ESS Technology, Inc. FAQ

Click here to go to the FAQ for audio issues.

Click here to go to the FAQ for communications issues.

Click here to learn how to identify ESS audio device.

Click here to learn how to identify ESS modem device.

Click here to learn how to identify ESS PCI audio/modem combo device.

General FAQ

Q: How can I find out who manufactured my modem or sound card?

A: If you do not know the product manufacturer, you can look on the product for the FCC ID number and use it to search the online FCC Equipment Authorization Database site at http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/.

ESS does not manufacture and retail and audio and modem card. You will have to rely on “Identify procedure” above if you are unable to determine which ESS device you have, before you locate correct driver from our Driver page, or report your issue by Contact Tech Support button above.

Q: I bought a computer that has a modem or sound card built into the motherboard. How can I disable the modem or sound card and install a different modem or sound card?

A: Refer to the user manual that came with your computer. The detailed instructions on how to disable the modem or sound card should be there. Also recommended is a call to the technical support personnel wherever you purchased the computer for instructions on disabling the modem or sound card on the motherboard or you may check your system setup utility in BIOS for the options to disable the onboard audio or modem card.

Q: How do I download the driver to my system?

A: You can download the driver from the Internet to anywhere on your C:\ drive (the C:\TEMP directory is best) or your system's A:\ drive. You then need the WinZip application to unzip the driver. The trial version of WinZip file compression utility can be downloaded from WinZip's website at http://www.winzip.com/.

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FAQ for audio issues

Q: Does ESS Technology make sound cards?

A: ESS Technology is a semiconductor company. Therefore, ESS Technology manufactures the chip that makes the existence of sound cards possible.

Q: How can I obtain the generic ESS Technology audio driver?

A: It is best that you utilize a specific driver for your sound card. Specific drivers can be obtained from the manufacturer or wherever you purchased the product. You may download generic drivers from this website and install them at your own risk. ESS Technology is not responsible for the suitability of any of our generic drivers for your particular configuration. If you decide to use our generic drivers, please identify the exact ESS chips (see instructions) and Windows OS before you download. You can double click on driver link, or use right mouse click, Save As, to download drivers from our Tech Support web site.

Q: How do I install the audio driver I download from ESS website?

A: After unzipping the driver package to a location in your hard disk, try to find the Install Shield bundled with it (Setup.exe or ESSetup.exe). Execute Setup and follow the instruction to install the driver.
Or you can open Device Manager, which is from System icon in Control Panel. Find the audio or modem device you would like to install/upgrade, double click on it or open its Properties, click on "Update Driver…" button and direct the location prompt to the drive/directory where you stored the unzipped driver package. Plug and Play function of Windows will do the rest.

If you never load any device driver for the audio device in your system, it may appears as an unknown device or device with exclamation mark in Device Manager. You can still use Reinstall driver or Update driver in its Properties page and follow above steps to install your driver.

Q: How can I tell if my sound card is operating in half-duplex mode or full-duplex mode?

A: Testing to see if the sound card is operating in either full-duplex mode or half-duplex mode is easy. Play any WAV or MIDI file while trying to record at the same time. If the recording and playback events occur simultaneously, the sound card is operating in full-duplex mode. All ESS Technology sound cards, except ES488, ES688, ES1488, ES1688 & ES1788 designed before 1995 for the ISA bus, operate in full-duplex mode. For more information, please contact the vendor from whom you purchased your sound card.

Q: Is my sound card fully SoundBlaster-compatible?

A: Yes. All sound cards using ESS Technology audio chips support SoundBlaster compatible applications.

Q: Do you have a Windows 2000 driver for my ISA sound card?

A: Windows 2000 drivers can be obtained from the Windows 2000 CD that came with your system or with your Windows 2000 upgrade.

Q: Does my sound card support pure DOS mode?

A: Not all ESS Technology sound cards support pure DOS mode. Pure DOS is called up when you boot your system to DOS 6.22 or Windows DOS 4.0 mode directly, instead of to the Windows desktop. For PCI sound cards, DOS mode is supported by their Windows 95/98 drivers in order to properly configure PCI resources in C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT, and the DOS emulation is limited to IRQ5.

Q: Does the ESS Technology sound card support DOS box mode?

A: Yes. All ESS Technology sound cards support DOS box mode. In Windows, you launch the DOS box by double-clicking on the DOS icon. However, in Windows NT4/2000/XP, DOS-based programs and games are unable to access I/O port and resources directly in its (DOS) Command Prompt as in Windows 95/98/98SE/Me, thus audio function may not work in the Command Prompt window.

Q: I have problems with my Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro joystick. It does not work with my sound card. How can I fix this problem?

A: Updating the Microsoft Sidewinder software usually works. Software upgrades can be obtained from Microsoft's website at: http://www.microsoft.com. If joystick recognition is not stable due to our early game port interface design, please refer to the USB connection option of your joystick device.

Q: Does ESS audio devices support Linux OS?

A: ESS only has limited support for Linux driver, partly because Linux driver needs to be built differently based on its kernel version. For resource reason we can only work with OEM customers to provide Linux support based on requested build version. Please check with your hardware vendor for Linux support policy.

For most ESS audio devices, e.g., ISA audio chips ES18xx and PCI audio chips ES19xx, we believe the Linux kernel has limited embedded driver support already. But ESS is not responsible for the (free) driver code base existing in the Linux world.

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