P-Series of PCI Bus Read/Write Drives FAQs (Windows NT4/2000/XP)

 
Other Useful links:

SystemSoft CardWizard for NT4

The PSeries drivers are designed to work with both the standard Windows NT support for PCMCIA cards and third party Card & Socket services utilities.
It must be noted that there are some limitations with the standard PCMCIA driver for Windows NT. The driver (pcmcia.sys) does not provide for dynamic resource allocation and "Hot Insertion" of PCMCIA cards.  (Insertion while the PC is running.)
For some applications, such as Wireless LAN the card is inserted before boot anyway. However, if the card is removed at any time, this can lead to operating system crashes. 
There are also other restrictions when using the standard drivers that can lead to an unusable system;  for instance, the PCMCIA ATA disk driver (atdisk.sys) requires exclusive use of IRQ9, unfortunately on some motherboards, IRQ9 is allocated to another device, and this can lead to the OS failing to boot when an ATA drive is inserted. Also the PCMCIA driver cannot always cope when the PSeries adapter is inserted in a motherboard slot that is behind a PCI to PCI bridge (not on PCI bus number 0).

Elan has tested SystemSoft CardWizard (a third party card and socket services package) and found that it resolves the above problems and limitations, and for this reason, Elan recommends that CardWizard is installed on systems running Windows NT4 (see http://www.systemsoft.com for more information and http://www.systemsoft.com/special/evaluation for an evaluation version.)

Click link for SystemSoft setup configuration information with P-Series Adapters In NT 4.0

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Multiprocessor Machines (SMP)

Currently the P-Series range of adaptors cannot fully support multi-processor operation.  In some systems a P-series adaptor may work, but this cannot be replicated in all systems and it is not possible to determine in advance from system information whether a P-series adaptor will work or not - you just have to try! 

Motherboards reported as working with a P-series:

  • HP Kayak XU800, Bios IA 11.10

If you have a multiprocessor machine working with a P-series please let us know so that we can add your system here!

More information: In a multi-processor PC, Windows NT & 2000 uses the IOAPIC to assign interrupts from the PCI bus, based on information provided by the BIOS.
CardBus adapters are usually enumerated by the BIOS as PCI to CardBus bridges and as such most BIOS's consider them as not requiring an IRQ.
During the initial boot process, Windows stores this IRQ routing information, and it is not re-configurable, so when the PSeries driver loads, this decision not to assign an IRQ to the CardBus adapter has been set in stone.
For correct operation, the PSeries and PCMCIA drivers require an IRQ to be assigned for card status change etc. In the Uni-processor kernel, IRQ's are not routed through the IOAPIC, so if the BIOS has not assigned an IRQ, the PSeries driver is able to route an IRQ through to the hardware without any problems.

NOTE that this FAQ also applies to multiprocessor motherboards with only one processor fitted if the following Windows NT4.0/2000 kernels are installed:

  • ACPI Multiprocessor PC
  • MPS Multiprocessor PC
  • MPS Uniprocessor PC

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CL6729 based adapter on the MSI 694D Pro motherboard in Windows NT4 (uniprocessor kernel)

  • The standard Microsoft PCMCIA driver does not work with this motherboard, so a third party Card & Socket services utility must be installed.
  • This problem occurs only with our original models based on the CL6729 chipset.  (So is not observed with the P111, P222, P423 and P424.)

More information : On this motherboard, during boot, the system BIOS correctly allocates an IO base address of 0xDC00 to the CL6729 controller, the PSeries driver correctly loads and is able to use this address to identify the adapter. At this point the CL6729 controller can be seen by any drivers attempting to use the IO address assigned to the adapter so there should be no problem, but....
When the PCMCIA.SYS driver loads, for some reason, it re-enumerates the CL6729 controller to 0x9CFC. This IO address is invalid as it is claimed by the PCI to AGP bridge on PCI bus number 1, so no IO transactions are passed to the CL6729 controller on PCI bus number 0. The 6729 controller is then not available for access. When the PC Card (PCMCIA) applet is run from the control panel, it reports that "No PCMCIA Controller was found". If "Windows NT Diagnostics" is run, the PCMCIA driver claims IRQ 10 and IO address 0x9CFC.

Solution : SystemSoft CardWizard 5.2 has been tested with this motherboard and can be made to work with the BIOS PCI IRQ allocation set so that all PCI devices share IRQ 10. 
The reason for this setting is that there is a shortage of available non-shared IRQ's for allocation to PCMCIA cards, this BIOS setting (and possibly other combinations) fixes this. Sharing PCI IRQ's should not cause any problems on modern PC's.

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Problems Using a Modem in Windows 2000 +SP1 on an Intel 815e based motherboard.

There would appear to be a bug in the allocation of IO resources behind the PCI-PCI bridge on an 815e motherboard.  

The device properties report that the modem is not working because of an error "code 10".

Modem PC-Cards are usually assigned resources based on standard COM ports. This seems to be a problem on the i815 motherboard as the PC-Card adapter is the other side of a PCI-PCI bridge. 

Microsoft are working on a fix for this problem that will feature in SP3.

Get-around for "Standard PCMCIA Modem":  Manually assign the resources using "basic configuration option 0004" (on my modem this is any IO, any IRQ, you may have to experiment with other configuration options that will allow you to change settings). Then assign a fixed IO address in the same range of IO addresses claimed by the second PCI bus (This range is above 0xD000 on my Intel D815EEA motherboard), and any available IRQ. I used 0xDFF0 and IRQ 10, the modem then will work. 

More information (including pictures - approx 70KB)

Get-around for AT&T KeepInTouch PC-Card Modem:  On a Dell Dimension 4100S motherboard with i815e chipset this problem has been observed, but it may also occur on other motherboards with this modem card.

Download the icmodem.inf file and install it in the following way:
- from device manager, choose Properties of the modem
- click the "Driver" tab
- choose "Update Driver"
- click "Next"
- click the "Display a list..." radio button, hit "Next"
- you may be asked to pick a device class, choose "Modems"
- click "Have Disk..."
- point to the location of the INF, choose the AT&T (should be the only entry)

Get-around for TDK CyberExpress 5600 PC-Card Modem:

Download the TDKmodem.inf file and install it in the following way:
- from device manager, choose Properties of the modem
- click the "Driver" tab
- choose "Update Driver"
- click "Next"
- click the "Display a list..." radio button, hit "Next"
- you may be asked to pick a device class, choose "Modems"
- click "Have Disk..."
- point to the location of the INF, choose the TDK (should be the only entry)

This kind of fix could also be applied to other modems, but the inf file will require manual editing to match your particular modem.  Refer to your modem manufacturer for further information.

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CL6729 Based Adapter Fails "Code 12" in Windows 2000

On some Windows 2000 machines, notably ones with Intel 810/815/840 based motherboards and PCI to PCI bridges, Windows 2000 may fail to configure the PCMCIA adapter with a code 12 message. On some PC's this message will appear in the device manager and Windows will request a reboot; after this reboot Windows may fail with a blue screen message indicating the video driver failed to load.  If Windows does not fail to boot then the device manager will show that the CL6729 device has failed to start, indicating an error "Code 12."

More information:  This problem is caused by a bug in Windows 2000 and it's interaction with the motherboard's BIOS. As Windows treats the CL6729 controller as a 24-bit device (even though it is capable of addressing 32-bit memory addresses), all resources for the adapter must reside below 1MB in the "upper memory" area which usually has free memory blocks available, which Windows 2000 is not able to find. On system reboot, Windows grants the PCMCIA driver the request for memory (Windows grants the PCMCIA driver a block of video memory that is not available) before the video driver loads and makes it's requests for memory and hence the blue screen stop.

Solution:  Microsoft says that this bug will be fixed in SP3. Elan's range of TI-based adapters (the P111, P222 & P423/P424) do not suffer from this problem.

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Slow Operation of PC Cards in Windows NT4

The P-Series driver has built in detection logic that detects a poorly written IRQ handler for a PC-Card and the PC is saved from crashing. When a "Dirty IRQ Handler" is detected, the IRQ disabled and handled by polling on a timer tick, so transfer performance may be poor.
The Microsoft Windows NT4 ATA driver (ATDISK.SYS) is one such "Dirty IRQ Handler" driver, and for this reason the PSeries driver is set up in Windows NT4 to enable polled mode for best transfer performance without crashing the PC.

Sometimes, the PC-Card hardware associated with a correctly written "Clean IRQ Handler ;-)" driver may defeat the "Dirty IRQ Handler" detection logic and it may go to polled mode. In this case, try this registry setting. If your PC-Card's performance is even worse, then revert back to the old setting with this registry setting; your card has a "Dirty IRQ Handler" and the only solution is to contact your PC-Card vendor for a driver update for their PC-Card.

NOTE: The above settings can be made in Windows 2000 and Windows NT4 operating systems. Do not use them in Windows9x or WindowsMe.
The performance when using the PC-Card adapters based on the 16-Bit CL6729 controller is not effected by these settings. 

Further information for developers: It is recommended that device driver writers should write their IRQ handlers for their PC-Cards using Microsoft's current recommended guidelines in the Windows NT/2000 DDK for PCI devices that are capable of sharing an IRQ. See the Microsoft Windows NT/2000 DDK for more information.

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PC Locks on Boot in Windows 2000

On some motherboards the BIOS allocates an IRQ to the Pseries adapter and then Windows 2K will change it to another IRQ. (Usually IRQ 9). The crash occurs because the PSeries driver is using the old IRQ at the time of the move.

Get Around: To get round this problem, we can make the PSeries driver allocate the same final IRQ using one of the registry files below; BUT before installing the registry file, check which one you need - remove the Pseries hardware and boot, then look in the Device Manager to see which IRQ is being shared by all PCI devices in the PC.
For instance, if they are sharing IRQ9, then download the file 'IRQ9' and install it, then shut down, install the hardware and reboot.  Everything should now be OK.
If Windows 2000 is using a different IRQ, then select the correct registry patch and use as above.  (Usually IRQ9 or IRQ11 is used.)

IRQ3, IRQ4, IRQ5, IRQ6, IRQ7, IRQ9, IRQ10, IRQ11, IRQ12, IRQ14, IRQ15.

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Status code: 0x5 occurs during installation

If the message "Problem with Installation Status code 0x5" (see left) appears during the installation of the P-Series drivers, the installation has failed because you have not got the correct user privilege level for this operation. 
Log off Windows and log in as the "Administrator" for your PC, then re-install the P-Series drivers.

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Conflicting PCI devices in Windows 2000/XP

Help! all the PCI devices in my Windows 2000/XP PC are conflicting with the same IRQ!

On ACPI compliant motherboards with Windows 2000/XP installed, PCI devices will be re-enumerated by the operating system so that they share the same IRQ (usually IRQ9 or sometimes IRQ11). This is completely normal operation and has been intentionally designed into the Windows 2000 and XP operating systems.

DON'T PANIC! The P-Series driver has been designed to be able to share it's IRQ as defined by Microsoft in the Windows 2000 DDK. (Driver Development Kit). There is no problem with this configuration.

More information

For more information please see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q252/4/20.asp

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"Interrupt Request 09 not Available" Conflict in Windows 2000

In the Windows 2000 Device Manager properties for the P-Series driver, you might see a conflict (see below)  indicating the IRQ that the P-Series driver is using is not available.

This appears to be a problem in the way that the P-Series driver reports it usage of the assigned IRQ to Windows 2000.

This is a known issue and does not effect the operation of the P-Series drivers and hardware.

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SRAM Card Fails "Code 12" in Windows 2000

Problem:

In Windows 2000/XP on an Intel815EEA motherboard when an SRAM card is inserted into the PCMCIA slot, it may fail "Code12" indicating insufficient resources are available to configure it. A driver letter will also fail to appear in Windows Explorer.

This failure is due to the SRAM card driver requesting resources that are not available behind the PCI to PCI bridge built into these motherboard types. 

This problem is very likely to occur on most i810/i815/i840 and other motherboards with the P-Series adapter installed in a PCI slot behind a PCI to PCI bridge. 

Solution:

  1. Download our modified memcard.inf driver file and install it in the C:\WINNT\INF folder
  2. Go to the "Device Manager" and select the SRAM card from the list of devices
  3. Click "Remove" and follow the on-screen instructions to remove the SRAM card from the system
  4. Eject and re-insert the SRAM card

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ACPI BIOS Problem when Booting Windows 2000 on an IBM Netvista PC

When using a P423 on an IBM Netvista PC running Windows 2000, you may get a message indicating that there is an invalid ACPI BIOS version installed during the initial Windows 2000 boot phase of the PC.

More Information :

This problem is known to affect IBM Netvista PC's when the P423 (or P424) adapter (TI1420 controller) is installed on a Windows 2000 machine. It does not occur on systems running Windows 9x and Me operating systems. If you are not experiencing this problem then we do not advise applying the following get around.

Solution :

If you haven't already done so, remove the P423 hardware from the PC, then boot into Windows 2000 and navigate back to this web page...
Download this registry settings file, select "Open this file from its current location" and click OK. Then click "Yes" when prompted to add the registry information and click "OK" to the confirmation message. Then shutdown the PC and install the P423 in a PCI slot etc

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Lucent WaveLAN/ORiNOCO Card Fails to Communicate in Windows NT4.0

This problem only occurs on some PC's running Windows NT version 4.0

The Lucent WaveLAN/ORiNOCO wireless LAN card may fail to connect properly to the access point even though the installation appears to be correct, the "Radio connection show "Excellent" and the Client Manager status panel and shows no problems, the symptoms are: 

  1. The ORiNOCO Client Manager fails to read the Access Point name, but it may correctly identify the MAC address of the Access Point.
  2. DHCP fails to work on the client machine and IP addresses are not allocated to the WLAN card.
  3. PING's to other known machines on the network fail with "Request timed out".

More Information

There appears to be an interrupt latency issue with the Lucent WaveLAN/ORiNOCO driver and hardware.

Solution

Set the WaveLAN/ORiNOCO WLAN card to use the same IRQ as the PCMCIA adapter by setting the ManagmentIRQ registry key. This will minimise the IRQ latency of the system. This registry patch file sets both the card and PSeries adapter to use IRQ 10, you may need to edit this file to suit your system. Install the patch by clicking on the link, then reboot your machine.

THIS PATCH SHOULD ONLY BE APPLIED TO SYSTEMS RUNNING WINDOWS NT4.0

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Error message from PCI BIOS on Compaq Proliant Server

The Problem

The Compaq Proliant range of servers do not support PCI 2.1 configuration headers because of the way that the BIOS has been written.

This means that no PCMCIA adapter (made by Elan or any other manufacturer) is likely to work in this range of machines.

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PCMCIA Card Fails "Code 10" in Windows XP

This problem has been seen on TDKLan LAK-CD031 Ethernet 10BASE-T PCMCIA cards when operating in Windows XP with the PSeries Version 5.07 drivers installed. It may also effect other 16-bit PCMCIA cards in Windows XP.

More Information:

The drivers for the TDKLan card, which are distributed with the Windows XP operating system, do not support IRQ sharing. When the drivers load, they refuse to start because the IRQ allocated to the card is being shared by another device.

Solution:

Install this registry key.

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Psion Dacom Gold Card Modem Fails to Communicate in Windows XP

The "Psion Dacom Gold Card Global 56K+Fax (V.90)" PCMCIA card PCMCIA may fail to communicate correctly in Windows XP with PSeries card readers.

The Problem:

The driver inf file for the card contains a registry key that causes the IRQ steering algorithm in the PSeries.sys driver to fail.

Solution:

These work-arounds are for use with Elan P-series card readers operating in the Windows XP operating system only! There are two possible work arounds to this problem, Method 1 is the preferred as it is the least complicated to instigate, but if this does not work then try Method 2.

Method 1:

Install this registry setting for the PSeries driver, then reboot the PC and test the operation of the PCMCIA card. 
If this fails to rectify the problem, then reinstate the registry setting using this file and try "Method 2".

Method 2: 

Click here for the steps.

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Installation Error in Windows XP with WinFast AGP Adapter Installed

The Problem

It has been found that the PSeries driver may fail to install in Windows XP with the following error message.  This problem effects all versions of Windows XP when the "nVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200" with WinFast chipset AGP adapter has been installed.

Solution:

Click here:  Here.

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Setupapi.log Error Message in Windows 2000&XP

In Windows 2000 & XP, after the PSeries drivers and hardware has been installed the %windir%\Setupapi.log file shows the following message:

Installing section ELANCARDBUS from c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.inf.
Device install finished with error Error 0x800b0003: The form specified for the subject is not one supported or known by the specified trust provider.
Completed default installer, error: Error 0x800b0003: The form specified for the subject is not one supported or known by the specified trust provider.

This Setupapi.log entry message occurs because the PSeries driver is not digitally signed. You can safely ignore this message, there is no problem with the installation of the PSeries driver or hardware.

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