3Com (R) Corporation EtherDisk (R) Diskette for The EtherLink III NIC Family NDIS 3.0/4.0 drivers for Windows 95 The NDIS 3.0/4.0 drivers for Windows 95 are 32-bit protect-mode miniport drivers. The driver names are ELNK3ND3.SYS and ELNK3ND4.SYS. These drivers are replacement drivers for the Windows 95 native driver full port NDIS 3 driver, called ELNK3.VXD. Both drivers work on all adapters in the 3C5X9 EtherLink III product family. However, only the 3Com driver provides installation support for the 3C509B-TPC NIC. It's important to use the driver on this EtherDisk if you are either using 3Com's DRMON network management or desire to use PACE to obtain better network performance to meet real-time needs. Updating a Older Installation ----------------------------- IMPORTANT: These instructions will only work if you are running Windows 95 Service Release 2 (build 950B) or later and if the NIC is in Plug n' Play mode. Otherwise you MUST remove the NIC from the Network Control Panel, reboot your system and then go to step 2 in the first time installation instructions below, in order to update your NIC drivers. 1. Double-Click on the System Control Panel in your Control Panel Folder. 2. Click on the Device Manager Tab at the top of the window. 3. Double-Click on Network Adapters. 4. Double Click on The 3Com EtherLink III NIC. 5. Click the Check Box to Disable the NIC in this hardware profile. 6. Click OK. 7. A red X should appear on the 3Com EtherLink III NIC, Double Click on The 3Com EtherLink III NIC again. 8. Click on the Driver Tab at the top of the Window. 9. Click the Update Driver... button. 10. Select No, select driver from list, then click Next. 11. Click Have Disk..., Insert the 3Com EtherDisk for EtherLink III Family Adapters (Disk 1) into the A: drive and click OK. 12. Select the Card you have and then Click OK. 13. The installation will continue from there as if it was a First-Time Installation at step #5. 14. After the update procedure is over you must reboot your system to load the new driver. First-Time Installation in an Existing Windows '95 computer. ------------------------ 1. IMPORTANT: Install and configure Windows 95 BEFORE installing the NIC. Failure to follow this instruction may result in using the NIC driver on the Windows 95 CD. 2. Before installing the NIC, run the program PREINSTL on EtherDisk #2 and follow the NIC installation instructions given by PREINSTL. 3. Windows 95 will autodetect the NIC in the system and either present you with a menu of where to locate the driver or an installation wizard. If Windows 95 does not detect a 3C509B NIC (because the 3C509B does not have Plug 'n Play enabled), open the control panel and press the Add New Hardware icon. 4. Select Driver from disk provided by the hardware manufacturer from the prompt that appears. Then Press OK. 5. Insert the 3Com EtherDisk #1 diskette in your floppy drive and then specify the correct drive letter at the prompt. If the diskette is in drive A:, then just press OK. You may need to do this twice during the installation. Files will then be copyied from the diskette. 6. Next, the 3Com installation program will run. If the 3C509B has Plug 'n Play enabled, you want the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol installed, and you have a DHCP server on your network, then choose Express installation. If one or more of the conditions above are not met or you need to change the NIC configuration, then choose Custom installation. 7. When the installation program exits and more installation files have been read, Windows '95 will prompt you for the Windows '95 installation media. Enter the correct location of the media. For example, if the Windows '95 CD is located in the CD-ROM drive D:, then enter D:\WIN95 Press OK 8. Once the process of loading and configuring the network is complete, Windows '95 prompts for a shutdown and reboot. Press "Yes". Windows 95 will shutdown and reboot. Windows will prompt you for your network log on name and password. This name need not be the same name you selected as your computer name. What To Do If Your Network Doesn't Work Properly ------------------------------------------------ If the network doesn't function correctly, check the network configuration to see if the network has the proper components installed. Check the device manager to see if the NIC is functioning correctly. To check the network configuration, from the start button on the lower left, open the menu and choose settings, control panel. On the control panel, choose Network. Examine the Configuration. The default network setup for Windows '95 is the following five components: 3Com EtherLink III driver, IPX/SPX compatible protocol, NetBEUI protocol, Client for Microsoft Networks, and Client for Novell Networks. If you chose to install TCP/IP in the custom configuration of the 3Com install, or you used the express install, then the TCP/IP stack will also be present. If any components are missing, you can add them by pressing the add button. Protocols can be added by pressing the "Add" button on the network menu, choosing Protocol on the next screen, and pressing the Add button. On the "Select Network Protocol" screen, choose Microsoft on the left pane. On the right pane, choose the protocol and press OK. Similarly, the clients can be added by choosing the Client on the "Select Network Component" screen and pressing the Add button. On the "Select Network Client menu, choose Microsoft on the left pane, the Client on the right pane, and press OK. If you use the Client for NetWare Networks, press the Properties button on the "Network" screen. Enter the name of the NetWare server you want to use in the "Preferred server" box and press OK. When the configuration is correct, press the Identification tab in the "Network" screen. The computer name is your computer name to the network. Make sure this is the name you want to use to log into the network and connect to your server. The Workgroup name is the group you will be closely associated with on the network if you use peer group networking. Peers can see each other when they look in the network neighborhood. The Computer Description is visible to other members of your workgroup when they see you in the network neighborhood. Now press the OK button, and the network will be configured the way you chose in the last few paragraphs. At the completion of this step, Windows 95 will prompt you to restart the computer. Press the "Yes" button. After the computer restarts, the network is ready to use. To check if the NIC is working correctly, double click the "System" icon in the control panel, then press the "Device Manager" tab. Under the "Network adapters" item, look at the "3Com EtherLink III ISA ..." entry. If the NIC has either a yellow exclamation mark or a red "X" through it, the NIC is not working properly. This error needs to be remedied. Removing the installation ------------------------- The correct way to remove an installation is to open the network control panel, choose the EtherLink III NIC, and press the Remove button. If you attempt to remove the "3Com TCAAITDI Diagnostic TDI", the NIC will be removed, which causes the rest of the network components to be removed. Running the 3Com NIC diagnostic without support of the TDI will result in the system locking up. The TDI is not an optional component that can be removed. Changing the NIC configuration ------------------------------ Care must be exercised when altering the NIC configuration settings after installation. Certain configuration changes can alter the way Windows 95 behaves after reboot. Altering the Plug 'n Play setting Changing the Plug 'n Play setting after installation will change the way Windows 95 views the NIC. If you change the setting to enable Plug 'n Play, then just shut down, power cycle, and reboot the computer. Windows 95 will see the NIC is in Plug 'n Play mode and change its internal configuration to use the NIC in Plug 'n Play mode. However, changing the setting to disable Plug 'n Play mode will result in the NIC not being found on the next reboot, which renders the network unusable. To fix this, shut down Windows 95, power cycle the computer, and reboot. After the computer reboots, open the control panel and select the add new hardware icon. The add new hardware wizard starts, press the next button. The next screen prompts for "Do you want Windows to search for new hardware?". Click the "No" radio button and press next. In the next screen, double click the Network Adapters item. On the Select Device panel, choose 3Com on the left pane and "3Com EtherLink III (3C590/3C509B) in ISA mode" on the right pane. Put EtherDisk #1 in the floppy drive and press OK on the insert disk message. The system will now read files from the EtherDisk. Later, the Windows 95 Add New Hardware Wizard will display the I/O setting chosen for the EtherLink III. Record this number and press Next. The 3Com installation diagnostic will run. Press Next on the first panel. The second panel displays the NIC's configuration settings. Set the I/O base address to the number assigned by Windows 95 in the previous step. Be sure the interrupt number chosen doesn't conflict with another device in the computer. Press Next. Continue the installation until the "Installation Complete" screen appears, then press Finished. Now press the Finish button on the Add New Hardware Wizard. The System Settings Change box will appear, prompting for a reboot. Press the NO button. Now double click the network icon in the control panel. Select the "3Com EtherLink III ... in PnP mode" and press Remove. Press the OK button on the Network dialog box that pops up, then press the OK button on the Network configuration menu. Close the control panel, then shut down and reboot the system. Your network is now operational. Hints ----- 1. If an error message appears, saying that the .INF file cannot be found in the specified location, verify that the file actually exists. The file is in the root directory of the 3Com EtherDisk diskette #1. The filename is W95EL5X9.INF. If it is missing, download the disk from 3Com's download sites, and make sure you expand it properly. Refer to the SUPPORT.TXT file on this disk for more information. 2. Verify the NIC driver is working. Open control panel, system, device manager. Look at the network adapter. If the EtherLink III NIC is visible with a yellow exclamation mark, the driver was not able to get the NIC working. This could be due to a resource conflict, i.e. the base address or interrupt is in conflict with another device or there is. another device at I/O address 0x110. If the EtherLink III NIC is visible with a red 'X', Windows 95 detected a problem that it considered very serious. One example is all the interrupts were used prior to the NIC installation, so Windows 95 cannot assign an interrupt to the NIC. Windows '95 Peer-to-Peer Networking ----------------------------------- General Overview In a peer-to-peer network, a relationship exists between two or more "like" computers. Each computer may make portions of its devices (such as disk drives, CD-ROM driver, and printers) available to other computers on the network. You can decide what to make available to other users. When you share a disk driver or folder, you also need to decide if you want to grant other users the right to store and change information on your drive or folder. The general characteristics of a peer-to-peer network are: The network provides the capability to share resources with any computer on the network. When you share resources, your computer acts as a server for all other computers in the network while still retaining all it's capability for your use. In a server-based network, only the resources on the dedicated server can be shared. A peer to peer network is more difficult to administer than a server-based network. Its flexible resource-sharing and lack of central management and control make management difficult. However, the network works with your existing equipment and does not require the purchase of a dedicated server. This lowers the cost of networking. Peer-to-Peer Networking with Windows '95 Microsoft Windows '95 comes with a built in peer to peer network. It also supports a wide range of network environments and Network Software vendors to work with dedicated networks. To configure Windows '95 for peer-to-peer networking, follow the steps below. Install Windows '95 and configure the network as outlined in the previous instructions in this document. To use peer to peer networking, you must have the Microsoft Network Client in your network configuration. Before you can share resources on your computer, you need to add file and print sharing capability to your network configuration. To install file and print sharing, do the following steps. 1. Open the Control Panel window and select Network. Click on the Start button on the Windows '95 Taskbar, select Settings, and then select Control Panel. Double-click on the Network icon. 2. In the Network window, click Add... 3. Select Service from the list of Network Components and click Add... 4. Select Microsoft from the list of Manufacturers on the left column. 5. Select File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks from the right column. 6. Click OK. 7. Go back to the Network window and select the Identification tab. 8. Assign a Computer name that will identify you on the network. This name must be unique. 9. Assign a Workgroup name. The workgroup name must be the same on all the computers on your network whom you want to share information with. More than one workgroup may exist on a network, but members of a workgroup cannot directly see members of a different workgroup. 10. Give a description of your computer. This description is what another users sees when he browses the network from his computer. It further defines who you are on the network. 11. When you are done entering this information click OK. 12. Click OK at the bottom of your Network window. Windows '95 will prompt you for the location of the Windows '95 CD-ROM or diskettes containing the files needed for sharing. Assuming the CD-ROM is drive D: on your computer, enter D:\WIN95. 13. When Windows '95 prompts you to shut down and reboot the computer, click the Yes button. After Windows '95 reboots, you are ready to share resources. 14. You can share a device by opening "My Computer" on your desktop and clicking the right mouse button over each device you want to share. From the menu that appears, select "Sharing" properties for the device. From the menu that appears, pick a share name for the device, and click OK. The device is now shared. 15. In a similar manner, you can share folders rather than an entire disk drive. Select a drive and click the left mouse button to open the drive. Select the folder and click the right mouse button, and select "Sharing" from the menu. When the share menu opens, select a share name and select the way you want to share the folder. Read only means no user can write or delete the files and folders in your shared folder. Selection read and write access gives other users permission to delete or change files and folders. For more detail, refer to your Microsoft Windows '95 manual on how to share resources with other computers on your network. (%VER W95NDIS3.TXT - NDIS 3.0 in Windows 95 v6.0d