First post, by Pierre32
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- Oldbie
[Update: See attachments for the reference sheet I've put together, along with a compact set of working DOS utils. Still no MPU-401 success to date.]
I recently bought a Win95 system that had this card in it. It has an ES688F chip in it, but no other markings that identify it (that I can determine). Not even an FCC ID. I notice that it also contains the LS-212 and LS-215 chips that are said to be faked YMF262 (OPL3) and YAC512 chips. [edit: Need to correct my wording here. They're not so much 'fake' as unlicensed.]
In a fresh DOS 6.22 installation, I'm unable to get this card to perform anything but the most basic function. It works as an SB clone by doing the standard SET BLASTER entries in Autoexec. In an attempt to access the deeper ESSCONFIG options I have tried every driver & utility download that is said to support the ES688/F (from here on VOGONS as well as a bunch of other sources). None of them recognise the card.
The plan is to drive some Roland gear, but games aren't seeing the midi interface at all. SoftMPU outright says "No MPU-401 detected" (granted, the 688 is not on its supported hardware list). Of course I have spent much time experimenting with hardware addresses too.
All signs point to this card being a bit crap, and maybe it should go to the back of the shelf as an emergency Soundblaster. Just thought I'd post here to see if anyone else had ideas, before I go shopping for a new one?
Update 2020-06-08 - compiled data and EXEs for this card attached: