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UK Patent No: 2345992
US Patent No: 6,397,284
PSeries Driver version 5.07.08 release notes
IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
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It is recommended that you install these drivers
BEFORE installation of the PCMCIA adapter in
your PC.
******************* WARNING *******************
In the unlikely event of problems with the installation
of the PSeries drivers and hardware, BEFORE you do
anything, you should make sure you have backed up
any important information on your PC.
The notes below may recommend alterations to the
operating system registry or files on your hard disk.
You should make sure you have backed up the contents
of your hard disk before making any changes.
It is advised that any changes to the registry should be
performed by experienced personnel only.
We cannot take any responsibility for loss of data
etc., should this occur.
************************************************
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Contents
========
1 Minimum Hardware Requirements
2 Operating System Support List
3 General Troubleshooting Section
4 Windows 95/98/Me information
5 Windows NT/2000/XP information
6 Uninstalling the PSeries drivers
7 Customer Technical Support
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1 Minimum Hardware Requirements
===============================
Any uni-processor, Intel/AMD Pentium class motherboard
with PCI Bus and PCI BIOS version 2.1 or greater.
2 Current Device and Operating System Support List
==================================================
The following operating systems are supported by this version
of the PSeries drivers and hardware:
16 bit PC-Card controllers (CL6729)
-----------------------------------
Windows 95 (retail release) first release of Win 95
Windows 95 with update pack installed (Version A)
Windows 95 OSR2 OEM version (Version B & C)
Windows 98 first release
Windows 98+SP1 (Service pack installed)
Windows 98SE (Second Edition)
Windows Me
Windows NT 4.0+SP6
32 bit CardBus controllers (TI & Ene 1211/1410/1420)
----------------------------------------------------
Windows 95 OSR2 OEM version (Version B & C)
Windows 98 first release
Windows 98+SP1 (Service pack installed)
Windows 98SE (Second Edition)
Windows Me
Windows NT 4.0+SP6 (16 bit PC-Cards only)
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
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3 General Troubleshooting Section
=================================
3.1 Laptop Computers and the PSeries drivers
============================================
The PSeries drivers are designed to operate with
specially designed PCI based PC-Card adapters on
add-in boards for desktop PC's.
You should NOT install these drivers on any other
hardware platform, THEY WILL NOT WORK!
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3.2 Dirty Interrupt Service Routines (ISR's)
============================================
The PSeries hardware relies on interrupts that are
level sensitive and can be shared. This means that
the PC-Card's ISR should be written correctly for
this environment. For most efficient operation, the
ISR should fully handle the IRQ in processor
"Ring 0" (DIRQL), by immediately removing the source
of the interrupt. In most cases this is true, and is
recommended by Microsoft as the way to handle
hardware interrupts. Some poorly written PC-Card
drivers do not handle the interrupt in this way which
is ok for ISA based edge triggered interrupts, but
cause problems in the PCI environment.
The PSeries driver contains special detection logic for
badly behaved ISR's that ensures the IRQ is handled
safely (without crashing the PC), but slowly (at approx
25% of possible performance).
If the PC-Card appears to be operating in this way,
access to the card will be sluggish and the ISR could
receive multiple unexpected interrupts. For improved
performance, you should contact your PC-Card vendor
for an updated driver that correctly handles the IRQ
according to Microsoft recommendations for
interrupt service routines.
The following cards have been detected with
this problem, if you are using one of these cards
you should contact the manufacturer of your card for
an updated driver:
* PROXIM RangeLAN2 wireless LAN card.
* WEB Gear Aviator 2.4 wireless LAN card.
* Raytheon Raylink wireless LAN card.
* NoWiresNeeded 11MBPS wireless LAN card.
* Breezecom PRO.11 SA-PCR wireless LAN card.
* All ATA cards in standard Windows NT4(+any Service Pack)
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************************************************
4 Windows 95/98/Me information
************************************************
4.1 PCI IRQ routing in Windows 9x
=================================
For best operation, it is recommended that PCI IRQ routing
be enabled. On some motherboards, Windows fails to enable
PCI IRQ routing correctly. In this situation, it may be necessary to
force the Windows PCI Bus driver to use BIOS calls in order to
route PCI interrupts correctly. This is can be done via
Control Panel-System-Device Manager-System devices-PCI bus.
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4.2 Memory window allocation in Windows 9x
==========================================
On some PC's, PC-cards fail to be recognised by the
operating system when they are inserted, or even cause
the operating system to crash. This is usually due to a
memory clash where the operating system fails to
recognise that an upper memory range is not available
for use by the Microsoft PCMCIA drivers. If this occurs,
you should try forcing Card Services to use a
different memory range. Go to the Control Panel and
click on the PC-CARD icon, then override the memory
window setting to a different starting value
(like 0x000d0000).
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4.3 ATA Flash disk fails in Windows 9x
======================================
* Check the System Properties for the ATA card and
make sure an IO address range and an IRQ has been
allocated to the ATA card. If a memory address range
has been allocated to the card, this is usually caused
by lack of an IRQ, check PCI IRQ routing has been
enabled.
* If no IRQ has been allocated, Check PCI IRQ routing
has been enabled and/or free up an IRQ for use by the
ATA card.
* Check that the ATA card has been formatted correctly.
* If everything above is OK but no drive letter is being
assigned, add the line LASTDRIVE=Z to your config.sys
file. Be careful to make sure this does not conflict with
any network setup.
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4.4 Vector CANcardX in Windows 95
=================================
On the Cirrus 6729 based controller (PCI/PCIC
compatible) when the CANcardX card is inserted at
boot time, it is recognised as normal. However if the
card is ejected and re-inserted, it fails to be recognised.
If the card is not inserted at boot time, it operates
without any problem.
We believe this problem is related to Microsoft
Knowledge Base Article ID: Q159492.
SOLUTION 1
----------
**************************************************
**** 16-bit PC-Card adapters ONLY ****
**** DO NOT APPLY THIS FIX IF YOU ARE USING A ****
**** CARDBUS ADAPTER!!!!! ****
**************************************************
If this occurs and you are using a 16-bit PC-Card adapter
then copy pccard.vxd from the PSeries driver disk
to the "C:\Windows\System" directory and re-boot.
SOLUTION 2
----------
For CardBus adapters, either insert the CANcardX PC-Card
AFTER booting or do not eject the CANcardX PC-Card
SOLUTION 3
----------
Upgrade to another operating system.
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4.5 Linear FLASH card crashes the PC on insertion
=================================================
In Windows 95 OSR2, when a linear FLASH card without
"Attribute" memory is inserted AS THE FIRST CARD after
boot, or inserted before booting the PC, it may crash the PC.
This is a known bug in the PCCARD.VxD supplied with
Windows 95 OSR2.
SOLUTION 1
----------
**************************************************
**** 16-bit PC-Card adapters ONLY ****
**** DO NOT APPLY THIS FIX IF YOU ARE USING A ****
**** CARDBUS ADAPTER!!!!! ****
**************************************************
If this occurs and you are using a 16-bit PC-Card adapter
then copy pccard.vxd from the PSeries driver disk
to the "C:\Windows\System" directory and re-boot.
SOLUTION 2
----------
For CardBus adapters, insert another PC-Card BEFORE
inserting the FLASH card.
SOLUTION 3
----------
Upgrade to another operating system.
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4.6 Inserting PC-Card causes PC to crash
========================================
Some PC-Cards requiring a hardware IRQ may cause
the PC to stop responding as the IRQ is not properly
handled by the device driver for the card. (See
"3.2 Dirty Interrupt Service Routines" above.)
If this occurs, then assign a DWORD value named
"UltraSafeIRQHandlingMode" to the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet
\Services\Class\PSeries
Assign it a value of "1" to enable this mode of operation.
A value of "0" disables this mode of operation.
The following cards have been detected with
this problem:
* PROXIM RangeLAN2 wireless LAN card.
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************************************************
5 Windows NT/2000/XP information
************************************************
5.1 IRQ Conflicts in Windows
============================
On some systems the PCI management IRQ is not
allocated correctly to the hardware by the system BIOS.
In this situation, the IRQ is automatically assigned and
requested from the system BIOS by the PSeries driver.
You can force the PSeries driver to use an alternative
IRQ by appropriately assigning a DWORD value named
"ManagmentIRQ" to the registry key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Services\PSeries\Parameters"
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5.2 Two sockets reported in Windows NT4
=======================================
On a PC-Card drive with a single slot TI 1410 or TI1211
CardBus controller in Windows NT4, two PC-Card slots
are reported (in the PC-Card information applet in the
Control Panel) when there is physically only one socket.
This is a problem with Windows NT's slot detection
algorithm and may be safely ignored.
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5.3 ATA Flash disk fails in Windows NT4
=======================================
If you are using an ATA flash (or rotating) PCMCIA disk
in the PC-Card slot, and your PC hangs at the first blue
screen (no dots appear) during boot up, or your PC boots
OK (but slowly) and the ATA disk is not accessible, or
the atdisk driver shows an IRQ as being shared by
another device (in "Windows NT Diagnostics").
The Atdisk driver requires an IRQ (usually IRQ9) that is
NOT SHARED by any other device. You should set the
IRQ it uses as "In use by ISA" (or similar) under
"ISA/PNP configuration" in your BIOS configuration
(usually accessed by pressing "Del" or "F2" during boot.
This will stop the BIOS from allocating this IRQ to a PCI
board in the PC.
This may also apply to other card types, if your card fails
to work properly, check "Windows NT Diagnostics" for a
possible IRQ conflict, ISA and PCI interrupts cannot be
shared.
If NT boots correctly and atdisk has started and all the
above seems ok, but your ATA disk is not assigned a
drive letter, go to the "Disk Administrator" and you
should be able to assign one there.
NOTE1... The standard Windows NT4 ATA disk driver
(atdisk.sys) only supports ONE PCMCIA ATA disk.
NOTE2...If a drive letter is not assigned to your
IBM-microdrive, go to...
http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/mdfalist.htm
NOTE3...Do not apply the IRQ9 "In Use by ISA" (above) fix
in Windows 2000 your PC may fail to boot.
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5.4 CardBus Adapters in Windows NT4.0
=====================================
The native Windows NT4.0 PCMCIA drivers do not support
CardBus controllers and CardBus cards. In order to
support Windows NT 4.0, the PSeries drivers set
CardBus controllers to Legacy Intel 82365SL mode, this
allows only 16 bit PC-Cards to be used with CardBus
adapters in Windows NT4. Install SystemSoft CardWizard
if you require CardBus card support.
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5.5 IRQ 7 & 15
==============
The PSeries driver does not support IRQ channels
7 & 15 when they are allocated to a PC-card inserted
in a PC-card socket.
However, there is no problem with these IRQ's being used
as the PCI management interrupt allocated to the PCI
PCMCIA/CardBus controller.
3rd party PC-Card software in Windows NT 4.0 may allocate
IRQ channels 7 or 15 to your PCMCIA card, leading to
problems on configuration or during operation.
You should set this software up so that these IRQ's are
not allocated to the PCMCIA card.
You should also set this software into "polled mode" for
card status change (CSC) events as the CSC IRQ is not
supported.
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5.6 CardBus Adapter with the Multiprocessor kernel
==================================================
Windows NT4/2000/XP relies on the BIOS to setup IRQ's for
PCI cards. The operating system uses this information to
set up the IOAPIC. Some BIOS's fail to assign an IRQ to a
CardBus adapter during boot as they consider they are
bridge devices not requiring an interrupt.
If this happens, the PSeries driver will fail to load and
PC-Cards requiring an IRQ will not work correctly.
Contact your BIOS manufacturer for a BIOS upgrade
supporting assignment of an IRQ to CardBus controllers.
CL6729 based PC-Card adapters are not supported on
multiprocessor Microsoft Windows platforms.
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5.7 Low Voltage PC-Cards in Windows NT4.0
=========================================
The information in this section only applies to
Windows NT4.0 all other supported operating systems
support low voltage cards correctly.
We have tested SystemSoft CardWizard 5.2 and found
that it correctly supports low voltage PC-Cards on
CL6729 and TI CardBus controllers.
The standard Microsoft supplied PCMCIA driver in
Windows NT4.0 does not correctly support low voltage
3.3Volt-only PCMCIA cards.
*****************************************************
On CL6729 based adapters and CardBus controller chips
that are not made by TI, there is no over voltage
protection so if you are using Windows NT4 with
Microsoft's PCMCIA driver, DON'T PLUG IN 3Volt only
PC-Cards or they WILL BE PHYSICALLY DAMAGED!
*****************************************************
On TI1410/1211/1420 based CardBus adapters, there
is an over-voltage protection circuit built into
the controller chip that protects PC-Cards from
being supplied with 5Volts when the PC-Card is
signalling (via the VS# lines on the PCMCIA
socket) that it requires 3.3Volts.
Some PC-Cards are dual voltage and are tolerant
of 5Volts being supplied to them from the socket,
though they may indicate that they require 3.3Volts.
This means that in Windows NT4.0, with TI CardBus
controllers, some PC-Cards may fail to be powered
up so won't work!
To get round this problem, (NOT TI1211 chip) the
PSeries driver will detect low voltage PC-Cards
and will set the TI CardBus controller such that
only the most appropriate voltage is available
for the card.
The PCMCIA driver will then power the card to this
VCC setting. This process will fail safe to
3.3Volts if PC-Cards of different VCC types are
used concurrently. So, in this situation, the
5V PC-Card will fail to work correctly.
To get round this problem, you can disable the
over voltage protection circuit in TI chips, but
if this setting is made, 3.3Volt-only PC-Cards
WILL BE PHYSICALLY DAMAGED.
You can force the PSeries driver to disable over
voltage protection circuit by adding a DWORD value
(with value of 1) named "DisableOverVoltageProtection"
to the registry key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Services\PSeries\Parameters"
The file on this distribution disk named
"DisableOverVoltageProtection.reg" will make the correct
registry settings to disable the over voltage protection
circuit on TI CardBus controllers.
**************************************************
PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THIS SETTING MAY DAMAGE YOUR
PC-CARD SO PLEASE CHECK WITH THE CARD MANUFACTURER
THAT IT IS CAPABLE OF WORKING AT 5VOLTS FIRST!
WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE TO
LOW VOLTAGE PC-CARDS
**************************************************
On Ene 1211,1410 & 1420 controllers, it is not
possible to disable the over voltage protection circuit.
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5.8 Windows NT4 Service Packs
=============================
The PSeries driver has been tested with Windows NT
Service Pack 6, older service packs are not supported.
If a Service pack is installed after the installation
of the PSeries drivers, you should re-install the PSeries
drivers.
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5.9 Windows 2000 Service Pack
=============================
For best operation, it is recommended that SP3 (or newer
if available) be installed.
If a Service pack is installed after the installation
of the PSeries drivers, you should re-install the PSeries
drivers.
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5.10 Windows XP Service Pack
============================
For best operation, it is recommended that SP1 (or newer
if available) be installed.
If a Service pack is installed after the installation
of the PSeries drivers, you should re-install the PSeries
drivers.
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************************************************
6 Uninstalling the PSeries drivers
************************************************
The PSeries drivers are fully plug and play in that they
will detect the PCMCIA hardware will no load if the
PCMCIA hardware is not present in the PC. Usually it is
not necessary and not recommended to completely
uninstall the PSeries drivers. If the drivers are to be
completely removed, the following sections explain how to
remove the drivers for the particular operating system.
DON'T FORGET!!! THE PCMCIA HARDWARE WILL
FAIL TO OPERATE CORRECTLY WITHOUT THE
PSERIES DRIVERS INSTALLED!
6.1 Uninstalling the PSeries drivers in Windows 9x/Me
==================================================
To uninstall the PSeries drivers, go to the "Control Panel",
run "Add/Remove Programs", select the PSeries Drivers
and click "Change/Remove".
Re-boot the computer into "Safe Mode" (by pressing "F8"
during boot). Double click the "System" icon in the control panel,
select "Device Manager" and expand the "PCMCIA socket" entry
highlight each entry for the PCMCIA socket and click "Remove".
From Windows Explorer delete the files:
c:\windows\inf\pseries.inf
c:\windows\inf\pseries.pnf
c:\windows\system\pseries.vxd
From Windows Explorer, go to the c:\windows\system\oldpcmcia
folder and move the "PCMCIA.INF" file to the c:\windows\inf folder.
Run the registry editor (regedit.exe) an delete the key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\Services\VxD\PSeries"
Shut down the PC and remove the PC-Card adapter hardware.
Re-boot the PC and the driver is no longer installed.
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6.2 Uninstalling the PSeries drivers in Windows NT
==================================================
To uninstall the PSeries drivers:
1) Shut down the PC and remove the PC-Card adapter hardware.
2) re-boot the PC and go to the "Control Panel", run
"Add/Remove Programs", select the PSeries Drivers and
click "Change/Remove".
3) Run the registry editor (regedit.exe) an delete the key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PSeries"
4) From Windows Explorer delete the file:
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\pseries.sys
The PSeries driver is now no longer installed.
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6.3 Uninstalling the PSeries drivers in Windows 2000/XP & Server 2003
=====================================================================
Version 5.06 of the PSeries driver introduced more integrated
operation with the Windows 2000 driver model. So there
are differences in the way previous and later releases
are uninstalled.
----------------------------------------------------------
To uninstall the PSeries 5.05 and earlier release drivers:
----------------------------------------------------------
1) Shut down the PC and remove the PC-Card adapter hardware.
2) re-boot the PC and go to the "Control Panel", run
"Add/Remove Programs", select the PSeries Drivers and
click "Change/Remove".
3) Run the registry editor (regedit.exe) an delete the key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PSeries"
4) From Windows Explorer delete the file:
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\pseries.sys
The PSeries driver is now no longer installed.
-------------------------------------------------
To uninstall the PSeries 5.06 to 5.07.02 drivers:
-------------------------------------------------
1) go to the "Control Panel", run "Add/Remove Programs",
select the PSeries Drivers and click "Change/Remove".
2) From Windows Explorer delete the file:
c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.inf
then rename the c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.old file to
c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.inf
To successfully remove all traces of the PSeries driver, you
must NOT remove the PCMCIA adapter hardware from the PCI slot
until you have performed the following step. IF you have
moved the adapter from another PCI slot at any time, then
you will need to re-do this step with the hardware in
every slot that was previously used. (Windows 2000 preserves
the setup independently for each PCI slot in the PC).
3) Open the "Device Manager" and expand the "PCMCIA socket"
entry, highlight each entry for the PCMCIA socket,
right-click and select "Uninstall...".
Finally, when you have completed the above step for each PCI
slot the PCMCIA adapter has been in, you can do the
following steps...
4) Run the registry editor (regedit.exe) an delete the key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PSeries"
5) From Windows Explorer delete the file:
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\pseries.sys
6) Shut down the PC and remove the PC-Card adapter hardware.
When you Re-boot the PC and the driver is no longer installed.
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-----------------------------------------------------
To uninstall the PSeries 5.07.03 (and later) drivers:
-----------------------------------------------------
1) go to the "Control Panel", run "Add/Remove Programs",
select the PSeries Drivers and click "Change/Remove".
2) From Windows Explorer delete the file:
c:\winnt\inf\pseries.inf
then rename the c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.old file to
c:\winnt\inf\pcmcia.inf
To successfully remove all traces of the PSeries driver, you
must NOT remove the PCMCIA adapter hardware from the PCI slot
until you have performed the following step. IF you have
moved the adapter from another PCI slot at any time, then
you will need to re-do this step with the hardware in
every slot that was previously used. (Windows 2000/XP preserves
the setup independently for each PCI slot in the PC).
3) Open the "Device Manager" and expand the "PCMCIA socket"
entry, highlight each entry for the PCMCIA socket,
right-click and select "Uninstall...".
4) Finally, when you have completed the above step for each PCI
slot the PCMCIA adapter has been in, you can shut down the
PC and remove the PC-Card adapter hardware.
When you Re-boot the PC and the driver is no longer installed.
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************************************************
7 Customer Technical Support
************************************************
If you are having problems you should contact your hardware
vendor for support. Please assist them to support you by
supplying ALL of the following information, the more detail
you supply, the quicker it is likely they are able to give you
a solution.....
1) Make and model number of your PCMCIA adapter
2) PCMCIA controller chip manufacturer and part number (the
big chip on the PCMCIA adapter hardware)
3) Supplier of your PCMCIA adapter
4) The PSeries driver version you are using
5) Operating System and version (plus service pack etc)
6) PC/motherboard model and manufacturer
7) Motherboard chipset (i.e. 440BX etc)
8) BIOS manufacturer, version and serial number
9) Number of PCI slots on the motherboard
10) Number of ISA slots on the motherboard
11) Number of CPU's and type
12) CPU speed
13) Details of other PCI boards installed
14) Details of any ISA boards installed
15) Details of any motherboard peripherals
16) A complete list of ALL IRQ's allocation in the PC
17) Address and size of ALL memory resources allocated to
the PCMCIA adapter
18) Address and size of ALL IO resources allocated to the
PCMCIA adapter
19) IRQ number allocated to the PCMCIA adapter
20) Type, make and model number of any PCMCIA cards that
are being used
21) Address and size of all memory/IO resources allocated
to the PCMCIA card
22) IRQ number allocated to the PCMCIA card
23) A complete and exact description of the problem (please,
please, please, not just "it doesn't work"!!)
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end.
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.