Frequently Asked Questions about: BOCALANcard TP and Combo ========================================================== Product codes: BEN110 and BEN120 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is arranged in the following sections: (A) - General Information about the BOCALANcard (B) - Hardware Questions (C) - Troubleshooting Section A - General Information about the BOCALANcard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are the BOCALANcard TP and Combo? The BOCALANcard TP is a Plug and Play, 10Base-T Ethernet adapter. The BOCALANcard Combo is a combination 10Base-T and 10Base-2, Plug and Play Ethernet adapter. Both adapters are high performance, low priced and easy to install Ethernet interface adapters for ISA bus systems. 2. What comes bundled with the BOCALANcard? - Product Manual - Drivers and Utilities diskette - BNC-T Connector (Combo only) 3. Where can the BOCALANcard be purchased? Boca Research enhancement products are available worldwide through authorized Boca Research retail stores, distributors, or many end-user catalogs. To purchase Boca Research products or for more information, call your local distributor or Boca Research sales staff at (407)997-6227 4. What kind of warranty does the BOCALANcard have? All Boca Research products carry a five-year limited warranty. Section B - Hardware Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are the system requirements for BOCALANcard TP and Combo? - 286, 386, 486 or Pentium based PC with standard ISA slot. 2. What hardware settings does the BOCALANcard TP and Combo support? - I/O addresses: 200h, 220h, 240h, 260h, 280h, 2A0h, 2C0h, 2E0h, 300h, 320h, 340h, 360h, 380h, 3A0h, 3C0h, (Default: 300h) - IRQ: 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, (Default: 9) - DMA: 3, 5, 6, 7, (Default: 5) - Provides 1 Boot ROM socket for use with any NE2100 compatible Boot ROM (Default: Disabled) 3. Are the BOCALANcard TP and Combo adapters software configurable? Yes, these adapters are programmed through software instead of jumpers. Once the board is configured, it does not lose this configuration unless it is re-programmed again. It does not require a configuration program to be run every time the machine is booted. The only way to view or change the configuration of the network card is to run the BENCFG.EXE utility. 4. What chipset is used on the BOCALANcard TP and Combo? Based on the AMD PCnet-ISA+ AM79C961 chipset. ISA+ denotes a software configurable network adapter. 5. What is Plug & Play? Plug and Play is a newly evolving standard for personal computers, adapters and operating systems to automatically configure adapters without user intervention. 6. What other features are supported? - High-performance, low-priced and easy-to-install Ethernet interface card for ISA bus systems. - Intel and Microsoft Plug and Play jumperless design for quick and easy installations. - Fully software configurable and jumperless. - One link status and one programmable diagnostic LED. - Complies with the IEEE 802.3 specification. - Novell NetWare ODI Server and Client, LANtastic, NDIS, IBM LAN Server, Banyan Vines and PCNFS drivers, as well as Packet Drivers included. - Also available in packages of five or 20. Section C - Troubleshooting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Where can I get the latest drivers for my BOCALANcard. The latest drivers are available several ways: 1. Boca BBS: File area 17 on our BBS at (407)241-1601. 2. Compuserve: Library 2 of the Modem Vendor Forum (GO BOCA). 3. Internet: Access the Boca Internet Web Site at http://www.boca.org/. 2. Can I connect the 10BaseT interface of two devices directly together, without using a hub? Yes, but not more than 2 devices, and you also need a special jumper cable between the two 10BaseT ports: RJ45 pin RJ45 pin ======== ======== 1 <--[TX+]------------------ [RX+]--> 3 2 <--[TX-]------------------- [RX-]--> 6 3 <--[RX+]------------------ [TX+]--> 1 6 <--[RX-]------------------- [TX-]--> 2 3. Do these network adapters use any memory addresses? No. Memory addresses (or paging addresses) are not used. These adapters use Bus-Mastering technology (accesses memory through a DMA channel) instead. This provides a faster throughput and eliminates memory addressing conflicts. 4. My BOCALANcard is not saving the settings. Why? On some Plug and Play motherboards the BOCALANcard may not save the settings. This was fixed on the newer boards. If you are experiencing this problem, there is a fix available. The file name is PNPFIX.EXE (see question 1 for the download locations of this file). You need to boot clean (no AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS) and then run this file. Updated information will be permanently written to the board's EPROM. You must use BENCFG.EXE from driver disk version 2.15 or above with this fix. 5. Installing BEN110 and BEN120 in Windows for Workgroups 3.11 using both Novell Netware Network support and Microsoft Network Support. This Procedure is for BOTH Novell & WFW 3.11 network support, under WFW 3.11. 1. Under Network Setup choose - MS Windows Network & Novell Network. 2. Select Advanced to install Network drivers. 3. Select Drivers > Add Adapter > Unlisted or Updated Network Adapter and put Boca disk in A: drive. 4. Set the search dir as A:\WFW311 5. WFW 3.11 will load the BOCA ETHERNET (ODI/NDIS3) driver, and MS NetBEUI and IPX/SPX compatible transport NetBIOS. 6. WFW 3.11 also requires the following files for NOVELL support ONLY. They are supplied w/ regular Windows 3.1 not WFW 3.11. These drivers are also available from Microsoft or on Compuserve. -NETWARE.DR_ on Windows disk 2, in compressed form. -NETWARE.HL_ on disk 3, in compressed form. -NWPOPUP.EX_ on disk 3, in compressed form. -VIPX.38_ on disk 2, in compressed form. -VNETWARE.38_ on disk 2, in compressed form. You need to use the EXPAND utility that is on EVERY Windows disk to uncompress each file, as follows: A:\Expand NETWARE.DR_ C:\Windows\System\NETWARE.DRV 7. Make sure that the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files are correct. LSL.COM should appear before any of the workgroups drivers. 8. Maker sure that BOCANW.COM is before the ODIHELP.EXE command. Sample AUTOEXEC.BAT: C:\BOCALAN\LSL.COM C:\WINDOWS\NETSTART C:\BOCALAN\BOCANW.COM C:\WINDOWS\ODIHELP.EXE C:\BOCALAN\IPXODI.COM C:\BOCALAN\NETX.EXE Also make sure that the LASTDRIVE STATEMENT is correct. When Windows for workgroups installs, it sets the lastdrive statement to P in your CONFIG.SYS file. So if your NOVELL NETWORK LOGIN dir is F:, then the LASTDRIVE MUST = E. Note: See the README.TXT file on the driver diskette for additional instructions. 6. I followed the instructions above and I continue to get an Error 58 when entering Windows. Why? If the Error 58 persists, please do the following: Edit PROTOCOL.INI file and make sure that the following lines exist: [NWLINK] BINDINGS=BOCANW 7. Are there Windows 95 drivers available for the BOCALANcards? Windows 95 has built-in support for the BOCALANcards. Once the board is installed, Windows 95 will detect the BOCALANcard as a Plug and Play adapter and configure it automatically. 8. How do I install the BOCALANcard in Windows 95 if the card is not in Plug and Play mode? First, after you have installed the card, run the BENCFG program to configure the card. Make a note of the settings that you have configured (i.e. Port, IRQ, DMA etc.). Boot Windows 95. When it first starts, you will see a message that Win95 has detected new hardware and that it is installing drivers for the BOCALANcard Combo. When you go to the Device Manger in your System Icon in Control Panel, under Network Adapters you should see the BOCALANcard Ethernet Adapter. It will more than likely have an exclamation on it indicating that there is a conflict. This is normal. Exit the System Properties Icon. Click on the Network icon. You will see the BOCALANcard installed in the device list. Click on Add Adapter. Do not auto detect the adapter you have installed in your system. Go down to Boca in the manufactures list. In the Boca Section, you will see two choices: BOCALANcard Ethernet Combo and BOCALANcard PCMCIA. Choose the first. After you have installed the adapter, you will be in the Network Configuration Screen. Choose the First BOCALANcard adapter and click on Properties. Click on the Resources Tab. Make sure that the settings listed in Resources match the settings you have in BENCFG. Once you change these settings, you will be prompted to restart your computer. Click OK and your computer will restart with the new settings saved. Windows 95 should boot up and your network adapter is now installed. Note: Windows 95 Device Manager will still show two BOCALANcards installed. One of them will show as a conflict with an exclamation point next to it. The reason for this is that Windows will still detect and try to configure a Plug and Play device even if that device is either disabled or not in PnP mode. Thus, Windows 95 will install a second driver for a PnP BOCALANcard automatically. 9. What are the cable length specifications for 10Base-T and 10Base-2? Here are the cable length specifications as defined by IEEE: Unshielded Twisted-Pair (10Base-T): 10Base-T is arranged in a star shaped configuration. Each node attaches to a concentrator via a twisted-pair cable using RJ-45 connectors. - Maximum segment length: 328 feet / 100 meters - Maximum number or trunk segments: 1024 - Maximum number of repeaters: 4 (5 segments with 3 tapped) Thin Ethernet (10Base-2): 10Base-2 uses coaxial cable with an RG-58 rating. Each end of the trunk segments must be terminated using a 50 ohm terminating resistor. - Maximum trunk segment length: 607 feet / 185 meters - Maximum number of repeaters: 4 (5 segments with 3 tapped) - Maximum length of trunk for entire network: 3035 feet / 925 meters - Maximum cable length between nodes: 1.5 feet / .5 meters - Maximum number of nodes per trunk segment: 30 (including repeaters) 10. Are the BOCALANcards TP and Combo NE2000 compatible? The BOCALANcards TP and Combo are hardware and software compatible with NE2100, NE1500T and the AMD PCnet ISA family of Ethernet adapters. The BOCALANcards TP and Combo are not NE2000 compatible. If you require NE2000 compatible network adapters the BOCALANcard 2000 (product codes BE2000/T and BE2000/2) cards are hardware and software compatible with NE2000. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c), 1995, Boca Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Boca Research, BRI and the various Boca Research products contained herein are trademarks of Boca Research, Inc. Other references to computer products use trademarks owned by their respective manufacturers. The technical information contained herein is subject to change without notice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------