3Com Corporation EtherDisk Diskette for the Fast EtherLink and the EtherLink III (R) Bus Master Adapters General Information / Release Notes The new Fast EtherLink 10/100BASE-T bus master adapter family allows you to Future-Proof new PCs and servers with the highest performance 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T network connection with a single adapter installation. The Fast EtherLink adapters have the following features: Performance: Parallel Tasking architecture with Bus Mastering providing the highest throughput. Full Duplex TP is supported for 10Mbps Ease of Use Auto-sensing network speed for 10Mbps or 100Mbps operation and which network connection is being used in 10Mbps adapters. All PCI family members are compatible with both bus mastering and non bus mastering PCI slots. Plug and Play compatible Release Notes and Frequently Asked Questions About PCI and 3Com's Fast EtherLink/EtherLink III PCI Adapters Here are the release notes and answers to some frequently asked questions about the PCI environment to help you get the most out of your 3Com Fast EtherLink/EtherLink III PCI adapters. This information will be updated regularly on 3Com's CompuServe forum (ASK3COM) and on the 3Com BBS. Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------- Q: Do I have to configure my 3Com PCI adapter for my computer? A: PCI is a self-configuring bus architecture. Most of the time you will not need to do anything except install the board in your system; PCI then takes over from there and does the rest. However, on some PCI computers (mostly with PCI-ISA/EISA combination buses in the same machine) you may be required to manually configure the computer's BIOS after installing your PCI adapter. If you need to manually configure your system, refer to your system's owner's guide. In addition, we have provided some hints on how you might go about doing this at the end of this document. For example, we have seen during our testing the AST Premmia GX P90 seem to require you to run the EISA configuration utility once you install the board to make sure that the I/O Base address of the device does not conflict with other devices in the system. Q: Which PCI slot is best for my 3Com PCI Adapter? A: 3Com PCI adapters are designed to work in any PCI slot in the system including "slave-only" slots. In those slots that support busmastering data transfers, 3Com's PCI adapters will be able to reach their full performance potential. Refer to your owner's manual for information on which slots support busmastering data transfers. Q: Which PCI slot(s) are "Busmastering" in my PCI machine? A: Generally, if you have 3 PCI slots in a system, 1 of them will be designated as a "slave-only" slot (i.e., does not support bus-mastering data transfers). In some systems, all busmastering support may be disabled by default and will need to be enabled via your system's configuration utilities (either ROM based or some disk based utility). In addition, some systems have slots that physically only support "slave-only" PCI devices. We have found they are not always marked clearly to distinguish between slave-only and busmastering slots. It is best to refer to your owner's manual or contact your system manufacturer for this information. Also, it is also best to contact your system manufacturer and make sure that you have the latest version of the system's BIOS. At the end of this document we have included some phone numbers for leading PCI system manufacturers. Q: Which Interrupt should I use with my 3Com PCI adapter? A: Unless your system is a PCI-ISA/EISA combination computer that requires manual configuration, you should not have to worry about setting interrupts. However, if your computer is not self-configuring, you will need to set your PCI adapter's interrupts manually. To do this, you may need to set a jumper on your motherboard and/or set the interrupt in the system's BIOS. In either case, you will need to assign the PCI interrupt (INTA) to any available interrupt not being used by an ISA or EISA add-in board already in your system. Keep in mind the interrupt configuration on your computer's motherboard and in your BIOS must match each other. Since PCI supports shared interrupts, multiple 3Com PCI adapters can use the same PCI interrupt in the system (except as noted below). Q. Does my PCI adapter support shared interrupts? A. The drivers for the Fast EtherLink/EtherLink III PCI adapter support shared interrupts. However, because there is no industry-standard way to support shared interrupts, other adapters may support them differently, or not at all. If you have another PCI adapter that does not support shared interrupts (for example, a SCSI host adapter), either contact its manufacturer for a shared interrupt driver or try running the systems Setup program to assign it different interrupt. Q: What Interrupt should I avoid using with my 3Com PCI adapter? A: You should avoid using any interrupts used by ISA/EISA boards that do not properly support shared interrupts (Level- triggered). If you don not know, or are unsure, if your adapter supports shared interrupts, then it is best to avoid using them. In addition, you should try to avoid using the same interrupt as your local hard drive (normally IRQ 14 for IDE drives and IRQ 11 for most SCSI Host adapters), as not all hard drives support shared interrupts at this time. For Novell Netware Servers v4.02, you should also avoid using IRQ 7 or 15. These IRS only support non-shared devices and may cause problems if they are shared between two devices. Q: Is my 3Com PCI adapter a 3.3V or 5V adapter? A: The currently shipping 3Com adapter is a 5V adapter. It will not fit in a 3.3V slot. Q: My Autolink does not work with my 3Install Account on a Netware 4.X Server. Why? A: If you don't have a memory manager installed, you will need to have at least 576k of conventional memory to connect to a Netware 4.X server 3Install volume with Autolink. Some of the possible errors returned during Autolink that may indicate you are running low on memory are as follows: "Login-4.084-100: Access has been denied." "Login-4.084-903: The command Line Syntax is Invalid. For help type Login /?" "Login-4.084-971: The workstation does not have enough memory to load the unicode table file" "Login-4.084-240: This utility was unable to open script file xxxx. Error executing the program update; No such file or directory." Q: When I run my Autolink and connect to a 3Install volume, not all the files from the 3Install volume are copied to my system. Why? A: When Autolink connects to a 3Install volume on a Netware server, upon completion, it will indicate that your system has been updated from the 3Install server volume. What is not stated here is that when files on the EtherDisk are more current then the files on the server volume, they will be used to update your system, instead of the the files from the 3Install volume. Q: My 3Com PCI adapter driver will not load when EMM386.exe is loaded. Why? A: Microsoft's EMM386.EXE versions 4.48 and earlier may conflict with some PCI system's ROM BIOSs. If you are using EMM386 version 4.48 or earlier, make sure you run your EtherDisk Installer to allow you to replace your current EMM386 with an updated version from Microsoft. Q: If my Hub port is set up for Full Duplex operation, should I still use my 3Com PCI adapter in half duplex mode? A: No. If a port on the hub is configured full duplex, then the port on the workstation MUST be configured to match. (Note: Full Duplex operation is only supported when running in 10Base-T/10Base-2 modes). Q: My ACERPOWER system indicates that I have a ROM installed, but one is not present. Why? A: The BIOS ACERPOWER (BIOS version V2.0 486/DX2 66 MHz ) PCI system incorrectly indicates (via the PCI information) that there is a ROM on the adapter on the PCI adapter. Contact ACER to get an updated BIOS to correct this problem. Q: Are my Fast EtherLink/EtherLink III PCI ODI drivers "Novell Certified?" A: Yes. 3Com's Fast EtherLink/EtherLink III PCI ODI drivers (Netware 4.0x Server driver and MS-DOS ODI client) are Novell tested and approved using Novell Netware 4.02 on Intel x86. Documentation Errata -------------------- On page 3-7 of the Fast EtherLink Parallel Tasking PCI 10/100BASE-T Network Adapter User Guide and on Page 3-8 of the EtherLink III Parallel Tasking PCI Bus Master Network Adapters User Guide, in the "Multiple PCI Adapters in a Client" section, beginning with the seventh paragraph, the text should read: "If you are running an ODI driver with multiple adapters already installed, specify which adapter you want the driver to recognize by adding the I/O base address to the NET.CFG file using the PCISLOT=X parameter. The 3C59X EtherDisk diskette contains a sample NET.CFG file in the /NETWARE/CLIENT directory." The message quoted in the user guide does not appear. 3Com PCI Adapter Installation Hints ----------------------------------- Installing a PCI adapter in a PCI slot: 1. Put the adapter in the computer. Refer to your system documentation on how to do this. 2. Start the computer. In most cases, the PCI computer will automatically configure the adapter. If this does not happen, you may need to configure the computer to work with the adapter. See the next section for more details on how to do this. If you have problems during installation: 3Com has found that some PCI computers require additional configuration steps in order to install a PCI adapter. The steps we recommend are as follows: 1. Make sure you have the latest BIOS version for your computer. Contact your computer's manufacturer to make sure you are using the latest BIOS. Here are the phone numbers for some PCI system manufacturers: Company Phone Notes ------- ----- ----- ALR* (800) 257-1230 Ambra* (800) 465-2227 AST* (800) 727-1278 AT&T* (800) 543-9935 (800) 531-2222 Compaq* (800) 652-6672 Compaq DeskPRO XL (800) 345-1518 should have a BIOS dated Oct. 1994 or later for best performance. Dell* (800) 626-4308 (800) 624-9896 Digital (800) 354-9000 Equipment* Gateway* (800) 846-2070 (800) 846-2301 Hewlett (800) 322-HPPC Packard* (800) 752-0900 IBM* (800) IBM-3333 Micron* (800) 438-3343 Packard (800) 733-4411 Bell* Unisys* (800) 328-0440 Zenith* (800) 227-3360 ZEOS* (800) 554-7172 (800) 228-5390 * Third-party trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. 2. Make sure the BIOS is set up correctly. In some PCI computers, you may need to enable the PCI slot using the BIOS Setup program. This is especially common in PCI computers with Phoenix BIOSs. After installing the adapter, turn on the computer and enter the Setup program during system initialization (usually by pressing F1, F2, or Ctrl-Alt-S). The correct key to press is usually shown on the screen. Once in Setup, find the entry for PCI slots (it may be in the main menu, or sometimes in advanced system configuration) and set these parameters to: BIOS System Value to be Set to ----------- ------------------ Paramater PCI Slot Number Slot where the 3Com PCI adapter is installed (1-3) Master ENABLED Slave ENABLED Latency Timer 40 Interrupt Choose any one of several available interrupts that Setup provides. Edge or Level Level Triggered Interrupt Note: The exact wording of each of the parameters will vary from computer to computer. Save the changes, exit the Setup program, and continue with the installation. 3Com Technical Support ---------------------- Please refer to your EtherLink III Parallel Tasking PCI Bus Master Network Adapters User Guide or your Fast EtherLink Parallel Tasking PCI 10/100BASE-T Network Adapter User Guide for this information. In addtion, this information is also available in the \Info\Support.txt file on the EtherDisk. 3Com, EtherLink, and EtherDisk are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation. %VER EtherLink Bus Master Family Etherdisk 4.1 release notes V4.1