760: Upgrade ESS sound card with joystick/midi port... ?

[CYBERYOGI =CO=Windler]

I replaced my Thinkpad 760EL with an 760XD, but it makes trouble and especially the sound is horrible thanks to its Mwave sound card.

Details see:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 748#222748

I read that the ESS sound card from my 760EL can be installed in the XD to get rid of the infamous Mwave sound system. But so far I know, the joystick/MIDI port is also part of the sound card and my 760EL lacks it. I once took the 760EL apart and so far I remember, there were indeed empty traces for installing that port on the sound card, but an IC and some discrete SMD components were omitted.

-Can the ESS sound card be upgraded with the joystick/midi port (possibly transplanted from the Mwave card)?

-So far other special parts (ICs) are needed, does anybody know a corresponding ISA or PCI sound card from that it could be transplanted?

[AlphaKilo470]

The midi port is on the video board instead of the sound board. Since the sound chip is on it's own board, all you have to do is find an ESS board and replace the mWave board with it which only requires good skill with a screwdriver and taking things apart. If at anypoint a soldiering iron is needed, you probably screwed up bad.

[CYBERYOGI =CO=Windler]

The midi port is on the video board instead of the sound board. Since the sound chip is on it's own board, all you have to do is find an ESS board and replace the mWave board with it which only requires good skill with a screwdriver and taking things apart. If at anypoint a soldiering iron is needed, you probably screwed up bad.

Thanks for the info. Will an XD still recognize the port, or is it strictly software-dependant on the Mwave card? (Win98SE lists midi-out as an Mwave function, but this may be just a software name.)

The ESS card is already present in my 760EL and I hope I can swap it without to much difficulty with the 760XD one. I remember that the EL was delicate to dismantle, however I even repaired an ultra-rare Casio KX-101 (boombox with music keyboard) that had a severely shattered doublesided PCB and is IMO one of the worst dismantable pieces of hardware I ever saw.

See here:
http://users.informatik.haw-hamburg.de/ ... X-101.html

[AlphaKilo470]

The 760 is only delicate the first time you take it apart but once you get the routine down, it's like second nature but then again, I've probably dealt with more 760s than anyone would want to see in a lifetime. The joystick port will be recognized if it's on the card. Take note that the video cards only work with respective motherboards though so a 760ED card won't work on a 760EL, vid card from an XGA system won't work on an SVGA motherboard, etc. The video features and game/midi port have no ties to the mWave card.

[harald612]

I think on the MWave sound card is also the modem function. So when I replace the Mwave card with an ESS card, I lost the modem/fax functionality. Is it correct?

[AlphaKilo470]

Yes. The mWave provided sound and 28.8k modem capability whereas the ESS card only provides sound.

[CYBERYOGI =CO=Windler]

I think on the MWave sound card is also the modem function. So when I replace the Mwave card with an ESS card, I lost the modem/fax functionality. Is it correct?

But such a slow modem would be anyway a waste of phone fees. Use an external 56k modem at the serial port or USB (through a cardbus card).

[harald612]

Thanks, for the answers. No problem, to loose my modem. It's more worth to have a ESS1688 sound card, which is better supported from Linux.

[harald612]

OK, now it is done! I am running my ThinkPad 760XD under Knoppix and sound is working great! But I had some problems. First the ESS1688 was set to IRQ 10 and Linux does not recognize it. Then I have set the sound card to IRQ 7 and it works!

But the biggest problem was to find a distribution which supports this old graphic card Trident Cyber9385. Because it is only running with XFree86 Version 3.3.6.

Harald