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Help identifying a sound card

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Anonymoose

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Feb 19, 2024
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Recently acquired a Compaq 4/66i running Windows 3.1 and it happens to have a card which I cannot identify. Looks to have a OPL2 chip, can I assume this is a clone of sorts? Manuals, drivers, or suggestions would be nice. Thanks!
 

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FCC Application Details
EquipmentSound Card
FRN9999999999
Grantee CodeJV7
Product Code057A05
Applicant BusinessLabway Computer Co Ltd
 
Thanks for the replies! I’ve tested the card and it seems that it works regardless of whether there’s a driver or Set Blaster command enabled. Besides that, the card sounds bad. Not that I expected something amazing, but it’s tinny and the sound clips a lot through my speakers. Regardless, I’m not sure what the jumpers do and I’m a bit in the dark about how to configure that as well.
 
The output is most likely amplified. Try seeing if there is a mixer utility or change 1 jumper at a time to see if you can turn it off.
 
The LM386N-1 is the audio amplifier I.C. - Most sound cards that I have seen with jumpers to select amplified or non-amplified come in pairs (left & right channel) which leads me to guess (and it is only a guess) that JP-1 might be that pair of jumpers.
 
EverStaR said:
Rare
Click to expand...
It's not rare. ESS cards of all flavors are among the most-common sound cards you can find. Sellers on eBay use the word "rare" for everything these days - it has completely lost its meaning.

But yes, it's a good card. Sadly, it's mono only. But very nice for any XT or slower 286.
 
Timo W. said:
It's not rare. ESS cards of all flavors are among the most-common sound cards you can find. Sellers on eBay use the word "rare" for everything these days - it has completely lost its meaning.

But yes, it's a good card. Sadly, it's mono only. But very nice for any XT or slower 286.
Click to expand...
Rare was the eBay solution, lol was pretty easy to find and that price looks a bit high. Google Lens found it.
 
bburley said:
The LM386N-1 is the audio amplifier I.C. - Most sound cards that I have seen with jumpers to select amplified or non-amplified come in pairs (left & right channel) which leads me to guess (and it is only a guess) that JP-1 might be that pair of jumpers.
Click to expand...
I think that worked! Not sure if this is related, but my basis for the music sounding loud was the intro to Prince of Persia, so everything worked as it should after changing the jumpers, but now programs like Doom and Fasttracker 2 aren’t identifying the card. My Set Blaster parameters are A220 I7 D1 T3. Any suggestions?
 
While the card does sound better, some programs like Doom and Fasttracker 2 aren’t working with the soundcard. Not sure if that’s on behalf of the software or the card itself.
 
Maybe it is in the software installation setup? It seems to me that the two most common IRQ settings for sound were 5 or 7 with DMA 1 - perhaps you could try moving the IRQ to 5 (make sure nothing else is using 5) or try to find the software sound settings.
 
I found a note for Fasttracker 2 that says "You can choose from within FT2 whether to use the GUS or SB16 sound devices."
Have you found the sound settings in FT2 and Doom?
 
Yes, and I’ve set them. Doom has sound now but no sound effects, Fasttracker doesn’t even let me select a soundblaster in the config menu.
 
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