ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º º Micro Channel Above Board Add-in Board Compatibility º º º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ COMMUNICATION BOARDS CONNECTION COPROCESSOR Intel tested this fax board with Micro Channel Above Boards, and they are compatible. INTEL 2400B MODEM 2 Intel tested this modem with Micro Channel Above Boards, and they are compatible. SATISFAXTION Intel tested this fax/modem board with Micro Channel Above Boards, and they are compatible. DISK CONTROLLER BOARDS CORE HARD DRIVE Customers report this board is compatible with Above Board 2 Plus. You must install the Above Board with Intel software part number 301290- 004A or greater. If running under DOS, EMM must be installed to initialize the Above Board 2 Plus. Under non-DOS operating systems it would be necessary to start the computer with the OS/2 Boot Diskette supplied with the Above Board 2 Plus (this is necessary because SOFTSET will not be able to write an Initializing Adaptor Descripter File to track zero of this hard drive). After installing the Above Board 2 Plus, the IBM Set Configuration program on the reference diskette may report that the fixed disk type can't be determined. This is normal in a Micro Channel system because the CORE drive doesn't use the standard DOS format. Core provides programs which allow access to the drive. IBM MC ESDI CONTROLLER We have customer reports of compatibility with the Above Board 2 Plus, MC, and the discontinued MC32. Tech Note: With the Above Board MC the error "The Above Board MC ROM could not could not read the hard drive to check for an Above Board IADF" will occur if the IBM ESDI controller's ROM is at a higher address than the Above Board MC ROM. As an example, this error would occur if the IBM ESDI's controller address was set to D000 and the Above Board MC ROM was set to C800. In this example if the Above Board MC ROM were to be moved to D400 the message would not occur. These addresses can be changed by using the backup copy of the Reference diskette for that system (choose the Set Configuration option, then the Change Configuration option). IBM MC SCSI CONTROLLER AND ABOVE BOARD 2 PLUS Symptom: With IBM SCSI controller, Above Board 2 Plus, and PS/2s that don't have built-in BIOS support for SCSI, you can either: get the IADF banner and a 162 error, or get rid of the 162 error and lose the IADF. Solution: DOS Use EMM to initialize board. OS/2 Use OS/2 boot disk supplied with the Above Board. The latest SOFTSET version doesn't write an iadf in a DOS system, so users won't have this problem when using DOS now. Details: The customer had an Above Board 2 Plus installed and working in Model 50Z, running on the standard MFM hard drive. They decided to install an IBM SCSI adapter to run a SCSI drive as a second hard drive. In order to install the SCSI, they had to use reference disk version 1.06, which has a SC.EXE that is both IADF & ADP aware. Note: anyone using this version or later of the reference disk will find that the IADF gets unchained everytime they run configuration. Normally, the solution is to simply rerun SOFTSET, thereby re- installing the IADF. Unfortunately, the installation procedure for this SCSI adapter in those machines which do not have built-in BIOS support for SCSI does not adhere to IBM IADF rules. The SCSI has an ADP that installs a pseudo IADF, deleting any existing IADFs. For some reason the SCSI will not tolerate being chained in behind another IADF. The result is a 162 error on POST. This situation has been thoroughly explored here, and at this time it appears it will require a fix from IBM. Of course, in the DOS environment the customer can use EMM to initialize the board. As a last resort, the customer can get the board initialized by booting from the OS/2 boot disk each time. Above Board 2 Plus works fine with machines that have BIOS support for the SCSI built in, such as the 65 and the later Mod 80s. In these machines, the ADP does not write the pseudo IADF to the hard disk. FUTURE DOMAINS MCS350 SCSI CONTROLLER Customers report getting "Invalid operating system boot sector" error after an Above Board 2 Plus tried to install the IADF (Initializing Adapter Descripter File) to track zero of this hard disk. No reports of any compatibility issues with the Above Board 2, Above Board MC32, or Above Board MC. Used REST_TRK.EXE program to restore track 0 and clear the error. Under the DOS Operating system need to use EMM.SYS to initialize the board. Also, put the DEVICE=LDRIVE.SYS before EMM. If the customer is trying to boot into a non-DOS operating system with an Above Board 2 Plus, they would need to boot from the OS/2 Boot Diskette provided with the Above Board 2 Plus. IBM 5.25" EXTERNAL FLOPPY Customers have reported that using IBMCACHE and EMM.SYS together in a Model 60 caused the IBM external floppy controller to fail when the IBMCACHE size was less than 512K bytes. PLUS PASSPORT SYSTEM - MCA Customers have reported the Plus Passport system is compatible with Above Boards. The Plus Passport system is a removable 20M- or 40M-byte hard disk system that connects to an adapter board in the computer. It is available for both Classic bus and Micro Channel computers. This system has a 16K-byte read-ahead buffer. You can select Micro Channel adapter values independently from one another. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ BIOS ³ I/O ³ Fairness ³ Interrupt ³ DMA ³ ³ Address ³ Address ³ ³ Level ³ Channel ³ ÆÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍØÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍØÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍØÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍØÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͵ ³ C800 ³F320H-F323H ³ ON/OFF ³ 5 or 14 ³ 0, 1, 2, 3,³ ³ CC00 ³F324H-F327H ³ ³ ³ 4, 5, 6, 7,³ ³ D000 ³F328H-F32BH ³ ³ ³ 8, 9, 10, ³ ³ D400 ³F32CH-F32FH ³ ³ ³ 11, 12, 13,³ ³ D800 ³ ³ ³ ³ or 14 ³ ³ DC00 ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Adapter ID number: @5FF8.ADF PROCOM PIRA 50120 Customer Reports of compatibility between the Above Board MC and the Procom PIRA 50120. Tech Notes: One customer reported getting a "111 ?????" error on boot if both the Above Board MC and the Procom PIRA 50120 drive are installed in an IBM Model 50. Could not even boot to the IBM Reference Disk. Solution: Install the Procom PIRA adapter into a lower order slot than the Above Board MC. Directions: Place the Above Board MC in slot #3. Then install the MC PIRA adapter into slot #2. The PIRA drive cable should be just long enough to stretch over the Above Board MC to it's adapter in slot #2. This will waste the half-length slot that was meant for a hard drive controller next to the hard drive, but will allow the two boards to function together. This problem does not occur on an IBM Model 50Z. Multiple calls to Procom tech support have shown that they do not know anything about this problem or it's cause. They did confirm that their PIRA adapter had the latest BIOS version on the customer's Procom drive adapter, (IC90001 ver 1.08). QUANTUM DRIVES Customers report LIMITED compatibility with the Above Board 2 Plus. We have had no reports of incompatibilities with the Above Board MC although we can't foresee any difficulties. Above Board 2 Plus Tech Notes: For DOS installations with our current SOFTSET installation software (versions 2.0 or more recent), there should be no conflicts at all between Quantum drives and the Above Board 2 Plus. For OS/2 installations with our current SOFTSET installation software (versions 2.0 or more recent), SOFTSET will fail to install an Initializing Adapter Description File (IADF) onto track 0 of the hard disk. Unlike other hard drives, the Quantum drivers apparently reserve track 0 for themselves. The only solutions here would be to boot from the OS/2 Boot Diskette provided with the Above Board 2 Plus every time it's necessary to start the computer, (this would initialize the Above Board 2 Plus then allow the hard disk to boot), or the customer could contact Quantum. One customer reported being told by Quantum representatives that they were aware of conflicts with memory boards are were working on a solution. It was not made clear whether a new Quantum driver could solve this problem, but that was the customer's impression. For DOS or OS/2 installations with SOFTSET versions less than 2.0, the installation will fail, but there is a chance that some of the Quantum information on track 0 could be overwritten by the the failed attempt of older SOFTSET versions to write an IADF to track 0. In this case the system will no longer be able to use the hard disk as a boot drive, although files should still be accessable after booting from a bootable diskette. The solution here is to do a Low Level Format since FORMAT from DOS and even FDISK won't clear up track 0 of the hard disk, a low level format is required, (of course backing up the information from the hard disk before doing a low level format is strongly recommended). After track zero is cleaned up, run a current version of SOFTSET (2.0 or newer) before running the Quantum setup. Again, Quantum is apparently aware of these conflicts, and is working on a solution. EMULATION CARDS ARCNET PS110 (STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS CORP) Arcnet PS110 (Standard Microsytems Corp.) Customers report this board prevented the Above Board 2 Plus from initializing (the Intel message never came up) until the user did two things: þ Changed Arcnet address to DE00 using the IBM Reference diskette þ Set the Reserved Memory address to D400 in SOFTSET. The latest version of Softset does not require a reserved memory address when installing for DOS, so this step would not be required. AST 5250 Customers report the AST 5250 works with the Above Board 2 Plus. The AST 5250 reserved memory addressing can be changed through the backup copy of the IBM Reference diskette for that system.. EMERALD TWIN 2 Customer reports of compatibility with microchannel Above Boards. This emulation board has a movable IRQ and I/O address using jumpers. It does not use any memory above 640k. Emerald can be reached within the United States at PH # 800-222-6174 IBM 36/38 CARD Customer reports of compatibility with microchannel Above Boards. Tech notes: One customer reported this board uses addresses DC00 to DFFF as a default, but the board could also use address C000-C3FF. IBM 3270 CARD Customer Reports of compatibility with microchannel Above Boards. Tech Notes: This board uses addresses CE00 to CFFF, and you can't change these settings. Customers report a B version of the adapter that has a selectable address but they could only get the card to work at CE00. To use expanded memory, use the EXPF = D000 parameter in the EMM command in the CONFIG.SYS file. IBM 5250 CARD This board is compatible with Micro Channel Above Boards. It uses ROM addresses DC00-DFFF as a default, with the following alternate addresses: C000-C3FF, C400-C7FF, C800-CBFF, CC00-CFFF, D000-D3FF, D400- D7FF, and D800-DBFF. You can change the addresses using the IBM Reference diskette. IRMA 3 Customer reports of compatibility with microchannel Above Boards. Tech Notes: This emulation card for PS/2 computers uses several I/O addresses, one interrupt request (IRQ), and can use RAM address CE00 to CFFF. You can disable the RAM addresses, but the board won't work. Intel has no information about whether you can change the I/O addresses and interrupt requests. MEMORY CARDS AST ADVANTAGE 2+ A customer reports that this 16-bit Micro Channel memory card is incompatible with the Above Board 2 Plus. Intel believes this is because the AST installation modifies the Reference diskette Set Configuration program. The Intel installation requires the unaltered Set Configuration program so these boards can't be installed in the same computer. AST ADVANTAGE 2/386 This 32-bit Micro Channel memory card is not compatible with the Above Board 2 Plus for the same reason the Advantage 2+ isn't. The AST installation modifies the Set Configuration program on the IBM Reference diskette such that it can no longer install the Above Board. BOCA MICRO CHANNEL A customer reports that this board is conditionally compatible with the Above Board 2 Plus. Intel hasn't tested it with the Above Board MC32 or Above Board MC. This board would only work under the following conditions þ The Boca board was fully populated with memory þ The Boca board occupied lower extended memory addresses than the Above Board 2 Plus. IBM XMA CARDS The Above Board 2 works with an IBM XMA card set up as exTENDED memory if the Above Board 2 is providing only exTENDED memory. If the Above Board 2 is providing exPANDED memory, EMM turns the XMA memory off. The Above Board 2 Plus will never work with an IBM XMA card, since either the initializing ADF or EMM turns off the XMA board. We have not tested the IBM XMA cards with the Above Board MC or the Above Board MC32, nor have we received reports from the customers with any compatibility issues. TECHMAR MICRORAM 386 This 32-bit board is compatible with the Above Board MC32. It holds up to 32MB of memory using 4MB SIMMS. We have not tested with the Above Board 2 Plus or the Above Board MC. OTHER HP SCANJET FOR PS/2 We have customer reports of compatibility with microchannel Above Boards and this scanner card. Tech Notes: The Scanjet board for PS/2 computers uses an I/O address 278-27Fh and any one of the following memory addresses: C000, C400, C800, CC00, D000, D400, D800, or DC00. The address is selectable using the IBM Reference disk. ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ End of file Intel FaxBack # 1524 August 27,1992