EIDE2300plus Installation Tips (Doc# 2100)
FOR DRIVES >528MB USING LBA DRIVE TRANSLATION AND
FAT(DOS) INSTALLATION
1) Please backup existing data before installing the controller.
2) Enable LBA translation on EIDE2300plus - Set JP1 to 2-3 position
Note: The card is shipped with JP1 set to 1-2.
3) Install the EIDE2300plus
4) In CMOS, set manufacturer drive parameters; do not enable CMOS
drive translation.
5) Boot to DOS floppy; Run FDISK
Delete former partitions
Recreate partitions
6) Reboot to floppy; Format with DOS Format command
Sometimes a third party software on floppy accompanies >528 drives IDE
hard disks. This disk driver software should NOT be used in conjunction
with the EIDE2300plus since it would conflict with its disk drivers.
Disk Manager and other such software to support >528 capacity should be
removed from the drive since the partitions and disk drivers will conflict
with the EIDE2300plus disk drivers. Follow the above steps and remove the
drivers. See the below section if there is some difficulty with this process.
CANNOT COMPLETELY REMOVE DISK MANAGER FROM BOOT PARTITION
Sometimes FDISK cannot delete Disk Manager information from the boot
partition. Try running "DMCONFIG /R" from the Ontrack Disk Manager
diskette. Also, Note that this should be destructive to the Ontrack made
partitions.
Another alternative is to run "FDISK /MBR" (Master Boot Record) which is
not destructive. If this does not accomplish this, you should take steps
to erase the boot sector.
One method is to use a debug routine from our 24hr FaxBack Service Doc
#2120 . Also with Norton Disk Editor, you could manually erase sectors
0 to 35 by setting the value to 00. Both methods with be destructive to
the data.
FOR SOUND BLASTER COMPATIBLE DMA CH1 CONFLICTS
Set the EIDE2300plus ECP DMA ch to 3 instead of default 1:
Set JP10 col 1&2 to 2-3 position
PROBLEMS BOOTING WHEN USING "T" URBO SELECTION
There is a built in driver in our Controller external BIOS. It is enabled
by default but may cause problems booting. Disable the BIOS Driver if
causing booting problems since our CONFIG.SYS driver EIDE2300.sys will load
and program the speed for the VL-IDE drives. To disable BIOS driver -
Set JP4 col 1&2 to 1-2 position.
USING EIDE2300PLUS INSTALLATION UTILITY
Before running, you must do a clean boot without a CONFIG.SYS OR
AUTOEXEC.BAT loading; for DOS6 or above, press <F5> to do a clean boot
or boot from a bootable floppy.
NOTE: This configuration utility tests the speeds of IDE drives on the
VL-IDE connector ONLY. There are no performance settings for the ISA-IDE
connector.
MANUALLY SETTING EIDE2300.SYS SPEED PARAMETERS
Only ONE speed setting mode(PIO or DMA) can be enabled per device.
On the Device line uses EITHER /D (PIO) or /M (DMA)- NOT both. You
may however set one IDE device with PIO and the other with DMA like /D0:_
/M1:_.
WHAT ARE PIO/IOCHDRY AND DMA MODES?
PIO, or Programmed Input/Output, transfers data in fixed time lengths called
cycle times. The shorter the cycle time, the higher the transfer rates. Our PIO
speed of 8 is approximately 180ns cycle time which gives an "ideal" transfer
rate of 11MB/s when there is no overhead. Variations in Mainboard designs
can affect the driver speed settings.
IOCHRDY (PIO), or I/O Channel Ready, is a using PIO with a handshaking
method to throttle data transfer with drives IOCHRDY signal for optimal
performance. This the /D_:A (automatic) setting.
DMA, or Multi-word Direct Memory Access, transfers data with a REQ/ACK
handshaking method. DMA speed 8 is approximately 150ns cycle time which
gives an "ideal" transfer rate of 13MB/s when there is no overhead.
Variations in Mainboard designs can affect the driver speed settings.
Both PIO and DMA transfers are between the controller and the drive. There
are no mainboard DMA channels used during DMA transfer modes since this
transfer is NOT through the VLB bus but through the IDE cable.
WHAT IS 32-BIT BLOCK MODE(MULTIPLE SECTORED RD/WR)?
32-bit Block Mode is used to decrease system overhead during data transfers
through the VESA Bus. Several transfers 2 sectors at a time can be
transferred on one interrupt.
WINDOWS DOES NOT START
If Windows does not initialize or you receive "Fatal Error #3" error message,
try setting the EIDE2300.386 driver to a lower speed setting.
In System.ini [386 Enh], add this line:
DisksAccessMode= /D0:2 /D1:2
If Windows succesfully starts, try raising the speed setting number to
optimize the performance. The original setting could not be supported by
Windows on this Mainboard.
WINDOWS REPORTS 32-BIT DISK ACCESS ERROR
If Windows reports and error message detailing "...unrecognizable software
installed which conflicts with EIDE2300.386..." there maybe some software
like Compression, SCSI, or other storage device bios/software installed
which conflicts with our Windows driver. Try minimizing the Config.sys and
Autoexec.bat and use a clean install of Windows; reinstall individual
software to find which is causing this error.
Note: There is sometimes misconception on the function of 32-bit Disk Access.
It has no association with 32-bit VESA Local Bus and is primarily used to
increase Swap file performance. You may find disabling 32-bit Disk Access
can increase performance.
CANNOT USE 32-BIT FILE ACCESS
If Windows reports "...missing IFSHLP.SYS...," first check if
device=C:\Windows\IFSHLP.SYS is properly installed into the CONFIG.SYS.
32-bit File Access will not work on drives installed on a the Secondary
"ISA-IDE" controller of the EIDE2300plus. WIndows will report that they
work in 16-bit mode. There has been no provision from Microsoft yet to
provide this support.
WINDOWS MOUSE IS ERRATIC
Due to the single threaded DOS operations, Windows may have problems
dealing with extended BLOCKs from our controller and maintaining mouse
operation. Disable these Block mode transfers by adding this line,
In the System.ini [386 enh] section:
DisksAccessMode=FAST
MOUSE DISAPPEARS IN WINDOWS
In some configurations, the Mouse would work but later disappear while in
Windows. This has been associated to either an IRQ conflict with the Mouse
COM port IRQ or a Logictech Mouse driver.
Be sure to resolve any IRQ conflicts between the Mouse COM port and another
COM port. If you have a Logitech Mouse driver, download the latest update.
The "Microsoft Compatible" standard Windows mouse driver has worked.
WINDOWS MODEM DOWNLOADS
Due to the single threaded DOS operations, Windows may have problems
dealing with extended BLOCKs from our controller and maintaining mouse
operation. Disable these Block mode transfers by adding this line,
In the System.ini [386 enh] section:
DisksAccessMode=FAST
These are other Windows settings to improve high speed modem transfers.
In the System.ini [386] section, experiment with these settings:
COMxProtocol=XOFF ;Enable Xon/Xoff Flow control
COMxBuffer=1024 ;128 default
USING NON-EIDE DRIVES
There is no problem using non EIDE drives on the same connector as on the
VL-IDE connector. Drives that are not considered by drive manufacturers as
Enhanced IDE or Fast ATA can still be installed on the VL-IDE OR the ISA-
IDE connector. Promise has designed drivers which independently assign
speed settings for each drive.
SETTING UP IDE DRIVE ON ISA CONNECTOR
If only one drive is installed on the Second connector, it should be
jumpered as Master(Single) drive - This is important. If drive contains
no data, you may partition this drive with our EIFDISK.EXE utility and then
reboot, format the next available drive letter.
SETTING VL-IDE AS SECONDARY AND ISA-IDE AS PRIMARY
Although there are jumper settings that can configure the VL-IDE connector
as Secondary and the ISA- IDE connector as Primary, the Promise Bios and
Drivers will NOT recognize this configuration. Do NOT set the controller
with this configuration!
If for some reason it is necessary to use ISA-IDE controller as Primary,
disable the EIDE2300plus BIOS and do NOT load the included driver.
It is possible to run the EIDE2300plus in an ISA slot just using the ISA-IDE
connector as Primary and the VL-IDE connector disabled. This is at your own
risk since the ISA slot cannot seat a VLB card correctly.
Disable ISA-IDE "Secondary" Controller driver support
FOR DEVICE DRIVER V2.50 AND V2.60:
A "/X2" switch has been added to driver 2.50 and 2.60. The addition of the
/X2 switch prevents the PROMISE DOS device driver in the CONFIG.SYS
from initializing the third and fourth IDE drives. If you DO NOT have
drives on the "ISA-IDE" connector, add the /X2 to troubleshoot driver
lockup problems and get rid of the "WAITING..." message.
To add the switch, edit the CONFIG.SYS and place the switch on the device
driver line like such:
DEVICE=C:\EIDE2300\EIDE2300.SYS /X2
FOR EIDE2300.SYS DRIVER V2.70:
By default, the EIDE2300.SYS driver will NOT load support for Secondary
controller the third and fourth IDE hard disks. Add the "/S" to enable the
Secondary controller support.
To add the switch, edit the CONFIG.SYS and place the switch on the device
driver line like such:
DEVICE=C:\EIDE2300\EIDE2300.SYS /S
IDE CDROM AND OTHER IDE DEVICES
Other devices such as IDE CDROM and TAPE MUST support IDE ATAPI
interface. The drive manufacturer provides software drivers to attach these
drives.
Be sure to configure the proper master/slave drive settings. On BOTH
PRIMARY and SECONDARY connectors, there is one master and one slave
on EACH connector.
On either PRIMARY or SECONDARY connector, the other IDE device relies
on their supplied drivers.
The EIDE2300.SYS driver does not load support for IDE devices besides IDE
hard disks. When installed on the PRIMARY connector, set in the Mainboard
Bios drive type to "not installed" for the other IDE device and when
necessary, indicate the parameters IRQ14 PORT 1F0 for the driver install-
ation.
NOTE: If you install the CDROM on the PRIMARY connector, Microsoft Windows
32-bit Disk Access will fail when accessing the CDROM drive. This problem
is exhibited on standard IDE controllers as well.
When installed on the SECONDARY connector, indicate IRQ15 and PORT
170 for the driver installation if necessary. Most CDROM software will
autodetect the CDROM when installed on the SECONDARY connector. To
troubleshoot CDROM problems, try adding the "/X2" switch to the
EIDE2300.SYS driver in the CONFIG.SYS to disable searching for IDE hard
disks on the SECONDARY controller.
QEMM INT13 ROM HANDLER ERROR
With QEMM 7.5+, there is a "Optimize /ST" option to add the proper
exclusions. Or on previous revisions of QEMM, you may manually add the
"XSTI=13" parameter.
FLOPPY DOES NOT WORK
The card must be well-seated into the computer. It is possible to have the
IDE drives working but the floppy drives have intermittent or total floppy
drive failures.
FLOPPY TAPE DRIVE WILL NOT RESTORE
Set the Promise DOS and Windows drivers to PIO transfer instead of the DMA
method. Also be sure to set Buffers=25 if the tape software requires.
Sample:
In config.sys
DEVICE=C:\EIDE2300\EIDE2300.SYS /D0:6 /D1:5
BUFFERS=25
In System.ini [386 Enh], add this line:
DisksAccessMode= /D0:6 /D1:5
Also try setting the D3 "Drive Select" jumpers on the tape drive. They are
usually labeled D0,D1,D2,D3.
DR DOS 6.0 AND LOWER
DR DOS partitioning is based on Microsoft DOS 3.3. DR DOS 6.0 would be
incompatible with the creation of LBA translated partitions. During the
setup, DR DOS complains of no accessible hard disks available. The updated
Novell DOS 7 will not have this problem.
OS/2 WARP
The current OS/2 2.1 EIDE2300.ADD driver will not work on the OS/2 3.0
WARP release. Continue using the IBM driver IBM1s506.ADD driver which
normally installs with OS/2 WARP. Drives still can run with our controller
Bios EIDE settings through VLB at 16-bit driver with the IBM driver. A new
PROMISE driver is in development.
OS/2 does not print; DOS does The default printer address of the
EIDE2300plus is Port:278 IRQ:7. While DOS does not care what Port
LPT1 uses, OS/2 requires a default or Port:378. Set JP10 col. 1&2 to 2-3
for IRQ:7 Port:378.
NETWARE WITH 4 IDE
DO NOT enable LBA translation. NetWare does not have a >528MB
limitation on their drivers. Enabling LBA will cause the system not to boot.
To install 4 IDE drives under NetWare,
LOAD EIDE31X.DSK PORT=1F0 INT=E
LOAD IDEDISK.DSK PORT=170 INT=F
AJC-3/2/95
