[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Trouble getting LIM/EMS working on 286/NEAT

mull@sparc26.hri.com (Chris Mullendore) (03/09/91)

I recently purchased a 20MHz 286/NEAT motherboard which advertized
LIM/EMS 4.0 compatability.  I have 2MB in memory bank 0 (no
interleaving... sigh).  With it came the Expanded Memory Manager device
driver, NEATEMM.SYS, made by Chips and Technology, and a small doc file.

The doc file seems to indicate that no parameters are necessary to the
driver and that it reads the default parameters that were established by
extended setup from the NEAT hardware.  It also says that if the default
parameters are "wrong", the driver will detect this and issue the
message "The EMS setup has been incorrectly specified.  No EMS is available."

I've tried many different variations of the extended setup, but I always
get the undescriptive error message above.  I tried all "EMS Base Memory
Addr" from C400, C800, ..., F000.  I also tried all "EMS Base I/O Addr"
from 208/209, 218/219, ..., 2E8/2E9.  I have not tried all combinations
of the two.

Is it true that the device driver does not need any parameters?

Does anyone know what the constraints are for getting a proper EMS setup?

My extended setup is as follows:

	BIOS Rom:			Enabled
	Video Rom:			Enabled
	Shadow 16K at C4000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at C8000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at CC000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at D0000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at D4000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at D8000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at DC000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at E0000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at E4000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at E8000:		Disabled
	Shadow 16K at EC000:		Disabled
	Memory Wait States:		0 wait states
	640K-1024K Relocation:		Enabled
	EMS Base Memory Addr:		DC00
	EMS Base I/O Addr:		208h/209h
	EMS Page 0 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
	EMS Page 1 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
	EMS Page 2 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
	EMS Page 3 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
	EMS Memory Size:		2.0M
	EMS Wait States:		1 wait state
	EMS Memory:			Enabled

Also, how can I find out what the above parameters do?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Please reply directly to:

	Paul L. Seier		Internet:  71550.1341@compuserve.com 

ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (03/10/91)

From article <1991Mar8.191923.21984@hri.com>, by mull@sparc26.hri.com (Chris Mullendore):
> I recently purchased a 20MHz 286/NEAT motherboard which advertized
> LIM/EMS 4.0 compatability.  I have 2MB in memory bank 0 (no
> interleaving... sigh).  With it came the Expanded Memory Manager device
> driver, NEATEMM.SYS, made by Chips and Technology, and a small doc file.
> 
> The doc file seems to indicate that no parameters are necessary to the
> driver and that it reads the default parameters that were established by
> extended setup from the NEAT hardware.  It also says that if the default
> parameters are "wrong", the driver will detect this and issue the
> message "The EMS setup has been incorrectly specified.  No EMS is available."
> 
> I've tried many different variations of the extended setup, but I always
> get the undescriptive error message above.  I tried all "EMS Base Memory
> Addr" from C400, C800, ..., F000.  I also tried all "EMS Base I/O Addr"
> from 208/209, 218/219, ..., 2E8/2E9.  I have not tried all combinations
> of the two.
> 
> Is it true that the device driver does not need any parameters?
> 
> Does anyone know what the constraints are for getting a proper EMS setup?
> 
> My extended setup is as follows:
> 
> 	BIOS Rom:			Enabled
> 	Video Rom:			Enabled
> 	Shadow 16K at C4000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at C8000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at CC000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at D0000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at D4000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at D8000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at DC000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at E0000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at E4000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at E8000:		Disabled
> 	Shadow 16K at EC000:		Disabled
> 	Memory Wait States:		0 wait states
> 	640K-1024K Relocation:		Enabled
> 	EMS Base Memory Addr:		DC00
> 	EMS Base I/O Addr:		208h/209h
> 	EMS Page 0 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
> 	EMS Page 1 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
> 	EMS Page 2 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
> 	EMS Page 3 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
> 	EMS Memory Size:		2.0M
                                        ^^^
Hold on there, cowboy.  If you allocate 2Mb for EMS, what is left 
for conventional memory?  

I got the NEAT chipset on both a 286 12MHz and a 386SX, 
and they both work fine.  On the 286 12MHz I got 2Mb too 
and allocate 1Mb for EMS in the setup (press DEL on boot),
and it works perfectly.  I also *disabled* the 640k-1024k 
relocation.

mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (03/13/91)

In article <1991Mar8.191923.21984@hri.com> 71550.1341@compuserve.com (Paul L. Seier) writes:
<I recently purchased a 20MHz 286/NEAT motherboard which advertized
<LIM/EMS 4.0 compatability.  I have 2MB in memory bank 0 (no
...
<Does anyone know what the constraints are for getting a proper EMS setup?
<
<My extended setup is as follows:
<
<	BIOS Rom:			Enabled
<	Video Rom:			Enabled
<	Shadow 16K at <... all disabled>
<	Memory Wait States:		0 wait states
<	640K-1024K Relocation:		Enabled
<	EMS Base Memory Addr:		DC00
<	EMS Base I/O Addr:		208h/209h
<	EMS Page 0 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
<	EMS Page 1 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
<	EMS Page 2 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
<	EMS Page 3 Register Extension:	1M to 2M
<	EMS Memory Size:		2.0M
<	EMS Wait States:		1 wait state
<	EMS Memory:			Enabled

As a first guess, try reducing the EMS Memory Size.. I doubt that all 2.0Meg
is available for EMS use.. as for the rest, Simtel20/wuarchive/et al..
have a file describing the NEAT chipset in great detail:

Directory PD1:<MSDOS.INFO>
NEATCHIP.ZIP  B   12260  900402  Describes Chips and Technologies' NEAT chipset

On wuarchive.wustl.edu, this would be: mirrors/msdos/info/neatchip.zip

-- 
MLORD@BNR.CA  Ottawa, Ontario *** Personal views only ***
begin 644 NOTSHARE.COM ; Free MS-DOS utility - use instead of SHARE.EXE
MZQ.0@/P/=`J`_!9T!2[_+H``L/_/+HX&+`"T2<TAO@,!OX0`N1(`C,B.P/.DS
<^K@A-<TAB1Z``(P&@@"ZA`"X(27-(?NZE@#-)P#-5
``
end