Can you link what you've tried? Have you tried what's in Vogons Drivers?

Be aware of the difference between the 100 and the 100plus, too. I'm not sure if driver selection matters in this regard, but worth checking.

Do the ALS100 drivers located here work better for you? AFAIK these are the latest ones, scroll down to downloads: http://pcmidi.eu/megacard.html

Sorry I have a bad headache. No wonder with the sound card or the PC, or the combination.

The "Set Blaster Sound" sometimes works. If I go into alconfig.exe and play the test sounds or go through the individual menu items, and then it works for a while after that, even after (soft?) reboots. It could be some weird electrical problem. Just strange that everything else works on sound. Anything that's newer?

Can you link what you've tried? Have you tried what's in Vogons Drivers?

Win 98 drivers from there: (Asound Plus 4)
https://www.pc-schnulli.de/hardw/skisa/skisa.html

Do the ALS100 drivers located here work better for you? AFAIK these are the latest ones, scroll down to downloads: http://pcmidi.eu/megacard.html

Thats the only driver around. Identical to mine. In any case, it worked well under DOS in my other PC with an ALS100.

I don't think the choice for an ALS100 without Plus was very large with Vogons either. Is there perhaps a suitable ALS100+ driver?

Could it be that the PC, a modified Compaq Prolinea 5120, generally has problems with the sound card?
I can test the other ALS100 card in the Compaq PC. If it works better, is it the card, if the errors are identical, is it the PC? Unfortunately, I cannot and do not want to test the card in any other PC. There are Soundblaster 16 cards installed and they work perfectly, it should stay that way.
But could it be that the previously installed ESS1868F is simply more compatible in the Compaq PC, and was also intended as an original accessory.

edit:
As far as I know, the data about the mixer and the configuration of the resources (alconfig.exe) are stored directly on the sound card itself. Maybe there is an error and there are problems with saving with the Adlib option. It was similar with UNISOUND though. I've tested many sound cards lately but such problems are really new to me. The effects of Wolf3d and Prince of Pricia, for example, always work, only the music is missing. There is also enough free memory. I have no idea what else I could test, I'll try the other ALS100 card first.

it is 100% sure that the actual card does not store any configuration info
configuration is stored in ALS.INI which ALSINIT calls on boot and configures the card accordingly

I have had a couple systems in the past that did not work well with PnP cards - a 286 could not recognize them at all and a 386 would behave weird. So maybe this is what is happening with your system assuming it is not a PnP-aware one

It is well known that there is no perfectly working DOS sound card, but the previously used Ess1868F worked fine. Ok now for the fun part. Have installed the other ALS100 card, same problem. I know that this card works otherwise, it's just too quiet. At least it worked in my Super Socket 7 PC with the mentioned DOS drivers. It only remains to state that only the ESS1868F card in the Compaq PC is fully functional, to install it again, and to apologize for this thread? 😉

I tested another sound card, one with an AZT2320 chip. Looked promising at first, but after a short time there were problems. Strange problems. And again the same. Ok so back to the ESS1868F and everything is working again. I have no explanation. I would have to start all over again to test that it wasn't something related to the software. But I have little interest in that, the Compaq PC only has a partially defective 4x CD-ROM and the installation is very time-consuming. If you can think of another theory why only this one sound card works, please give it to me. Thanks.

I believe the AZT2320 is also PnP, so perhaps there is something to keropi's theory.

Of course, all are PNP cards, just like the 1868F. The only exception here is my CT2230 as a semi PNP card, but it wouldn't fit. It must be something else, maybe the BIOS, if you can call it that at Compaq.
Or a problem with the power supply. Apart from some incompatibilities and freezes, the Aztech card also caused problems with the keyboard. I'm not making it up, but how is that possible??
I just keep the 1868F card. It's ok for an 8bit card. The PC seems to be picky about the sound card. Overdrive and RAM upgrade didn't bother it, nor did an additional graphics card (S3 Trio64V+).

Sorry, didn't pick up that detail! In that case I am fresh out of ideas.

Can you please post photo of your card ?

Sorry, the camera on my cell phone is also causing problems. The first photo is sharp, then it's downhill. Maybe the autofocus, but back to the topic. Here are all the sound cards I tested in the Compaq PC:
The working card is a Formosa ESS1868F. Is it allowed if I link a corresponding Ebay auction? If not, please delete, thanks.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/255210195087

I have the same card as on third photo. In my case it was "farting" OPL3. I replaced LS262 clone with genuine OPL3 but it did not improve the situation (so if you are thinking about it - it's not worth your effort).
The culprit was the broken U3 - 74LS245. I replaced it with a 74HCT245D and the card began to play correctly.

For some unknown reason elements marked as C48 and C48 (below TEA2025 amplifier) were in fact resistors.
I replaced them with capacitors, according to the circuit diagram (0.22uF = 220nF).
And so far (few years passed), everything is fine. Card is working in my Pentium 200 MMX rig.

BTW. I also have same card as on photo #2

Edit: Something else came to mind.
Those small operational amplifiers D1 and D2 needs a symmetrical power supply (+5V and -5V).
They should have -5V on their 4th pin. Please check this if you can.

Also to minimize noise, you can remove green resistor which is soldered in place of U8 and replace it with proper 7809 linear voltage regulator.
I'm very satisfied with this modification

Thanks for the explanation, but this is far beyond my technical level. If the card worked, it sounded very good. Almost identical to my Soundblaster 16 cards, in some cases even better. I'm sure it will work fine in another PC. If not, I'll be happy to send it to you. 😀

Anyone with such technical ability has my respect and appreciation. I can only exchange cards as a whole.

ALS100 modifications can quickly go out of hand if you are not careful 🤣

keropi wrote on 2023-05-05, 14:37:

ALS100 modifications can quickly go out of hand if you are not careful LOL […]
Show full quote

ALS100 modifications can quickly go out of hand if you are not careful 🤣

Well I'm going to need some context here 😯 ALS100 + ethernet? Is that a new project or an old one?

Pierre32 wrote on 2023-05-05, 22:29:

Well I'm going to need some context here 😯 ALS100 + ethernet? Is that a new project or an old one?

It is just the megapc card without the megapc-specific stuff

Ahhh so it is 😁

Pierre32 wrote on 2023-05-06, 06:04:

Ahhh so it is 😁

Yes, MEGAcard -> KILOcard, get it ? 🤣 🤣 🤣