Windows 95 ESS Audio Driver Installation
The following instructions tell how to install the Audio
driver for your computer.
Note: If you a have a printer connected to your
computer you can print these instructions from Notepad
by clicking on File on the menu bar and then click on
print.
There are two steps to installing the Audio driver:
First you have to remove any Audio Drivers and any
Unknown Devices from Device Manager and then you
install the new driver from the Digital System CD.
Step 1: Removing the driver and unknown devices:
1. Click on the Start button located on the Windows 95
Taskbar.
2. Select settings and click on Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, double-click on the System icon.
4. Click on the Device Manager tab in the System
Properties Dialog box.
5. Double-click on Sound, video and game controllers.
6. Click on an audio driver to select it. For example:
ESS ES1688 AudioDrive
If it is not present, go to step 9.
7. Click on Remove.
8. Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7 for each Audio Device.
9. Double-click on Other Devices (if present).
10. Click on Unknown Device to select it.
Note: Do Not remove the Cardbus Bridge or you will
hang the system, on APM installs.
11. Click on Remove.
12. Repeat steps 9, 10, and 11 for each Unknown Device.
13. Click on Close. DO NOT reboot the system.
Step 2: Installing the New Driver from the Digital System CD:
1. Place the Digital System CD in the CD drive.
2. In Control Panel, double-click on Add New Hardware.
3. Click on Next and select No when asked if you want
Windows 95 to look for new hardware. Click on Next.
4. Select Sound, video and game controllers and click
on Next.
5. Click on Have Disk.
a. Click on Browse:
b. Under Drives, Select the CD Drive.
c. Under Folders, double-click on drivers and
then Win95 and then audio.
d. Click on OK.
e. Click on OK.
6. Select ESS 1878 Plug and Play AudioDrive and click
on OK.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Remove the Digital System CD from the CD drive.
9. Click on Yes when asked to Restart the computer.
10. After the system restarts, double-click on the
System icon in Control Panel.
11. Click on the Device Manager tab in the System
Properties Dialog box.
12. Double-click on Sound, video and game controllers.
13. There should be two entries for ESS ES1878 Audio Drive.
If present, click on the entry with the exclamation
point (!).
14. Click on Remove.
15. Click on Close.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.