emanuel@cernvax.UUCP (emanuel machado) (11/28/89)
Hi, people,
Maybe you can help on this subject. I'm writing on behalf of some
other people, who have a sort of mysterious problem. We have two micros
that we want to connect to the ethernet - a thin wire ethernet, actually.
One is a XT-286 (Yes, one of those), 6 MHz, EGA, Serial and Parallel communi-
cations, etc., and the other is a PC/AT-3 (True IBM, Bios of 1981,-1985), VGA
board (IBM and Hercules - we've tried both), with or without S/P communications.
Both systems running MS-DOS 3.20. The Ethernet Card is a Western Digital one,
the WD80003EBT, without extra ROM (but with the socket), RAM buffer of 8K RAM.
Of these computers, we managed to install the Ethernet Card in the
XT-286, using IRQ-5 (COM3), and RAM base memory at D0000 (I/O port is at 280h).
No big fuss. But we are having problems installing the CARD on the AT-E. The
(Hercules) VGA card docummentation only mentions the RAM space used: We should
not use locations from A0000 to C7FFF (hex). No reference to I/O or IRQ's. Yet,
having SUCCEDED to install the Ethernet Card with a Hercules Graphics Card (I
mean the Monocrome graphics card) but not with the VGA cards available, and
having tried some other memory / I/O / IRQs combinations, we have the feeling
that something is wrong.
Question: Do any of you have any idea of what memory/port addresses
these cards actually use? Could we be doing something wrong? Is it a bug?
Should we buy another WD Card? Or VGA Card? Or another computer? :-)
Thanks in advance for your answer,
Emanuel Machado
--
Emanuel T.M. Machado, CERN | | UUCP:
,_ _ | You CAN get out | emanuel@cernvax.UUCP
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/_ / / / /_ < / / /_/ <'_ /_ | | emanuel@cernvax.cern.chswh@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Steve Harrold) (11/30/89)
Re : LAN cards in your PC An experience I had installing a LAN card into my PC may supply you with a clue. The PC, an HP Vectra RS/25C (25 MHz, 386), had two serial and two parallel ports. Upon installing the LAN card, it (the LAN card) failed to operate. When I yanked the serial/parallel card (eliminating COM2 and LPT2), the LAN card worked properly. Then I did some remedial RTFM work and discovered that the LAN card, although configurable with respect to IRQ number, only allowed you to select from the collection assigned to COM1, COM2, LPT1, LPT2! This means I had erroneously selected an IRQ that was already in use. I solved my particular problem by re-installing the serial/parallel card, but disabled the LPT2 port. This permitted me to configure the LAN card with the IRQ normally assigned to that port. They lived happily ever after. Getting back to YOUR situation. Are you inadvertently re-using an in-use IRQ number?
pipkins@qmsseq.imagen.com (Jeff Pipkins) (12/01/89)
When installing a Western Digital WD8003 Ethernet board in a system with a VGA and EMS, may I suggest locating the WD8003 at segment address CE00 (hex)? The VGA card mapping ends at C7FF but the WD8003 won't map at C800, and besides, there is usually a ROM module that resides there. EMS usually starts at D000, so CE00 looks like a cozy little hole for the 8K needed. IRQ line allocation: XTs use IRQ 5 for the hard disk; IRQ 5 is informally assigned to parallel port 378 (hex) on the AT. Even if you have more than one LPT port on your AT (or 386), chances are incredibly high that you're still not using IRQ 5. IRQ 7 is for parallel port 3BC and is rarely used by anything other than background despoolers. IRQ 4 is for serial port 3F8; IRQ 3 is for serial port 2F8. Either of these unused is fair game for your WD board. Check for possible conflicts with a bus mouse card, if you have one. Good Luck! /*========================================================================*\ Jeff Pipkins: pipkins@imagen.com My views are not necessarily shared by my employer or the IRS. That explains a lot about my paycheck. "Why is it that unpitted dates have pits and pitted dates do not?" \*========================================================================*/