Need Help Installing ECS L7VMM3 MOBO

[wee]

Just bought it!

This MOBO has on-board audio/video/ethernet with a 'support CD' for
the needed (?) drivers. I have the PRO 3100A+ CPU.

I cannot get the audio to work at all. I installed the software on
the CD, but there is no sound. I have W98SE. ControlPanel>Sound
shows gray for the sounds.

The BIOS has the on-board sound 'enabled'.

I notice during the boot up the following info:

ESS PCI Audio Device Driver Version 2.30D
Maestro.com
DOS Device Setup Utility Version 2.37G
Cannot find ESS PCI Audio Adaptor

During the boot up, the Windows Hardware Wizard detects presence of
the audio fine, but the search for driver(s) fails - cannot find same
on the CD even though the CD has a sound subdirectory with the W98
audio driver(s) thereunder.

Then after the boot is completed I looked in Device manager and found
that the 'PCI Multimedia Audio Device' was flagged with the dreaded
yellow ?. So no wonder there is no sound.

I tried removing the flagged audio device in Device Manager, but the
whole scenario simply repeats.

I really need some help here. Is there anyone out there that can
advise what I can try?

Thanks

 

[kony]

Just bought it!

This MOBO has on-board audio/video/ethernet with a 'support CD' for
the needed (?) drivers. I have the PRO 3100A+ CPU.

Don't use the drivers on the CD... historically speaking, the drivers they
include are ancient. Download newest driver from respecitve chipset
manufacturers.

I cannot get the audio to work at all. I installed the software on
the CD, but there is no sound. I have W98SE. ControlPanel>Sound
shows gray for the sounds.

How, exactly, did you install this OS?
Was it a plug-n-play migration from a previous install to a different
motherboard?

Sometimes you need to disable all nonessential applications running in the
background (CTRL-ALT-DEL will suffice) then REinstall the audio driver.

Sometimes the driver is WDM type and needs either one of the three
following:

1) Use VXD type driver instead (often called the Win98 (FE) or Win98 or
Win9x driver.

2) Registry might be missing a key for virtual software (WDM) sound
support, try adding this reg. patch:
http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/Win98_WDM_Sound.reg

3) Update Direct X to at least version 8.

The BIOS has the on-board sound 'enabled'.

I notice during the boot up the following info:

ESS PCI Audio Device Driver Version 2.30D
Maestro.com
DOS Device Setup Utility Version 2.37G
Cannot find ESS PCI Audio Adaptor

Don't know if that is significant or not, it's only the DOS driver which
isn't used in Windows. Unless you need DOS sound support you can later
rem(ark) out the lines that load that in autoexec.bat.

During the boot up, the Windows Hardware Wizard detects presence of
the audio fine, but the search for driver(s) fails - cannot find same
on the CD even though the CD has a sound subdirectory with the W98
audio driver(s) thereunder.

Often they're installed with an executible, ran from the CD, like
"setup.exe" or "install.exe".

Then after the boot is completed I looked in Device manager and found
that the 'PCI Multimedia Audio Device' was flagged with the dreaded
yellow ?. So no wonder there is no sound.

In the properties for that device, what does it report as the problem?

I tried removing the flagged audio device in Device Manager, but the
whole scenario simply repeats.

I really need some help here. Is there anyone out there that can
advise what I can try?

Download the newest driver from ESS and use that, even if you are able to
get the old version on the CD to work, or since it isn't working yet, go
ahead and try newest driver first. You might need the numbers printed on
the ESS chip itself then go here:

http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm#pci

 

[Art Leonard]

Lo, the driver cd's that ECS ships are very confusing and cover a very
large portion of their product line. I have had similar frustrating
experiences trying to load what turned out to be the wrong driver.

Some where on the cd there is an explanation of what driver to use.. but it
is not always easy to find and often written in broken English. Look at all
the readme files. In particular, look for one called PATH. This file will be
more help than anything else. The drivers on the cd will work unless the
hardware is defective. These are the drivers the board was built around.
Baseline drivers from the chipset mfg may not give the desired results!

Once the correct drivers are located it is a good idea to copy them to your
HDD as ECS boards quite often loose the sound drivers on reboot??? ( a
couple of times a year is quite often to me) I don't know why, they just do.
So having them handy is nice.

Good Luck
Art Leonard

 

[wee]

Lo, the driver cd's that ECS ships are very confusing and cover a very
large portion of their product line. I have had similar frustrating
experiences trying to load what turned out to be the wrong driver.

Some where on the cd there is an explanation of what driver to use.. but it
is not always easy to find and often written in broken English. Look at all
the readme files. In particular, look for one called PATH. This file will be
more help than anything else. The drivers on the cd will work unless the
hardware is defective. These are the drivers the board was built around.
Baseline drivers from the chipset mfg may not give the desired results!

Once the correct drivers are located it is a good idea to copy them to your
HDD as ECS boards quite often loose the sound drivers on reboot??? ( a
couple of times a year is quite often to me) I don't know why, they just do.
So having them handy is nice.

Good Luck
Art Leonard

Thanks guys!

I solved the problem by trying ALL the drivers under ALL the subdirs
under 'sound' on the CD disk.

The ones under Intel work.

Thanks again.

WeeWillie