Compal N38W3 dos audio driver setup windows 95

[cov3rt]

i have a compal n38w3 laptop that im gonna be testing to see if i can get dos sound working in windows 95, this is not a well known laptop, i think it uses the 440bx chipset. my goal was to find the newest laptops that have dos compatible sound drivers and this is one i came across that i thought may work. i am unsure of the steps to get the dos sound working on windows 95, i have acquired two sets of drivers, one of which has the setup inf for windows and the other one was downloaded off a forum specifically for dos sound that doesn't have a setup inf file but some other type of inf file (.ini). what im trying to ask is which one do i use or what do i do exactly? do i use both, one to install the windows driver to allow sound in windows, and then follow the instructions in the other folder package that has the .ini file to also allow sound in dos games or should the inf file package take care of both, so i have sound in both the windows environment and dos? the .ini file in the packaged folder is called essdos, and the other one was just downloaded off driverguide, the file version is 4.12.01.4056, pci ven is "PCI\VEN_125D&DEV_1978", also known as the ess maestro 2 or 2e? or ess1978. someone replied in the thread below that it didn't work for the ess1978, though they didn't mention specifically what they did or why it didn't work, i browsed some other sites of people trying to get the same sound to work and someone was able to get it work using a certain newer driver, though they didn't mention which specific one or the steps they took to install dos sound.

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=19212

here is some info from the strings section of the setup inf packaged folder -

AGOGOMF.DeviceDesc="ESS Device Manager"
AGOGOEnum.DeviceDesc="ESS Multi-Device Enumerator"
AGOGOXP.DeviceDesc="Maestro Wave/WaveTable Synthesis Devices"
AGOGOSB.DeviceDesc="Maestro DOS Games/FM Devices"
AGOGO401WD.DeviceDesc="Maestro MPU401 Devices"
AGOGO401W.DeviceDesc="Maestro MPU401 Devices"
V_EXTERNAL="Maestro External MIDI Port"

and this is some info from the packaged folder one that didn't have the setup inf file but the .ini one -

ES197x DOS Drivers

Blaster Type  : SoundBlaster Pro or compatible (8bit)
Specific Type : ESS 1978 Maestro AudioDrive (16bit)
Settings      : Port=220 IRQ=5 DMA=1 HDMA=   Midi=   Type=4
DSP Version   : 3.02
Compatibility : Adlib, SoundBlaster 2.0, SoundBlaster Pro
Features      : Stereo, ESS 1978 Maestro, FM + Wavetable Synthesis
                16bit DAC/ADC, 4-48khz, PCI, DirectSound, DSound3D
Manufacturer  : ESS Technology (http://www.esstech.com)

~~~
Installation:

unzip the files in root of c:\.
add the following lines to your startup files:

config.sys
DEVICEHIGH=C:\AECU.SYS

autoexec.bat
LH C:\MAESTRO.COM
:: SET BLASTER=A220 D1 I5 T4

[sdfox7]

My Gateway Solo 9300 uses that identical sound card (https://panam.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Solo_Series/P9300/p930017.shtml)

You can get the Windows 95 driver from my FTP (Gateway never released a Win95 specific driver but I use an HP one):

http://sdfox7.com/solo9300/win9x/sp8178.exe

This is a self extracting file that extracts inside a Command Prompt window; I recommend you save it to the Windows 95 desktop and follow instructions below.

You should not need to make any configuration changes, the software should do it automatically, just run the SETUP.EXE program and reboot. Setup may prompt you for your Windows 95 CD. If you don't have that handy you can try pointing it to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM 32. Let me know if you run into any issues. If it is looking for MAESTRO.CAT files or such, point it to C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\SP8178\AUDIO or whatever location you saved and extracted the download to.

Edited April 2, 2016 by sdfox7

[cov3rt]

hi, is that driver you linked to supposed to support sound in both dos and windows environment? reason being is that when i compare its strings to the newer one i mentioned, it doesn't list as many things, making it seem like the newer one contains more functions, but again, i don't what to compare really, just something to throw out. also in the newer drive package, it contains also an esssetup.exe, what is the difference between this one and the one you have that only mentions setup.exe? if i were to run the newer one, would i have to run both of those, esssetup and setup.exe?

[sdfox7]

According to this archived page, it doesn't appear DOS drivers were specifically made for the 1978:

https://web.archive.org/web/20010302132415/http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm#pci

That being said, you might be able to get Win9x to work manually, though I doubt it.

The page shows drivers for Windows 95/98, Windows 98SE/2000/ME, and Windows NT 4.0.

DOS is not Plug and Play so GOOD LUCK!

[cov3rt]

update, i was able to get sound working in both the windows environment and wolfenstein 3D using the 4.12.01.4056 driver. the instructions i did was i simply ran the setup.exe in the folder package, rebooted, and the sound worked from there. i didn't have to manually change any sort of settings in config.sys or autoexec which im thankful for because i'm new to all this, it did it for me and shows it in the boot up screen of irq settings, etc, before loading to the desktop. although i only tested one dos game, this was a nice experience. i would like to be able to have this sort of easy configuration with other laptops too, although newer, the better, the laptop didn't come with an ethernet port, i thought it would based off driver searching of this model giving a package for it. also, no internal wifi antennas for the mini pci slot. although it has (2) cardbus slots so you can still get ethernet, wifi and the pci modem (currently installed in mini slot) all working at the same time for maximum compatbility, also has a floppy drive and it was working. my goal is to find a pentium 4 laptop or amd laptop, basically any laptop that has a processor with up to sse2 instructions, while also having a dos compatible sound card, floppy drive, etc.