Hi guys,
Have a PC with windows 98 and trying to get an ESS es1938S (1938 chipset) PCI card going under DOS.
The SYS file loads OK but the ESSOLO.COM in the autoexec.bat file comes back with the message:
Please use Windows Software Applet to enable Sound Blaster, MPU401 and Game port for Real/Windows DOS
I have tried installing a Windows 98 version and can't locate this supposed 'software applet'.
Has anybody got a working configuration under DOS for a ES1938S card they can share?
Cheers
You need to load appropriate files in config.sys before loading essolo.com. Can't remember but I think it's essolo.drv and esfm.drv in config.sys. I don't even think you need the Windows driver (only the plain dos driver files from the package).
Sorry to wake up an old thread, but after getting an ESS Solo-1 from eBay and installing it, initially I couldn't manage to get it to work under DOS and Windows 98 SE using the drivers provided on Phil's computer lab website: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ess-es1938s-solo-1.html , on a K8M890-based motherboard (MSI K9VGM-V), which has TDMA support, same as K8T890-based motherboards as reported in PCI sound cards and Chipsets from various manufacturers...
The first issue was under DOS, I would get the message "Please use Windows Software Applet to enable Sound Blaster, MPU401 and Game Port for Read/Windows DOS. Cannot find the AudioDrive". After some digging, this was caused by the lack of file "ESSOLO.INI", a 16-byte file that can otherwise be found here: https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … =60&menustate=0
Note that Phil's DOS driver includes a file named ESSCFG.INI that I found unneeded (contrary to ESSOLO.INI). His archive provides ESSVOL.EXE which is very useful, however his suggestion of setting /a:0 mutes the waveblaster, so if you have installed a waveblaster card and get no MIDI sound use instead /a:10 . After this change FM, SFX and MIDI all work fine 😀
As mentioned by gerwin in another thread, there are three possibilities wrt/ ESSOLO.INI:
In my experience, the first one works fine with the K8M890, the driver seems to use TDMA mode anyway.
Secondly, the driver provided in solo1_drv_w9x_4.12.01.1165.zip (WDM version 4.12.01.1165) did not work at all for me in Windows 98 SE despite the card using IRQ 5, and working fine in DOS/XP/Linux. The "ESS SOLO-1 PCI AudioDrive" driver would have a yellow exclamation mark with the error message "This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. (Code 10.)".
I could not get this driver to work regardless of any BIOS settings. So I collected a number of ES1938 drivers from the Internet in the hope of finding one that works, and indeed version 5.12.01.3047 works just fine 😀 To make it easier for other people, I have sorted all the drivers and put them in the attached "ES1938-dos9x.7z" and "ES1938-nt2kxp.7z" archives, in particular the fixed DOS driver but also:
Thanks to Stainlesscat for the Windows 3.1 driver. It is also possible to have MIDI sound by installing the MPU-401 (Roland) driver and selecting "General MIDI" in the MIDI configuration panel.
Hopefully this will be helpful to others in their attempt to find a solution for these issues.
Last edited by cde on 2021-12-22, 18:57. Edited 4 times in total.
Wow 1000x thanks for this, right out of the bat I was thinking the proposed solution is: throw your card out to the trashcan and buy an ISA SB16 😀
Works like a charm I can confirm both the MSDOS6.22 and Win3.X drivers, the 9X was always working even with phils driver.
Maybe some1 should hit phillybuster up to update that on his page to avoid wasting tons of others time since his page floats up to the top for that driver.
Oh I forgot he has pretty much zero contact info no email, no twitter, no nothing 😦
Gopher666wrote on 2022-03-19, 16:28:Wow 1000x thanks for this, right out of the bat I was thinking the proposed solution is: throw your card out to the trashcan and […] Show full quote
Wow 1000x thanks for this, right out of the bat I was thinking the proposed solution is: throw your card out to the trashcan and buy an ISA SB16 😀
Works like a charm I can confirm both the MSDOS6.22 and Win3.X drivers, the 9X was always working even with phils driver.
Maybe some1 should hit phillybuster up to update that on his page to avoid wasting tons of others time since his page floats up to the top for that driver.
Oh I forgot he has pretty much zero contact info no email, no twitter, no nothing 😦
I have contacted Phil some time ago on that matter but I suppose he is too busy, unfortunately.
Gopher666, is the waveblaster header working on your card? I can't get anything out of it on two different ESS Solo-1, using a X2GS (that works on a SB16).
EDIT: my bad, it was indeed the lack of /a switch 😀 everything working well
Maybe some1 should hit phillybuster up to update that on his page to avoid wasting tons of others time since his page floats up to the top for that driver.
Oh I forgot he has pretty much zero contact info no email, no twitter, no nothing 😦
WDM-Driver does not work for FM
Cannot find the "audiodrive" is irq/dma bios failure
messing with pci-sets/ini's does mostly not work or is not far better then using the standard config. (e.g. turrican II)
the driver phil recommends kills my wavetable-module, so I am alwas using 1149 driver on win9x.
for dos I install the win3x driver in win3x and let it do it's thing.
sometimes it's better to put the Printer-Port to IRQ5 so that the Solo1 takes IRQ7 but that depends on your chipset. the later intel chipsets do not rout digisound correctly so that it will perhaps not work if you are using a faster cpu and a later intel-chipset. ALI/VIA are much better, but it also depends on the speed of the cpu.
you can try to set the win9x environment differently in win9x to the dos-settings within win9x. that gives you sometimes better compatibility. eg. Adress 240 than 220. Win9x emulates SB16 at 220 therefore using 240 can make a difference.
cdewrote on 2021-08-13, 17:54:Sorry to wake up an old thread, but after getting an ESS Solo-1 from eBay and installing it, initially I couldn't manage to get […] Show full quote
Sorry to wake up an old thread, but after getting an ESS Solo-1 from eBay and installing it, initially I couldn't manage to get it to work under DOS and Windows 98 SE using the drivers provided on Phil's computer lab website: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ess-es1938s-solo-1.html , on a K8M890-based motherboard (MSI K9VGM-V), which has TDMA support, same as K8T890-based motherboards as reported in PCI sound cards and Chipsets from various manufacturers...
The first issue was under DOS, I would get the message "Please use Windows Software Applet to enable Sound Blaster, MPU401 and Game Port for Read/Windows DOS. Cannot find the AudioDrive". After some digging, this was caused by the lack of file "ESSOLO.INI", a 16-byte file that can otherwise be found here: https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … =60&menustate=0
Note that Phil's DOS driver includes a file named ESSCFG.INI that I found unneeded (contrary to ESSOLO.INI). His archive provides ESSVOL.EXE which is very useful, however his suggestion of setting /a:0 mutes the waveblaster, so if you have installed a waveblaster card and get no MIDI sound use instead /a:10 . After this change FM, SFX and MIDI all work fine 😀
As mentioned by gerwin in another thread, there are three possibilities wrt/ ESSOLO.INI:
In my experience, the first one works fine with the K8M890, the driver seems to use TDMA mode anyway.
Secondly, the driver provided in solo1_drv_w9x_4.12.01.1165.zip (WDM version 4.12.01.1165) did not work at all for me in Windows 98 SE despite the card using IRQ 5, and working fine in DOS/XP/Linux. The "ESS SOLO-1 PCI AudioDrive" driver would have a yellow exclamation mark with the error message "This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. (Code 10.)".
I could not get this driver to work regardless of any BIOS settings. So I collected a number of ES1938 drivers from the Internet in the hope of finding one that works, and indeed version 5.12.01.3047 works just fine 😀 To make it easier for other people, I have sorted all the drivers and put them in the attached "ES1938-dos9x.7z" and "ES1938-nt2kxp.7z" archives, in particular the fixed DOS driver but also:
Thanks to Stainlesscat for the Windows 3.1 driver. It is also possible to have MIDI sound by installing the MPU-401 (Roland) driver and selecting "General MIDI" in the MIDI configuration panel.
Hopefully this will be helpful to others in their attempt to find a solution for these issues.
I've been setting up a Gigabyte GA-5SMM board with the solo-1 card. I followed philscomputerlab.com's instructions and had the exact same issues. Your post fixed my DOS setup and I now have sound in dos! Thank you so much. Now I just need to find a VBE that works.
