Information on Network Card Detection (NCD) (90387)

MORE INFORMATION

NCD occurs between the MS-DOS-based and Windows-based portions of Windows for Workgroups Setup and is finished by the time you see your first dialog box. If Setup detects a network adapter, it writes any information it can detect plus information from the NETWORK.INF file to the NCDINFO.INI file in the Windows for Workgroups directory (C:\WINDOWS by default). Setup later uses this information when it suggests a network adapter for you to install.

If your computer has multiple network cards, NCD does not detect all cards; it stops after it detects the first one. Since very few machines use more than one card, multiple card detection was not built into NCD. You can configure Windows for Workgroups to use additional network cards by running Control Panel (if you are running Windows for Workgroups 3.1) or by running Network Setup (if you are using Windows for Workgroups 3.11).

Like Windows hardware detection, NCD can be skipped by running Setup with the /I option (SETUP /I). You may need to use this switch if NCD prevents Setup from completing your Windows for Workgroups installation.

NOTE: When you select a network adapter from Control Panel, NCD does not run. The settings displayed in the Networks option are factory defaults taken from the NETWORK.INF file. You need to supply the correct adapter configuration information.

WHEN NCD IS USED

Because Setup may fail during NCD, under the following circumstances, Setup does not perform NCD:

Workgroup Connections is installed, detected by the presence of WRKGRP.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file.
Windows for Workgroups is installed, detected by the presence of the network.drv=wfwnet.drv statement in the SYSTEM.INI file.
Setup with the /I option is run.
Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provided network adapter information is in the NCDINFO.INI file in the Windows for Workgroups target directory. OEMs may put network adapter information in the [OEMDetected] section with the key name, NETCARD1=.
Setup failed during a previous installation, detected by the presence of the Ignore_HW_Detect= statement in the SYSTEM.INI file. Just before Setup starts NCD, Ignore_HW_Detect= is added to the SYSTEM.INI file under the [boot] section. If Setup sees this flag, it assumes that the last installation failed due to NCD problems. Setup then skips NCD and clears the statement when it has successfully completed installation.

NOTE: Setup may suggest a network adapter to you even if NCD was not run because Setup may be able to determine what the network adapter was from a previous installation of Windows for Workgroups, Workgroup Connections, or Microsoft LAN Manager.

NCD FAILURE

NCD can fail in any of the following ways:

NCD Fails to Detect the Network Adapter

The Unlisted Or Updated Network Adapter selection is selected in the Network Identification list box.

Solution: You must manually select your network adapter. Make sure the hardware settings for your adapter are correct.

NCD Detects the Adapter, But Not All the Necessary Settings

Your network adapter is selected in the Network Identification list box. When you choose the OK button, hardware settings are displayed.

NCD detects as many settings as possible, but may not detect them all. For example, Setup may not be able to detect the interrupt request line (IRQ) used by the adapter. If this happens, Setup displays the factory default for the particular setting it cannot detect.

Unfortunately, Setup does not inform you if a particular setting was not detected. Some of the displayed settings are factory defaults while others were properly detected settings. Also, the factory defaults may not match the actual settings on the network adapter. If you do not know the correct settings, and accept Setup's suggestions, the network drivers will fail to initialize.

Solution: You must select the correct adapter settings during Setup, or change the settings in Control Panel after Windows for Workgroups is installed.

NCD Detects the Wrong Network Adapter

This is usually due to some incorrect or old information left on your hard drive. Causes include:

Old or incorrect versions of Microsoft LAN Manager drivers.
Old or incorrect IPX.COM in the PATH or the root directory of the boot drive.
Old or incorrect EISA Setup information.
Old or incorrect information from an earlier Windows for Workgroups or Workgroup Connections installation.

Solution: During Setup (or from Control Panel) change the incorrect network adapter to the correct one, making sure the hardware settings are correct.

NCD Interferes with the Hardware, Failing Installation

One of several things may happen:

Your machine can stop responding (hang) or restart when Setup informs you that it is going into Windows.
Setup can cause a general protection (GP) fault or hang or restart your machine just before the Virtual Memory dialog box displays.
If you are running Setup over a network, the network adapter may be reset or disabled (until you restart your computer), making Setup unable to copy files from the remote drive.

Solution: Run Setup again. Windows for Workgroups does not perform NCD if it failed the first time. However, if your computer hangs again, use the /I switch with Setup.

HOW NCD WORKS

NCD attempts to detect the network adapter many different ways. It runs detection methods that are least likely to fail Setup first. It then goes to more sensitive detection methods. A brief summary of detection methods (in order of sensitivity):

Use the OEM provided information in the [OEMDetected] section of NCDINFO.INI.
Look for Micro-Channel Architecture (MCA) adapters in an MCA machine. (Only finds adapters known by their MCA identifications as of the release of Windows for Workgroups.)
Look for adapters in Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) machines using the built-in EISA configuration capabilities. (Only finds adapters known by their EISA identifications as of the release of Windows for Workgroups.)
Try to extract information from Novell's IPX.COM. (Successful only if: IPX is running, NETx is running, IPX.COM is in the path or in the root directory of the boot drive and IPX.COM has been created for an adapter known by its IPX identification as of the release of Windows for Workgroups.)
Attempt to identify the network adapter by communicating with the physical hardware and seeing if it reacts in a characteristic manner.

HOW AND WHERE NCD INFORMATION IS STORED

When Setup detects a network adapter, it writes the information in the file, NCDINFO.INI, under the [LastDetectedFromSetup] section. All values that cannot be detected are marked -1 or 0xffff. For example:

NETCARD1=301,-1,0x300,16,0xffff,-1,0xffff,-1,-1,0,-1, 0xffffffff,1,0x1b67

Explanation of Values

   NETCARD1   - Key name.

   301        - Network adapter number. Assigned and used
                internally by Microsoft, this is the same
                number used in the NETWORK.INF and
                OEMSETUP.INF files. In this case it is the
                Intel EtherExpress 16.

   -1         - IRQ.

   0x300      - Base Input/Output (I/O) address.

   16         - Number of I/O ports used.

   0xFFFF     - Base RAM address (in paragraphs).

   -1         - Kilobytes of address space used by RAM.

   0xFFFF     - Base ROM address (in paragraphs).

   -1         - Kilobytes of address space used by ROM.

   -1         - DMA Channel used.

   0          - Bus type (0=ISA, 1=MCA, 2=EISA, 3=TURBO,
                4= PCMCIA).

   -1         - Slot number.

   0xFFFFFFFF - MCA/EISA identification.

   0x1b67     - CRC-16 Check-Sum of the above information.

   1          - Card specific information. In this case it
                stands for IOCHRDY=LATE.