Possibly IRQ for the Sony/Mitsumi/Panasonic interface, since the IDE CD-ROM jumpers are explicitely for IDE only.

pan069 wrote:

I have no information on JP6, JP7 and JP8. The sound (digital/FM) seems to work fine so its not conflicting with that. […]
Show full quote

appiah4 wrote:

... I can't see what JP6 JP7 and JP8 (IRQ, DACK, DRQ) are set at for the CD-ROM interface; they may be in conflict with the card itself (IRQ and DACK/DRQ should not be 5 and 1 if they are 5 and 1 for the sound card)

I have no information on JP6, JP7 and JP8. The sound (digital/FM) seems to work fine so its not conflicting with that.

JP3, IDE IRQ, is set to IRQ15 (Secondary), see also JP5 pin 7-8 (disabled, i.e. secondary). If JP3 is the IDE IRQ and JP10 is the sound IRQ, what IRQ would JP6 be for then?

It's odd that this cards prints all info except for those jumpers...

Really wish I could find a manual for this card...

I can't see the picture of the card anymore, but I am certain the silk screen actually said JP6 is IRQ (for IDE) and JP7 and JP8 are DACK and DRQ (for IDE) respectively.

Here below is my own Gold-16 card, configured for IDE interface:

DACK 3, DRQ 3, IRQ 11

@appiah4 Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I've checked JP6, JP7 and JP8 and they are set exactly to your cards settings, JP6 = IRQ11, JP7 = DACK 3 and JP8 DRQ 3.

However, the silk screen also states: JP3 IDE IRQ when selecting pin 2-3 its set to IRQ15 (Secondary), which I have. What's the correlation between JP3 and JP6. Does the IDE and the CDROM each need their own IRQ?

Iv'e also changed the port to 320h. I can't seem to figure out (or see) what port your card is set to.

Also, do you happen to remember which driver you where using. I'm currently using the Oak one which has always worked for me in the past.

This is my board. An oldie, but a beauty (at least, I think so): https://i.imgur.com/ncqcsJz.jpg

Is there any bit of information I can give you?

You said you weren't able to see the card photo anymore, this is it: https://i.imgur.com/vpqnxTa.jpg

pan069 wrote:

@appiah4 Thanks for the info, much appreciated. […]
Show full quote

@appiah4 Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

I've checked JP6, JP7 and JP8 and they are set exactly to your cards settings, JP6 = IRQ11, JP7 = DACK 3 and JP8 DRQ 3.

However, the silk screen also states: JP3 IDE IRQ when selecting pin 2-3 its set to IRQ15 (Secondary), which I have. What's the correlation between JP3 and JP6. Does the IDE and the CDROM each need their own IRQ?

Iv'e also changed the port to 320h. I can't seem to figure out (or see) what port your card is set to.

Also, do you happen to remember which driver you where using. I'm currently using the Oak one which has always worked for me in the past.

This is my board. An oldie, but a beauty (at least, I think so): https://i.imgur.com/ncqcsJz.jpg

Is there any bit of information I can give you?

You said you weren't able to see the card photo anymore, this is it: https://i.imgur.com/vpqnxTa.jpg

I uploaded the drivers I used to vogonsdrivers a while back, they also include the MPU401 TSR; do a search for edison 😀

appiah4 wrote:

I uploaded the drivers I used to vogonsdrivers a while back, they also include the MPU401 TSR; do a search for edison 😀

Ah, OK. You mean these?

http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1461

I already tried those. These appear to be for a PnP version of the card and the setup.exe is for Windows. The only DOS related bits on there appear for audio settings of a PnP version of this card.

pan069 wrote:

konc wrote:

What's wrong with adding it as slave to your existing IO card? Unless you have two devices on it already, or it doesn't support ATAPI of course.

Cable doesn't reach... 🙁

My case is desktop style and the hard drive location is next to the CDROM drive, not underneath (or stacked for that matter)...

Oh I see, I had completely forgotten this case. We used to "solve" this sometimes by connecting the cable the other way around, plugging the furthest connector to the furthest device, but of course it's not always applicable. The two connectors close to each other need to reach the IO card and 1 device for this to work.