I/O Channel Ready Settings on the Intel EtherExpress 16 (145592)

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The I/O Channel Ready settings optimize the timing of 16-bit data transfers. The Never value forces the card into 8-bit mode; the Late and Early values both allow the card to work in 16-bit mode. The setting that works on most computers is Late, although a few computers require Early to function in 16-bit mode.

Some computers will experience problems when the card is set to Early. These problems can range from data loss when transferring large files to computer hangs that require removing the card, transferring it to another computer and using the Softset utility to reset the network adapter.

Windows NT

Because of the potential for serious problems, Windows NT setup does not offer Early as one of the options unless one of the following is true:

• Setup detects that the card is already set to Early. -or-
• The .INF file for the Intel EtherExpress has been modified to allow the early setting.

Even when the Early option is available, if you select it, you will receive the following error message:

While those computers that require Early will not function when the card is set to Late, the EtherExpress driver is capable of detecting this case and it will default the card to Never, which is always safe. Unfortunately, there is no way to detect when Early is not safe without experiencing the problems mentioned above.

If you have a computer that requires the Early setting and it is not displayed as an option in Windows NT, you can add Early to the list by doing the following:

1. Open the OEMNADIN.INF file in the %systemroot%\SYSTEM32 subdirectory with a text editor.
2. Find the line that reads "AllowEarly =" and change the value after the equal sign from 0 to 1.
3. Save the file.
4. Use the network applet in Control Panel to configure the network adapter settings. Early should then show up as an option for I/O Channel Ready.

Windows for Workgroups

When you install the network adapter and run the Softset utility in Windows for Workgroups, both the Softset and Windows for Workgroups stop responding (hang).

If your network adapter has the Early setting and you want to change it to the Late setting:

1. Obtain E16LATE.EXE, a self-extracting file, from one of the following locations:
   • Intel World Wide Web site
     (http://www-cs.intel.com/all/selfhelp/6263.HTM)
   • Intel FTP server
     (ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/PCandNetworkSupport/EtherExpress)
   • Intel Bulletin Board Service at (503) 264-7999
2. In the CONFIG.SYS file, remark out the following line with REM using a text editor, such as EDIT.COM:
   
   REM DEVICE=<drive>:<path>\EXP16.DOS
3. Save CONFIG.SYS and reboot your computer.
4. Using a text editor, modify the lines in PROTOCOL.INI file to the following:
   
   IOCHRDY=LATE
   IOADDRESS=<Correct I/O Port Address>
5. Save PROTOCOL.INI.
6. Run LATE.EXE (one of the files extracted from E16LATE.EXE) utility. This utility resets the EEPROM of the Etherexpress NIC I/O Channel Ready to the current IOCHRDY information from PROTOCOL.INI.
7. In the CONFIG.SYS file, remove REM for EXP16.DOS, as follows:
   
   DEVICE=<drive>:<path>\EXP16.DOS
8. Power down the computer and wait a few seconds.
9. Turn the computer on restart Windows for Workgroups.

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