3Com (R) Corporation
EtherDisk (R) Diskette for the
3C90X EtherLink XL 10/100 / EtherLink XL NIC Family
Windows 98 Information
First time installation of Windows 98
-------------------------------------
Windows 98 has the built-in ability to support the EtherLink XL family of
NICs. Unfortunately, even though Windows 98 is a new product, the
EtherLink XL driver that comes with Windows 98 is quite old and may not work
well under some conditions. To avoid installing the driver on Windows 98
and install the EtherDisk 4.0 software, follow the steps below.
1. Do not install the NIC! Install Windows 98 before you install the NIC.
2. Run PREINSTL on EtherDisk #1. This step prevents Windows 98 from
identifying the NIC so it will prompt for external media. Shut down the
computer.
3. Install the NIC and start the computer. Make sure the NIC is connected
to the network.
4. Start Windows 98. During the boot up, Windows 98 will display a screen
showing that a PCI NIC has been detected. Put EtherDisk #1 into the
floppy drive and press "next".
5. Windows 98 will read the EtherDisk and display the name of the NIC.
Press "next". Windows 98 will continue to read the EtherDisk, then
prompt for EtherDisk #2. Insert EtherDisk #2 in the floppy drive, then
press "OK". Windows 98 reads files from EtherDisk #2. Windows 98 then
reads files from the Windows 98 installation media, and returns to the
add new hardware wizard. Press the "finish" button. If Windows 98
cannot find the Windows 98 installion media, it will prompt you for the
path to the media (CD_ROM, etc). You must provide this path for the
install to work successfully.
6. Windows 98 then displays the message "Do you want to restart your computer
now?". Press the "yes" button.
7. The computer will reboot. When the system has booted up, the network is
ready to use.
Updating from Windows 95 to Windows 98 with a 3C905 or 3C900 NIC
----------------------------------------------------------------
If you have a 3C905 or 3C900 NIC installed, you must follow the steps below
to successfully upgrade from Windows 95 to Windows 98.
1. With Windows 95 running, open the start menu, settings, control panel.
On the control panel screen, double click the "network" icon. On the
network configuration menu, choose the "3Com EtherLink XL" NIC, and
press the "delete" button. Deleting the NIC may delete all network
components, so record the configuration settings of the other network
components that may be needed when the NIC is reinstalled later.
These include the TCP/IP protocol stack settings, if present.
2. Shut down the computer and remove the NIC. Reboot Windows 95, install
Windows 98, and go to step 1 under "First Time Installation of Windows
98" above.
How to recover if the procedures above were not followed
--------------------------------------------------------
The recovery from not following the procedures above are listed below. The
recovery method varies. Each scenario is listed below by path to
arrival, problem symptoms, and recovery procedure.
Fresh install of Windows 98 with a 3C905B or 3C900B NIC installed
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The problem is network software is not installed and the 3C90XB NIC is not
detected on subsequent boots of the operating system.
When Windows 98 installs, if it detects a device it does not have drivers
for, that device is put in the unsupported device class "other". This step
prevents the NIC from being detected again.
To fix this problem, right mouse button click the My Computer icon, choose
"Properties". On the System Properties page, select the "Device Manager"
tab. Press the small box with the "+" symbol next to "Other Devices".
Select "PCI Ethernet Controller" located under "Other Devices" and press
the Properties button at the bottom of the menu. On the PCI Ethernet
Controller Properties screen, select the "Driver" tab, then press the
"Update Driver" button. This launches the Update Device Driver Wizard.
Press the "Next" button. Press the "Next" button on the next screen. Put
EtherDisk 4.0 diskette #1 in the floppy disk drive. On the next screen,
check the "Floppy disk drives" check box and press "Next". The Wizard will
read the diskette and detect a match for the NIC. Now follow the
installation procedure from step 5 under First Time Installation of Windows
98 above.
Fresh install of Windows 98 with a 3C905 or 3C900 NIC installed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Windows 98 contains a driver for the 3C900 and 3C905 NICs. Unfortunately,
this driver is very old and may be troublesome, so it should be replaced
with the software from EtherDisk 4.0.
To fix this problem, right mouse button click the My Computer icon, then
choose the "Device Manager" tab. On the device manager screen, click the "+"
box to the left of "Network adapters", then choose the "3Com Fast EtherLink
XL 10/100Mb TX Ethernet Adapter". Press the "Properties" button. On the
next screen, choose the "Driver" tab, then press the "Update driver" button.
On the "Update device driver wizard" screen press "Next". VERY IMPORTANT: On
the next screen, click the "Display a list of all the drivers ..." option,
then press "Next" button. On the Select device screen, press the "Have
disk" button. On the "Install from disk" screen, make sure EtherDisk 4.0
disk #1 is in the floppy drive, then press "OK". On the next Select device
screen, press "OK". The diskette will be read several times, then the
"Update device driver wizard" screen appears again. Press the "Next" button.
Next, the "Insert Disk" prompt appears. Put EtherDisk 2 in the floppy drive
and press "OK". Finally, the Insert Disk screen will prompt for the Windows
98 install media. Enter the path to the media and press "OK". After reading
the Windows 98 files, the Update device driver wizard appears for the last
time. Press the "Finish" button. Next, the computer prompts for a restart.
Press the "Yes" button. After the system reboots, the new network software
is ready to use.
Update from Windows 95 to Windows 98 with a 3C900B or 3C905B NIC installed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have EtherDisk 4.0 installed and are using a 3C90XB NIC, the upgrade
to Windows 98 will work OK. Windows 98 does not have knowledge of the 90XB
NIC family, so there is no conflict.
Upgrade from Windows 95 to Windows 98 with a 3C900 or 3C905 NIC installed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This upgrade has problems because Windows 98 is 3C900 and 3C905 aware. If
you have already installed EtherDisk 4.0 in Windows 95, then upgraded to
Windows 98, the installation is damaged because Windows 98 installs its
internal driver to support the 3C90X NIC. When you reboot, both the
EtherDisk 4 and Windows 98 drivers load and attempt to bind to the same NIC.
The symptoms of this problem vary. You may get a general protection fault in
module NDIS.VXD. If this happens, you must reboot Windows in safe mode to
recover. You will not be able to connect to the network. If you run the
Windows diagnostic, you will get errors when you execute the NIC tests.
To recover from this error, follow the instructions in "Fresh Install of
Windows 98 with a 3C905 or 3C900 NIC installed" above.
Removing the installation
-------------------------
The correct way to remove an installation is to open the network control
panel, choose the 3C90X NIC, and press the Remove button.
If you attempt to remove the "3Com TCAAITDI Diagnostic TDI", the NIC will
be removed, which causes the rest of the network components to be removed.
Running the 3Com NIC diagnostic without support of the TDI may result in
NIC or network test failure. The TDI is not an optional component that
can be removed.
Updating from EtherDisk 3.X to EtherDisk 4.0
--------------------------------------------
Both EtherDisk 3.X and EtherDisk 4.0 have multiple software components. The
"Update Driver" button in the device manager can be used to update the
software. Carefully follow the recovery procedure "Fresh install of Windows
98 with a 3C905 or 3C900 NIC" above.
(%VER WIN98.TXT - Windows 98 Information v4.0.3)
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.