ICS Does Not Function with Unidirectional Adapters (231648)

SYMPTOMS

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) may not function with unidirectional devices. For example, when you attempt to start ICS on a computer with DirecPC installed, you may receive the following error message:

An error occurred attempting to load Bicdd32.dll

CAUSE

This issue occurs because ICS requires two network adapters (whether they are physical network adapters or dial-up adapters) to move IP requests to the Internet from a local network. Both adapters must be bi-directional, which means that they can both send and receive data.

MORE INFORMATION

Unidirectional adapters (adapters that can only send, or only receive data) may not function with ICS. For example, DirecPC (which uses a satellite to receive data from the Internet) and Surfboard modems require an initial connection through a phone-line modem to connect to the Internet service provider. They use another adapter to receive data from the Internet. ICS cannot resolve the phone-line modem and the high-bandwidth device as one adapter, so it cannot forward IP requests to the network.

However, ICS functions properly using two modems and two phone lines in a multilink format as along the multilink functionality provided by Microsoft's Dial-Up Networking files. Third-party solutions such as Diamond Multimedia's Shotgun technology may or may not function with ICS.

DirecPC has resolved this issue in version 2.1 of their DirecPC product. For more information, see the DirecPC Web site:

http://www2.direcpc.com/helpfiles/index.html

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.