Onboard audio drivers - how good are you?

**bigbob** · October 17th, 2005, 08:01 AM

Imagine someone could actually help me here....

I have formatted my hard drive, fdisk'd and fully partioned 4gb HDD with dos.
Trying to run games..... all good.
No sound.
PC is old, 380mHz IBM aptiva
On board audio

How can I load drivers etc to get some sound???
I can't identify the name of the motherboard or anything else that helps, is there some way to find out via DOS? Is there a standard set of drivers that can be loaded to get basic sound?

Had audio before format (winxp) so i know hardware is ok.

Have been searching for many nights now, so any info would be of great assistance.

Thanks

**confus-ed** · October 17th, 2005, 08:51 AM

Hi bigbob, welcome to wd forums.

Need to identify for us just which model aptiva, this'll maybe help ? or perhaps we can figure it out, via something like Everest Home, which is a tool for identifying the 'inards' of pc's

**bigbob** · October 17th, 2005, 09:46 PM

Thankyou confus-ed

Found a sticker on the box that reads:
Machine type : 2165
Model No. : 11A
S/N : BNH0352
MFG Date : 905

Hope this can help...
Hope you can help !!

**Ruslan** · October 18th, 2005, 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by bigbob

Thankyou confus-ed

Found a sticker on the box that reads:
Machine type : 2165
Model No. : 11A
S/N : BNH0352
MFG Date : 905

Hope this can help...
Hope you can help !!

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...&validate=true

Hmm... model 2165 is not listed in dropdown menu... Most likely it wasn't actually manufactured by IBM or no more supported by IBM (as it is "Lenovo" now). For example,I do have one of IBM Aptiva motherboards and in fact mine was made by Acer for IBM (V75M motherboard).

Look for sound chip - I've seen some messages on I-net it could be ESS
Solo 1-ES1938 chip.

**bigbob** · October 18th, 2005, 02:35 AM

Yes Ruslan, it is indeed a Solo 1-es1938 chip. Well spotted!
...um.....now I would.....
Think I'll have a search etc.
So far So good.

**bigbob** · October 18th, 2005, 09:16 PM

I found a 'DOS setup utility for ISA AudioDrive™ and ES1938/ES1946'
at http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm#isa

....BUT.......

When i run essvol i get the message cannot find the audiodrive.
And when i run the esscfg, i get the message
ESSCFG Version V5.1
Unable to find AudioDrive ES1868-based chip!

Do you think you may be able to help with that??

Cause I'm stumped!

**Ruslan** · October 18th, 2005, 09:40 PM

Probably you have installed wrong driver as ES1938 is not an ISA, it is PCI-based sound card (no matter it is soldered in).

Do you really need those DOS drivers?

http://www.dr-tech.com/drivers/sound.html

No drivers are needed for WinXP.

**confus-ed** · October 19th, 2005, 03:26 AM

Originally Posted by Ruslan

Do you really need those DOS drivers?..

"..PC is old..Trying to run games .." (with a 4gig drive) so he probably wants some dos/95/98 drivers ? I don't think 'needs' but 'wants' ?

**bigbob** · October 19th, 2005, 07:35 PM

Thanks people for your assistance, however I think I will have to give this away and perhaps go for a win95 or something.
Every time i try anything, I get the same message:
ESSCFG Version V5.1
Unable to find AudioDrive ES1868-based chip!
So.... unless you may have something up your sleeve......

**Ruslan** · October 19th, 2005, 11:12 PM

That's a DOS driver (wrong driver, by the way!).
You don't need this driver for Win98.

Try these drivers (select your chip) : http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm#pci

But first uninstall all the previously installed soundcard drivers...