The Windows NT 3.5x Workstation and Server Driver
=================================================
                                               LSS 5.0(0), August 1996
                                               -----------------------


Summary
-------

This file describes advanced configuration and troubleshooting for the
MDGMPORT.SYS driver under Windows NT 3.5 and later.


Section 1) Advanced Configuration
---------------------------------

To set your adapter's advanced configuration options, you must add the
options  to  the  NT  registry. To  do  this use the NT program called 
REGEDT32.EXE. The  location that you need in the registry database is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
    SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\SERVICES\MDGMPORT?\PARAMETERS

'?' should be replaced by the number of  the adapter you wish to set a
parameter for. The adapter number is shown before the driver entry  in
the network control panel.

E.g. [1] Madge Smart 16/4 EISA Ringnode
     [2] Madge Smart 16/4 PCI Ringnode (BM)

To add a the  paramter 'DisableParity'  to  the Madge Smart  16/4  PCI 
Ringnode (BM) you would use the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
    SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\SERVICES\MDGMPORT2\PARAMETERS

At this point,  use  the option EDIT and ADD VALUE to add the relevant 
Value Name and Data Type.


Alternate Bus-Timing
--------------------

To configure your Smart 16 Ringnode for alternate  bus-timing,  insert
the  value  "Alternate"  as Data Type REG_DWORD into the registry, and 
give it the hexadecimal value 1.


Test and XID Frame Handling
---------------------------

Certain contectivity products require that the NDIS driver be able to
handle  LLC TEST and XID frames. To enable this processing insert the
value  "TestAndXIDEnabled" as Data Type REG_DWORD into  the registry,
and give it the hexadecimal value 1. Do not  set  this  configuration  
option unless it is required in your internetwork.


Forced Open
-----------

Normally a token ring adapter checks that the ring is in a good state
before  it  inserts  into the ring, and refuses to insert if the ring
is  in  a bad state. However, the adapter can be configured to insert
into  the  ring  irrespective  of the ring's state. To configure your
adapter to do such a forced open insert the value "ForceOpen" as Data
Type REG_DWORD into the registry and give it the hexadecimal value 1.
Do NOT use this configuration unless you have good reason to do so.


Force16BitPIO
-------------

Normally when PIO is chosen  as  the  transfer  method  MDGMPORT  will 
attempt  to  use  32bit  programmed  I/O on adapters that support this 
mode.  On some old or out of  specification  PCs  you  may  experience 
problems  with  32bit  PIO.  If  this  is  the  case  insert the value 
"Force16BitPIO" as Data Type REG_DWORD into the registry and  give  it 
the hexadecimal value 1.


SingleStationTimeout and BeaconTimeout
--------------------     -------------

These  options  only apply if adapters are being mirrored. Normally, a 
switch of adapters will occur if there is  a  persistent  lobe  fault, 
hard  error  or  signal  loss on the active adapter. However these two 
parameters allow a switch to occur if there is persistent beaconing or 
the adapter goes single station. The timeout values are in seconds and 
represent the maximum length of time that the adapter can  be  in  the 
given   state   before   a  switch  is  performed.   Enter  the  value 
"SingleStationTimeout" or "BeaconTimeout" as Data Type REG_DWORD  into 
the registry and give it a non-zero hexadecimal value.


DisableParity
-------------

Madge Smart 16/4 PCI (BusMaster) Ringnodes have the ability to perform
parity checking on data transferred across the the PCI bus. By default
parity  checking is enabled. If your PC/workstation does not correctly
support PCI bus parity checking then you may stop your Madge Ringnodes
from  checking  parity  by inserting the value "DisableParity" as Data
Type REG_WORD into the registry and giving it the hexadecimal value 1.


Watchdog
--------

Normally  MDGMPORT  closes down a Smart Ringnode when instructed to do 
so by the operating system. Under almost all circumstances this is the 
correct behaviour. However, if the computer should  "hang"  the  Smart 
Ringnode  will not be closed down until the computer is powered off or 
hard reset.  To get around this problem insert the value "Watchdog" as 
Data  Type  REG_WORD  into  the  registry  and  give  it  a   non-zero 
hexadecimal  value.   This  causes the Smart Ringnode to automatically 
closedown if the computer does not respond for the specified number of 
seconds.  A value of 15 seconds is recommended.


Section 2) Troubleshooting
--------------------------

If your installation of MDGMPORT fails to load, the Windows NT Service
Control Manager displays the following message:

" At least one service or driver failed during system startup. Use the
  Event Viewer to examine the event log for details. "

Once your Windows NT workstation  has  booted  up,  invoke  the  Event 
Viewer to search for a message from MDGMPORT.

If you need to check your registry entries, run the Windows NT program 
called  REGEDT32.EXE.  The  location  that  you  need  in the registry 
database is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
    CurrentControlSet\SERVICES\MDGMPORT?\PARAMETERS

When you look at the event viewer message for MDGMPORT you will see an 
error  message  explaining  why  the  driver  has  not  been  able  to 
initialize properly. If the error message claims that there has been a 
hardware  failure  then  details  of the hardware failure can be found 
from the data section of the event window. The last eight bytes in the 
data section will look similar to the following:

??: PP 00 00 00 QQ 00 00 00

Where: PP is a hexadecimal number between 0x0 and 0x9.
       QQ is a hexadecimal number between 0x0 and 0xFF.

       PP is a category of error
       QQ is an error within that category


Some  of  the  common  errors  are in  the  file ERRORS.TXT. If the QQ
displayed in your installation does not match any of the values listed
in the errors.txt file, contact MADGE technical support.  Please quote
the values for PP and QQ.



                        **** End WINNT.TXT ****
