******************************************************************* *README.TXT Release Notes for Plug and Play Kit * * for Windows(TM) * *Release 1.41 February 1995 * ******************************************************************* Introduction ============ This kit contains Release 1.41 of the Plug and Play Kit for Windows. The components of this kit are: Plug and Play Configuration Manager for Windows Provides configuration services to real-mode and protected- mode drivers and to applications in Windows environments. Plug and Play ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) for Windows Provides a way to assign system resources to add-in cards before the card is installed. This assignment avoids resource conflicts and keeps track of system resources so that Plug and Play cards do not conflict with non-Plug and Play cards in a system. A full description of ICU features and use is available in the ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) User's Guide. Information on the components of this kit, and on the inclusion of the Configuration Manager and the ISA Configuration Utility in your products, is available in the Plug and Play Developer's Guide. NOTE The information in this file is for the system and/or card vendor. Please do not distribute it directly to your customer. You may use the parts of this file that are appropriate for your customer in your release notes. ******************************************************************* *Plug and Play Configuration Manager (CM) * ******************************************************************* The Plug and Play Configuration Manager provides all of the functionality defined in the "Plug and Play Device Driver Specification for Microsoft(R) Windows(TM) and MS-DOS". The Configuration Manager also complies with the specifications and definitions in: "Plug and Play ISA Specification", Version 1.0a from Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation "Plug and Play BIOS Specification", Version 1.0a from Intel Corporation, Compaq Computer Corporation, Phoenix Technologies, Ltd., and Microsoft Corporation "Plug and Play BIOS Extensions Guide", Version 1.1 from Intel Corporation "PCI BIOS Specification", Version 2.0, from Intel Corporation This release of the Configuration Manager supersedes all previous releases. New Features =========== Release 1.41 of the Configuration Manager provides the ability to configure Plug and Play ISA devices around PCI Bridge Aperture Values, in conformance to the ESCD specification v1.03. Configuration Assist (Cassist) now has support for the SatisFAXtion(TM) modem card. Limitations =========== Please be aware that this release of the Plug and Play Configuration Manager for Windows has the following limitations: - The default installation of MS-DOS CM driver invokes the driver with the 'lock' device function of the CM provided by the CM_LockConfig and CM_UnlockConfig functions unavailable to PC add-in install programs running in real-mode MS-DOS environment. The CM lock functionality is always available under Windows, including the Windows V86 DOS. If this functionality is needed, add the /LOCK parameter in the line in config.sys that invokes the CM driver (dwcfgmg.sys). CM_LockConfig and CM_UnlockConfig are unrelated to the locking options available with ECU or ICU utilities. - In the absence of the Intel Plug and Play BIOS extensions, Plug and Play boot devices are not reconfigured by the Configuration Manager. - Calls to the Configuration Manager do not work during sys_critical_init. ****************************************************************** *Plug and Play Kit ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) * ****************************************************************** This diskette contains Release 1.41 of the Windows ISA Configuration Utility (ICU), its ISA card configuration database, the Configuration Assistance Utility (cassist), and the Configuration Manager software needed to support the ICU. See the ISA Configuration Utility User's Guide for details on using the Plug and Play ICU. NOTE The ISA Configuration Utility is for ISA systems only. Do not run it on EISA systems. To configure EISA systems, use an EISA Configuration Utility. PCMCIA VxD ========== The Windows version of this release installs the following file: :\windows\system\pccardrm.386 This file is a PCMCIA Card Services virtual device driver (VxD). The VxD allows the ICU to receive PCMCIA card events as Card Services clients on Windows. For this VxD to work properly, real mode Card Services must be running on your system. An entry for this VxD is put into the \windows\system.ini file under [386Enh] but is commented out. Edit the file and remove the comment character(;) to activate the VxD. Installation Notes ================== 1) If the Windows screen saver becomes active during the Windows ICU setup, the index generator that runs at the end of the setup program is iconized as an MS-DOS icon. To complete the setup procedure, return to Windows and maximize the MS-DOS icon. 2) The installation procedures in this kit assume that C: is the boot drive of the system. Therefore, the procedures create, make changes to, or overwrite boot drive files on C:. In particular, the procedures put the escd.rf file into C:\, and create or modify the config.sys file in C:\. On systems without the Plug and Play BIOS, if the boot drive is not C:, but some other drive, the user must move the escd.rf file to the root directory of the boot drive. Also, the user must add line that loads the CM driver (dwcfgmg.sys) to the config.sys file in the root directory of the boot drive. Some utilities, for example, the Stacker disk compression utility, can change the boot drive from C: to another drive. Such drive changes are not always obvious to the user. In order to avoid the user having to move and edit files, the installation procedure must make an INT 21 call to detect the boot device before installing the escd.rf file or changing the config.sys file. 3) The Windows ICU installation fails on a system that has MS-DOS 6.0 installed with the VSafe virus scanner active if the VSafe scanner checks executable files and protects executable files (VSafe options 4 and 8). 4) If you are upgrading from a previous version of the ICU, any user-entered names for unlisted cards are lost and will have to be re-entered. Limitations =========== - If any PCI devices are locked, the ICU will fail when trying to reconfigure any other PCI devices. To work around this limitation, unlock all PCI devices while adding or modifying other cards. You may lock the PCI devices again before saving the configuration. - Configuration Assistance Utility (cassist) operation is incompatible with Plug and Play cards. Remove all Plug and Play cards from your system before running cassist. Failure to do so may result in system failure. Replace the cards after you have run cassist. - When you save an image file (Save Image File or Save Image File As.. on the Advanced menu), the icu.ndx index file is not updated. So if the configuration you saved contained one or more unlisted cards, when you load the image file you saved, the card resources for these unlisted cards are in the loaded configuration image. However, cards of this type might be listed as "Unknown Card," instead of by the name you assigned when you added it. You can avoid this behavior by choosing the Save item on the File menu before you save the image file. In addition, if you copy the image file to another system, you must also copy the icu.ndx index file to avoid this behavior. - Pressing the F1 key invokes the ICU help facility from the ISA Configuration Utility window (the main window) only. - When you are modifying a function of a Plug and Play card in preparation for locking it, you might see a conflict message that indicates the card is conflicting with itself. Try reconfiguring the card functions in a different order. - If a function has two or more resource types that must be configured together, the ICU might not be able to configure that function, even though there might be a valid configuration available. See the discussion on resolving conflicts in the Troubleshooting section of the ICU User's Guide for ways to successfully configure functions in this category. - If the ICU reports that a card is not configurable, you can usually find the source of the error by attempting to modify the function that is in the error state. This action produces a message that identifies the problem card. - When you pick a resource for a new card that is currently used by an existing card, the ICU reconfigures the Plug and Play ISA cards first, then the PCI cards. However, PCI cards are restricted to specific interrupts. Sometimes the configuration fails because the ICU assigns Plug and Play cards to all the valid PCI card interrupts, then it cannot configure the PCI cards. Use the ICU to reconfigure the Plug and Play cards to different interrupts, then try again to configure your new card. - You can increase the size of the Smartdrv buffer to make the ICU faster. - If you have no mouse, you may experience changes in the keyboard interface. In most cases you can still traverse buttons, list boxes and menus in the dialog boxes using key and select using the space bar. In the messsage dialogs, you must use the up and down arrow keys instead for traversal. - After using the ICU load image file operation, you must save the changes and reboot your system before making any other changes. If you don't, you will see inconsistent behavior. - When a PCI or Plug and Play ISA card is modified, the ICU asks you to verify that the card is configured as shown. This step is unnecessary; the card will be automatically configured as shown when the system next boots. - In some cases, the ICU may discard some of the resources of a locked PCI card. After adding or modifying any cards with the ICU, select the locked cards and review their configuration. If you see any locked PCI card using a single IRQ and no other resources, that card may be missing resources. These resources should be restored after you have made all other configuration changes, and before you save the configuration from the ICU. To restore those resources: - select the card - choose the Modify operation - choose the Settings button - you will be asked if you would like to modify this function even though it is locked; select Yes. - change the configuration choice to Disabled, then change it back to Enabled; all the necessary resources for this card's function will appear - choose OK on the Settings screen - choose OK on the Configuration screen You may now save the configuration. ******************************************************************* Trademark and Copyright Citations ================================= MS-DOS is a registered trademark, and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other names and trademarks are the property of their respective companies.