DOCUMENT:Q98728 20-JUL-1993 [W_NT] TITLE :Frequently Asked Questions: Hardware Information (Part II) PRODUCT :Windows NT PROD/VER:3.10 OPER/SYS:WINDOWS KEYWORDS: -------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - March Release of Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: The following information was taken from the Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that is available on CompuServe in the WINNT forum. This article contains the second half of the Hardware Information section, including the following topics: - Cannot Print to LPT1 - Adding a CD-ROM After Installing Windows NT - SCSI and ESDI Drives with More Than 1024 Cylinders - SoundBlaster Pro Plays Mono Only - ATI Ultra Drivers - TSENG Labs ET4000 Does Not Sync - Archive Python Tape Drive - No drive detected - NEC CD-ROM Slow Downs - Supported ATI Products - ATI Driver Won't Display a Higher Resolution - Trouble-Shooting ATI Problems - Display 16 and 32 Bit Color Modes in ATI Adapters - 16550 UART Support - Digiboard Drivers - SCSI Selection Timeout (#11) Errors from Adaptec 1542 or 1740 More Information: Cannot Print to LPT1 -------------------- Question: I cannot print to the LPT1 port. If I type MODE LPT1: it claims the device is not found. What is happening? Answer: Typically LPT1: uses interrupt 7 which is also the default setting of the SoundBlaster sound card. You may be experiencing an IRQ conflict with this or another device. If you are unable to resolve the conflict you can disable one of the devices in the registry database. Use REGEDIT to alter entries in the registry database. (Note: you may need to be logged on as Administrator to change some settings.) Hardware configuration settings can be altered under this registry branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services You can enable or disable the SoundBlaster by changing the Start value under the \Sndblst key to one of the following values: 0x4 to disable, 0x1 to enable. To enable or disable the parallel port driver, you can use the same values for the Start value under the \Parallel key. WARNING: RegEdit is a very powerful utility that facilitates directly changing the Registry Database. Using RegEdit incorrectly can cause serious problems, including hard disk corruption. It may be necessary to reinstall the software to correct any problems. Microsoft does not support changes made with RegEdit. Use this tool at your own risk. Adding a CD-ROM After Installing Windows NT ------------------------------------------- Question: What do I need to do to make Windows NT recognize my new CD-ROM? Answer: >From the Services application in Control Panel, locate the Scsicdrm and Cdaudio entries. Set the Startup value for Scsicdrm to System so the service starts when the system boots. If your CD-ROM does not support SCSI-2 CD Audio, set Cdaudio Startup to System. Note: Some SCSI-1 CD-ROMs require the Cdaudio service as well. To start these services without restarting Windows NT, highlight them one at a time and press the Start button. SCSI and ESDI Drives with More Than 1024 Cylinders -------------------------------------------------- Question: Can I use SCSI drives and ESDI drives with more than 1024 cylinders? Answer: SCSI uses RBA (relative block address) addressing. Normally, you do not need to worry about a 1024 cylinder limit with a SCSI drive until it becomes very large (greater than 1GB). Some SCSI cards have a jumper for greater than 1GB support. Check you SCSI documentation to see if your SCSI controller has this feature. ESDI uses CHS (cylinder, head, sector) addressing and has a 1024 cylinder limitation. Some controller cards get around this by implementing a translation scheme in the onboard controller BIOS. Windows NT (and other protected mode operating systems) must duplicate the code found in these BIOS chips in order to duplicate this behavior. Unfortunately, there are many ways of performing this translation, making it necessary to incorporate them all in the standard AT disk driver. Support for every ESDI translation scheme was not included in Windows NT. Note: Some ESDI controllers implement this translation in hardware, making it totally transparent to the system and allowing the standard driver to work without change. Check your controller documentation to see which type of translation is provided by your hardware. SoundBlaster Pro Plays Mono Only -------------------------------- Question: My SoundBlaster PRO plays mono only. Why? Answer: Work is currently in progress on a Windows NT driver that supports SoundBlaster Pro in stereo. At this time there is no such driver available. ATI Ultra Drivers ----------------- Question: Why isn't there a video driver supplied with the March Release of Windows NT to support my ATI Ultra video adapter? Answer: When the March Release was sent to press, these drivers were not fully tested and so were not included. The drivers for the ATI Ultra should be ready by the time the March release is widely available. Please check library 2 of the WINNT forum on CompuServe for the latest updates. TSENG Labs ET4000 Does Not Sync ------------------------------- Question: I installed the TSENG ET4000 drivers and now my video display is out of sync. What should I do? Answer: You need to load the interlaced driver. Boot MS-DOS and rename the ET4000.SYS driver in the \winnt\system\drivers subdirectory to ET4000.BAK. Obtain a copy of ET4K_ALT.SYS from the Library 1 in the WINNT forum. Copy ET4K_ALT.SYS to the \winnt\system\drivers subdirectory. Rename this file ET4000.SYS and restart your machine. Your monitor should then sync correctly. Archive Python Tape Drive - No drive detected --------------------------------------------- Question: Why do I get the following error? Archive Python: No drive has been detected. Make sure a drive is attached and power is on. Answer: The Archive Python driver was not installed. From the Options menu of Windows NT Setup choose Add/Remove Tape Devices to install the proper driver. NEC CD-ROM Slow Downs --------------------- Question: When my NEC CD-ROM plays audio CDs Windows NT slows down dramatically. Why? Answer: It was recently discovered that NEC Intersect CD-ROM readers have switches that enable disconnects during accesses to the reader. This switch is off by default, disabling disconnects. Because of this, while your CD-ROM is being read, no other devices on that SCSI bus can be accessed. Since reads from a reader can take a significant amount of time, having this switch off can noticeably degrade system performance. This slow-down may occur even if you are not using the CD-ROM reader. The switch is number 5 and should be set to ON. It can be found in a little box labeled SW1. Supported ATI Products ---------------------- Question: What ATI products do the Windows NT drivers support in the March Release? Answer: The following ATI products are supported: Graphics Ultra Graphics Vantage 8514 Ultra Graphics Ultra Pro(including Local Bus, EISA, MicroChannel) Graphics Ultra + ATI Driver Won't Display a Higher Resolution -------------------------------------------- Question: Why can't I make my Windows NT March Release ATI drive display higher resolutions? Answer: The ATI driver uses the monitor resolutions that the adapter has been physically configured for on the card itself. This prevents the driver from setting the monitor to a resolution it may not support. Use the ATI INSTALL utility to configure the monitor settings for the desired resolutions. Note: The driver will not display a resolution that the adapter does not have enough memory for. Trouble-Shooting ATI Problems ----------------------------- Question: I loaded the Windows NT ATI March Release driver and it does not function correctly. How do I track down the problem? Answer: If you have ROM BIOS shadowing enabled, disable it. Make sure you do not have a conflict between the memory base address or I/O port address assignment for the ATI card. Make sure you do not have any other peripheral devices set to the same settings. Look out for conflicts between your ATI card and a SCSI controller in the area of I/O port address assignment particularly. Use the event logger to determine when a conflict has occurred and what I/O addresses are in conflict. Display 16 and 32 Bit Color Modes in ATI Adapters ------------------------------------------------- Question: I have an ATI card that I want to display 16 bit or 32 bit color. It does not work. Is there something wrong with the driver? Answer: 16 and 32 bit color modes are currently only available when the memory aperture is enabled. Check to make sure that the memory aperture is enabled. If you are using an ISA ATI card in an EISA PC (or any PC), be advised that the aperture can only be enabled if you have 12MB or less of system memory. (This is an ISA addressing restriction.) To display 16 bit or 32 bit color in an EISA PC, you need one of ATI's EISA card products. The same applies to MicroChannel (MCA) PCs. Contact ATI for information on how to obtain the correct card. 16550 UART Support ------------------ Question: Does the March Release of Windows NT support 16550 UART chips? Answer: Windows NT will work with a 16550 UART chip; however, FIFO will not be enabled and performance will not be optimized. Digiboard Drivers ----------------- Question: Are there Digiboard drivers included in Windows NT? Answer: No. However, DigiBoard has just released beta drivers for many of their products. For more information, contact DigiBoard at: Customer Service: (612) 943-9020 CompuServe: >INTERNET:winntbeta@dbsales.digibd.com Internet: winntbeta@dbsales.digibd.com SCSI Selection Timeout (#11) Errors from Adaptec 1542 or 1740 ------------------------------------------------------------- Question: During Windows NT startup I see several SCSI selection timout #11 errors generated from my Adaptec SCSI card. Are these errors a result of a problem with my installation? Answer: These messages are harmless. They occur when Windows NT is polling during load time. The errors are generated because of a timing problem. {It is a timing related issue and will more than likely result in Microsoft increasing the timeout in the driver code.} Support for Mediavision Pro AudioSpectrum 16 -------------------------------------------- Question: Will the final release of Windows NT support my Pro AudioSpectrum 16 board, including such features as the external MIDI ports? Answer: A driver, supporting all of the native capabilities of this board, is currently being worked on and will be included in the final release of Windows NT. Additional reference words: 3.10 ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.