You don't need no pciset utility. All you need are the dos drivers.
So, I have included the drivers I have. Any package should do the trick.
ESSOLO.SYS should go in config.sys, but is not necessary. I did not use it at all.
To initialize the card use ESSOLO.COM
If you have any more trouble just ask and I shall see what I can do to help.

As a sidenote, ESS models are some of the easiest soundcards to work with. The first S/C in my first PC was a Miss Melody ESS688, which I replaced later with a Pine Schubert ESS 1868F. In games with ESFM option (there are a few of them) they sound better than OPL3 FM music.
All cards up to PCI Solo kept the ESFM block, which was sadly removed in newer PCI chips like Maestro and Canyon.
But Solo is the perfect PCI card when it comes to DOS compatibility.

I am unable to get the card to recognize with these drivers. Also, I believe that anything other than the Windows 3.11 drivers include the utility to enable DOS support on the chip.

If you have this card, I would be most grateful if you would please install the drivers onto a copy of Windows 3.11 and send it to me. 😀

I suppose you' re missing the .INI file. Unzip the attached file into C:\ and run ESSOLO.COM. It should work, I did a quick check with my Solo-1 card and I didn't need to run Windows.

@Kahenraz
ESSOLO.COM should work in DOS mode. If it does not, then either you do not have a Solo, either the card does not work.

EDIT:
There were some re-marked CMI 8338/8378 soundcards. I know, I had a so-called Yamaha 724 which was in fact a CMI 8338.
As a clue, CMI soundchips do not need a crystal oscillator, they use the bus frequency. They do not have a separate D/A convertor either.
So, if the card does not have an crystal oscillator and a codec, it means is a re-marked CMI.

@Kahenraz
Buddy, is obvious english is not your mother language (no offense meant).
Where are you from?

I suppose you' re missing the .INI file.

I am using the exact same files. ESSOLO.SYS recognizes the card but ESSOLO.COM is telling me that legacy support needs to be enabled in Windows. This is done by flipping some bits -on the chip- and is only done in the Windows 3.11 driver utility. The drivers for some reason will not install for me.

Please, I would be very grateful if someone with this card would send me a copy of Win 3.11 with these drivers installed.

I am unable to install the Windows 3.11 drivers or any of the VXD-based drivers (I tried on 95 and 98se). However, the Windows 98 WDM drivers work and the sound card does emit both wav and midi audio; so I assume it does work. Again, the card is recognized under DOS but it does not have the legacy bits enabled!

As a clue, CMI soundchips do not need a crystal oscillator

My board is marked as a Solo-1 on the chip and it also does have a crystal oscillator at 14.31818 Mhz.

Bump. Still need an install with these drivers.

I purchased a second ESS Solo-1 card and it has the exact same problem. When I try to install the drivers in Windows 3.11 all I get is a blank window. And in Windows 95 and 98 it does not recognize the card with the VXD drivers. Here are the ones I bought:

Both of them also emit a lot of static and a high-pitched whine from the speaker port. I tried them in two motherboards with different hardware/power supplies and they do this on both boards..

Ironically with its native SB emulation, the one card has an SB-LINK port on it.

Still need help with this. :\

Are you planning to part with one of the ESS Solo-1's? I'd like to get my hands on one.

I'm downsizing a considerable amount of my sound card collection and have them all listed on AmiBay, including a few Solo-1 cards, under the same username. There are even a few MM-401 cards (MPU-401 clones) as well.

I am getting CRAZY with this card.

In win98se I can choose "WDM" or "VXD" drivers. With WDM no Dossupport, VXD provides Dossupport, installs essolo.sys/com and "Solo1-Dos-Emulation" this worked just fine for SB-Support and Adlib/Opl music (388), but after I made a Win98se reinstall the "Solo-Dos-Emulation" does not work anymore for the Adblib/Opl Sound in Dos-Windows while running win98se.

The essvol shows that the Mixer is set to "0" für "synthesis" the mixer in windows is ignored for "synthesis" and the mixer in dos "essvol /S:10" is ignored to. "essvol" shows alway a muted "synthesis" in dos and therefore no Adblib/Opl sound ....argh, I spent 7 Hours and can't find the failure. What a f's'...

It has to be the "solo1161.zip", now Opl/Adlib is working as it should while running win98 in a dos-window.

Is it possible to disable gameport and mpu ? i can only set the card full on or off..

I using SIS DDMA.

matze79, check out this post. To disable both the gameport and MPU-401 interface, run this command after the "driver" has been loaded (it's the second uncommented line of the batch file with the changes I made highlighted in bold):

PCISET 1969 125D 40 11111111 01110011