General Instructions

Note: These instructions and driver references apply only to the EtherExpress™ PRO/10 PCI adapter, NOT the EtherExpress™ PRO/10+ PCI adapter.

1. Please download E10PW95.EXE for the latest driver. Copy this archive to a blank floppy diskette and extract it by typing its name at the A: prompt and pressing enter.

2. The adapter should be configured and tested with SETUP.EXE prior to setting it up in Windows* 95. SETUP.EXE is a DOS program and won't run under Windows 95, even in a DOS session. You must boot with DOS to run SETUP.EXE. If you do not have SETUP.EXE, please download E10PDISK.EXE.

3. Have the Windows* 95 CD ROM available, as you will need it to copy additional files.

4. Install the adapter into your system and power it on.

5. When Windows* 95 boots, a NEW HARDWARE FOUND dialog box displays. It will identify the adapter as a PCI Ethernet Controller. Select the option "Driver from disk provided by Hardware Manufacturer".

6. A dialog box displays A:\. Insert the diskette you created in step 1 into the A: drive and click OK.

7. A dialog may appear requesting Windows* 95 system network files. If so, follow the instructions.

8. The Systems Setting Change dialog appears indicating you should restart the system for changes to become effective. Remove the diskette from the drive and click Yes for the changes to take effect.

Alternatives for adding network cards to Windows* 95

Windows* 95 automatically detects Plug and Play devices when they are added to the system, and either loads drivers for the new device, or prompts the user for the location of the drivers. However, this feature does not work the same on all computers and with all cards.

This text provides alternatives for adding drivers for newly installed hardware. One of these should work in cases where the general instructions above don't work.

Some of these methods arrive at the same dialog boxes, but yield different results because of the path taken.

       Control Panel ... SYSTEM (Recommended Method)

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. Double-click Control Panel.
3. Double-click System.
4. Click the Device Manager tab.

   Note: If you have previously tried to this and it isn't working, check to see if the network adapter icon exist in Device Manager. Delete any occurrences of the PRO/10 PCI adapter.

5. Double-click Other Devices (question mark icon).
6. Double-click PCI Ethernet Controller.
7. Click the Driver tab.
8. Click Change Driver.
9. Select Network Adapters and click OK.
10. Click Have Disk, insert the disk with the drivers from the archive in the appropriate drive, and click OK.

    Note: If you get into Device Manager and do not have an Other Devices icons in the device list, this is an indication that Windows* 95 did not detect your card at all. This condition would indicate a problem with the adapter itself, or with the system BIOS, rather than a Windows* 95 Plug and Play problem.

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. Double-click Control Panel.
3. Double-click Add New Hardware.
4. Click Next.
5. Select the No option and click Next.
6. Click Have Disk, insert the in the appropriate drive, and click OK.
7. Select the EtherExpress PRO/10 PCI adapter and click OK.
8. Click Next and click Finish.

Hints and Tips

Multiple Adapters in Windows* 95
If you have multiple Intel® PRO adapters installed in the system, you will have to specify the Ethernet ID (EID) for each of the adapters you have installed. This value is required by Windows 95 for card identification.

Each card must be identified by the last 8 digits of the Ethernet address. However, Windows* 95 requires decimal numbers which makes it necessary to perform a hex to decimal conversion. For example, an adapter with the Ethernet address of 00AA00123456 would require putting 1193046 as the Ethernet ID value (00123456 converted to decimal is 1193046). Windows* calculator, in scientific mode, is a tool you can use for the conversion.

1. Using the Setup program that came with your adapter (or download E10PDISK.EXE, as referenced above), write down the Ethernet address for each PRO/10 PCI adapter you have installed.
2. Using the Windows calculator, determine the 8 digit decimal value for the Ethernet Address.
3. Double-click My Computer.
4. Double-click Control Panel.
5. Double-click Network.
6. Double-click on first adapter listed.
7. Click on Advanced tab.
8. Highlight Ethernet ID.
9. Put in one of the values from step 2.
10. Repeat for each adapter you have installed.

Moving adapters to different slots
When removing a PCI adapter and placing it in a different slot, Windows* 95 retains the old instance of the driver and adds a new one for the new slot/card combination. This behavior is common to any adapter. The driver stops functioning when the number of accumulated old drivers reaches 2 (for a total of 3 installed drivers including the current driver). The workaround is to remove the old driver before changing slots.

Clicking on Resource Tab appears to hang window
It can take Windows* 95 up to 2 minutes to scan all of the adapters memory ranges. During this time the system may appear to be hung. Please do not reboot during this time.

Advanced configuration parameters

The defaults work correctly for most configurations. Please use caution when changing these parameters.

BUS NUMBER:
Recommended setting: 0

COALESCE BUFFERS:
Recommended setting: 8

DRIVER NAME:
Recommended setting: E10P$

FIFO DEPTH:
Recommended setting: 12

This parameter defines the FIFO threshold for requesting bus access. For systems with high bus latency, this setting should be increased. For systems with low latency, this setting can be reduced. For best performance, set the parameter as low as possible (without causing DMA over/underruns or CRC errors).

MAP REGISTERS:
Recommended Setting: 0

Map registers are system resources used in physical to virtual address conversion with bus mastering cards. The MapRegisters parameter specifies how many registers should be allocated to the driver.

CAUTION: Increasing the number of MapRegisters will cause underruns and can cause erratic behavior (such as problems accessing a floppy drive) in some computers. Also, if you allocate more map registers than the OS has available, the OS will fail to load (a 'blue screen' will result).

Multiple busmastering devices (for example, SCSI cards, floppy drives, or the EtherExpress™ PRO/10 PCI LAN adapter) installed in your computer can affect the number of map registers you can set. The more devices you have, the greater chance of producing underruns or erratic behavior if you increase the MapRegisters parameter.

Improving performance

As a rule, more map registers mean better performance. However, map registers are system resources. If too many are allocated, the driver will fail to load or your computer may behave erratically. Increasing the MapRegisters parameter will also cause underruns on the network.

To increase the amount of map registers:

1. Increase the MapRegisters parameter to 6.
2. Reboot your computer to Windows* 95.
3. Insert a diskette into an available floppy drive and try to access the drive with File Manager.
4. If you're unsuccessful, reduce the parameter by 1 and repeat steps 2 and 3. If you are successful, increase the parameter by 1 and repeat steps 2 and 3. However, use caution when increasing this parameter. You can damage your system configuration.

NDIS BUS TYPE:
Recommended setting: 1

OFF:
Recommended setting: 2

This parameter is the minimum number of clock cycles the EtherExpress™ PRO/10 adapter card remains off the bus between data transfers. For best performance, set this parameter to a minimum, allowing the adapter access as needed.

ON:
Recommended setting: 272

This parameter limits the number of clock cycles the EtherExpress™ PRO/10 PCI adapter holds the bus for data transfers. For best performance, set this parameter high enough for the Transmit FIFO to be filled, or the Receive FIFO emptied, in a single bus access.

RECEIVE FRAME DESCRIPTOR:
Recommended setting: 16

THRESHOLD:
Recommended setting: 16

The number specified by the threshold parameter is multiplied by 8 to produce the number of bytes at which the adapter starts emptying the EtherExpress™ PRO/10 PCI's internal transmit FIFO onto the wire.

For example, specifying Threshold=200 sets the number of bytes to 1600. This is greater than the max packet size for Ethernet, so the adapter won't attempt early transmits. This is the safest setting, but the best performance is achieved when the threshold parameter is as low as possible (without producing underruns).

To experiment, first set it at 16 and then increment it if performance drops significantly. It's probably unsafe to set the transmit threshold parameter below 200 for systems with several busmastering cards, or systems with otherwise high bus latency.

TRANSMIT BUFFER DESCRIPTOR:
Recommended setting: 64

TRANSMIT CONTROL BLOCKS:
Recommended setting: 16

This applies to:

EtherExpress™ PRO/10 PCI Adapter