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TITLE: Hardware Trouble Shooting Guide
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6094
DATE: 04Dec92
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: FYI.P.6048
SYMPTOM: NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
Hardware Trouble Shooting Guide
Quite often, apparent problems with NetWare Lite can be traced to the network hardware or the drivers that have been installed. This document describes how to detect some of these problems.
The following is an explanation on how to determine whether or not your network connections are solid. If you are already familiar with this procedure, skip to the next section.
How to Run "Verify network connections"
1. Insert the original installation diskette (PROGRAM diskette) into the disk drive of one of your machines.
2. Type INSTALL.
3. Select "Verify network connections."
4. Type in the name for the machine.
5. Check to see if the connection appears on your screen, accompanied by the workstation address.
6. Repeat the procedure for all machines on your network.
7. Each time you bring up a new workstation, that workstation's name and node address should show up on:
A. Its own screen, AND
B. All other screens running "Verify network connections."
8. Remember, "Verify network connections" must be running on all machines on the network concurrently.
9. If one or more of the workstations on your network do not show up on every screen, you have a bad connection somewhere.
10. Allow "Verify network connections" to run for about five minutes to verify that the connections remain solid--in other words, check to see if any workstations blink on and off. If they do, then you have an intermittent connection problem.
11. Finally, check to make sure that none of your connections are using the same node address (especially when you are using Arcnet cards).
What to do if "Verify network connections" fails
NOTE: Run Verify Connections between each of these steps to determine if the problem has been solved.
1. The first step is to determine which of the various programs is causing the connection problem. Reboot the machine WITHOUT LOADING THE NETWORK. Type out or print the STARTNET.BAT file to find out what your card drivers name is and replace the NE2000 driver in the example below with your card driver. Then load the drivers in the following order to determine if each driver loads or if it gives an error message (don't forget to replace the NE2000 driver with your card driver).
LSL
NE2000
IPXODI A
SHARE
SERVER
CLIENT
2. If any beeps occur when running these programs, you know you have a problem. If any error message occurs, write down the exact message.
3. If you are using a DOS ODI driver, contact the card manufacturer to verify that it is up-to-date.
4. Next, type out the NET.CFG file which is located in the \NWLITE directory to ensure that the INT (IRQ), PORT (I/O), and MEM (Memory Address) entries are the same as the ones that are physically selected on the network interface card. If they aren't, change the settings on your card or the entries in the NET.CFG so that they match.
5. To edit the NET.CFG file:
From the \NWLITE directory, use an ASCII editor (DR DOS 6.0's EDITOR for example) to bring up the NET.CFG file. If the file does not exist, then create one according to the following instructions. This is an example if your card is set to INT 3 and BASE I/O Address 300:
#Setup the NE2000 card
LINK DRIVER NE2000
INT 3
MEM D0000 (NOTE: NE2000 does not use this line.)
PORT 300
NOTES:
A. INT, MEM and PORT need to be exactly one TAB away from the left margin.
B. Not all cards use shared memory, so your NET.CFG may not contain a MEM setting.
C. Any line starting with a # sign is a comment line.
6. Try changing INT (IRQ), PORT (I/O), and/or MEM (Memory Address) settings on the network interface card to make sure that there are no other hardware conflicts. Then re-install NetWare Lite or edit the NET.CFG file so that NetWare Lite recognizes the new card settings. The NewWare Lite 1.1 README.TXT document in Section 2: INSTALLING NETWARE LITE AND LOGGING IN and fax document 212 contain more information on resolving I/O and IRQ conflicts.
7. Strip down the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Afterwards your files should look similar to the following examples:
AUTOEXEC.BAT CONFIG.SYS
@ECHO OFF FILES=30
PROMPT $p$g BUFFERS=30
C:\DOS;C:\NWLITE LASTDRIVE=M
8. If this solves the problem, add your original command lines back into the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files one at a time starting with the CONFIG.SYS file, rebooting the machine and running verify connections between each one, until you find the command line which is causing the problem.
9. If your network interface card uses a Shared Memory Address (MEM), use a memory manager (i.e. DR DOS 6.0's EMM386.SYS) to exclude the range of memory that the card uses. This will prevent another program from using that memory address (Please refer to fax document 264 on the automated fax system for information about DR DOS 6.0 and MS DOS 5.0 memory managers).
10. Remove any possible conflicting cards (i.e. modem, mouse bus cards). Afterwards, your machine should only contain the network interface card, a drive controller card and a video card. If the problem goes away, put the cards back in one at a time to see which card was causing the problem.
11. Try putting the network interface card in a different slot on the motherboard.
12. Check or change cables, T-connectors, and terminators. Remove anything that might be causing interference on the network cable (i.e. speakers or florescent lights). If you are using an Arcnet topology check for a bad hub or a bad port on the hub. If you are using a Twisted Pair topology, check for a bad concentrator or a bad port on your concentrator.
13. Try slowing down the Bus speed on your machines. The bus speed should never be faster than 8 MHz. NOTE: Realize that bus speed and clock speed are not the same thing. Your bus speed can usually be slowed down through the CMOS setup. In some instances, however, the only way to slow down the bus speed is to slow down the clock speed (if your machine has a turbo switch, turn the turbo off). Refer to your user's manual for more details.
14. Try a different network interface card. The recommended network cards are listed on the back of the NetWare Lite box and the approved ODI driver for each recommended card is included on the NetWare Lite Driver diskette.
15. Scan for viruses. You can obtain software to perform this scan by calling the McAfee BBS at 408-988-4004. Or dial 408-988-3832 for voice. You may also contact your local dealer for virus protection software.
16. Try using a different PC to reveal any possible conflicts between your machine and the network interface card.
17. Run CHKDSK /F or a third party disk utility on each hard drive to recover any lost clusters and to fix any other problems.
