Frequently Asked Questions about the PCI Quartet
This document is designed to answer common questions about Quartet
adapters, or get you up and running with your own Quartet as
quickly as possible. You may also wish to read "Frequently Asked
Questions about Adaptec PCI Adapters."
Q: What is a Quartet adapter?
A: ANA-6904, ANA-6940/TX, ANA-6944/TX, ANA-6944/T4 and the ANA-6944A
are highly innovative Ethernet adapters which take advantage of the
flexible PCI Local Bus architecture to provide four network
channels on a single board. Quartet adapters can support up to four
separate network segments, all at full cable bandwidth. Each
channel on an ANA-6904 adapter has its own Ethernet address and is
capable of throughput rates of 10 Mbps for half-duplex Ethernet or
20 Mbps for Full Duplex Ethernet (FDE). For the 100 Mbps
ANA-6940/TX, the throughput rates are 100 Mbps for half-duplex
Ethernet or 200 Mbps for Full Duplex Ethernet (FDE)! On the ANA-6944/TX
and ANA-6944/T4 adapters, each port may be configured seperatly to run
at 10 or 100 Mbps. The ANA-6944/TX may also be configured to operate
in Full Duplex mode, this is not an option on the ANA-6944/T4 because
T4 technology does not support Full Duplex. The ANA-6944A adapter
provides support for the new PCI 2.1 specification used on Pentium Pro
systems.
These adapters are ideal for heavily loaded servers which must
service large networks but have limited numbers of PCI slots. Like
most PC bus architectures, PCI is electronically limited in the
number of slots it can support. This restricts the number of
network segments a PCI server can handle. The Quartet's four-
channel design solves this problem and gives PCI servers the power
of four Ethernet adapters in a single board-using only one PCI
slot. The ANA-6904 adapter is currently available with
four twisted pair connectors for 10BASE-T cabling. A BNC version is
also available for thin coax cabling. The ANA-6940/TX has four twisted
pair connectors for 100BASE-TX cabling. The ANA-6944/TX has four
twisted pair connectors for 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX cabling.
The ANA-6944/T4 has four twisted pair connectors supporting both
10BASE-T and 100BASE-T4 cabling.
Q: What is the PCI-PCI Bridge chip?
A: The PCI Local Bus architecture is designed to accommodate many
devices through a cascadable bus structure. Multiple logical
peripheral bus layers may be presented through one PCI expansion
slot on your server's motherboard with this architecture. Each
Quartet adapter in the system is a logical peripheral bus providing
up to four network devices.
The secret to this technology is the PCI-PCI Bridge chip on the
Quartet adapter. The PCI-PCI Bridge chip "bridges" separate logical
devices on an adapter card to the host PCI bus located on the
motherboard. In the PCI architecture, the system BIOS has the job
of allocating interrupts to each of the PCI devices on the PCI bus,
including those which incorporate the PCI-PCI Bridge chip, such as
Quartet adapters.
Q: Do I need BIOS support for the PCI-PCI Bridge chip?
A: Even though PCI-PCI Bridge technology is outlined in the PCI
specification, not all current PCI BIOSs fully implement the
capabilities of this technology. Of course, this isn't going to
stop your server from benefiting from the Quartet adapter today.
Adaptec has implemented the PCI-PCI Bridge chip BIOS support in the
DOS and OS/2 NDIS 2.0 and NetWare server drivers. These drivers are
compatible with all industry-standard PCI BIOSs, including next-
generation BIOSs that support PCI-PCI Bridge chips.
Q: What operating systems require BIOS support for the PCI-PCI
bridge chip?
A: The Windows NT and Windows 95 Operating Systems require PCI
systems with BIOSs that do support the PCI-PCI Bridge chip. To run
Windows NT or Windows 95 with a Quartet adapter, you must first
make sure that your system BIOS supports the PCI-PCI Bridge chip.
Q: How do I know if my BIOS supports the PCI-PCI Bridge chip?
A: To determine the PCI Bridge chip functionality of your current
BIOS, use the EMDIAG utility located on your Adaptec diskette.
Simply run EMDIAG from the DOS prompt by inserting your Adaptec
diskette into a diskette drive, changing to the appropriate drive,
and typing "EMDIAG." At the main menu of EMDIAG, choose "PCI Device
Information." At this time, if your BIOS does NOT support the PCI-
PCI Bridge chip, the following message will appear:
Your system's BIOS does not directly support PCI bridges.
EMDIAG has configured the system for you. Please note the
resources it has assigned. You may need these values when
configuring the network driver.
If no message appears, then very good! Your current system BIOS
supports the PCI-PCI Bridge chip, and you can proceed with driver
installation. Otherwise, contact your vendor to make sure you are
using the latest BIOS for your system, and then try again. If you
still receive this message with your new BIOS, see the next
question.
Q: How do I configure my Quartet adapter?
A: Your BIOS normally configures the Quartet adapter. If your
computer's BIOS does not support PCI-PCI Bridge chip devices, and
you wish to run NetWare or use the DOS or OS/2 NDIS 2.0 driver,
follow the instructions below to determine available resources and
configure your driver.
1. Boot your system under MS-DOS version 3.3 or later.
2. Insert your Adaptec setup diskette in drive A:
3. At the DOS prompt, type A:\EMDIAG.
4. From the list of options in the main menu, choose "Configuration
Status."
5. A window reports the resources the PCI Quartet adapter is using.
6. Make a note of the IRQ in use by your Quartet adapter. You will
use this information during the driver installation.
7. Exit the Adaptec Setup Program.
Q: Does my Quartet adapter support routing?
A: Routing functionality is provided by network operating systems,
and not by network adapters themselves. The Quartet adapter acts
just like four separate network adapters installed in a server.
And, just like other network adapters, the Quartet can be used with
server operating systems (like Novell NetWare and Windows NT) that
support routing.
Q: Does my Quartet adapter provide four unique Ethernet Node IDs?
A: Yes. Each port on a Quartet adapter uses its own unique Ethernet
address, or Node ID.
Q: Am I required to use all four ports on my Quartet adapter?
A: No. One of the benefits of the Quartet adapter is that it scales
to meet your needs. Use two or three ports now, and know that you
have the extra ports available when your network grows.
Q: Does the Quartet adapter support Full Duplex Ethernet (FDE)?
A: Yes. All Quartet models support FDE on all four ports. The ANA-6904
(TP version) supports 10 Mbps FDE, for 20 Mbps of bandwidth on each
port. The ANA-6940/TX supports 100 Mbps FDE, for 200 Mbps on each
port. The ANA-6944/TX supports both 10 Mbps FDE and 100 Mbps FDE on
each port. The ANA-6944/T4 supports 10 Mbps FDE on each port.
Q: Can I install more than one Quartet in my server?
A: Yes. You can install multiple Quartet adapters in a single server.
Q: What operating systems do Quartet adapters support?
A: Quartet adapters currently support a number of operating
systems, including: NetWare 3.x and 4.x, NetWare SFT III (for both
3.x and 4.x), Windows NT, Windows 95, IBM LAN server, MS LAN
Manager, IBM OS/2 Warp Server, and DEC PathWorks.
Q: Where can I get the latest drivers for my Quartet adapter?
A: Download the file EMPCI.EXE (a self-extracting archive) from any
of Adaptec's public forums, including the Adaptec BBS (408) 945-7727,
the Adaptec FTP site (ftp.adaptec.com), or the Adaptec World Wide Web
(http://www.adaptec.com).
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.