OS/2 Shareware BBS: 4 Drivers/04-Drivers.zip/s2kv201.zip/FAQ.TXT

Text File | 2001-10-15 | 15KB | 303 lines

1-How can I determine that SIO2K has correctly determined my uart type and
the IRQ it is using.

     In the sio2k distribution zip, there is a program named logger.exe.
     This program can hook into sio2k.sys and provide an enormous amount of
     information.  However, some information is only available once, when
     the port (uart) is first touched by an application.  For information
     like uart type, fifo depth, and crystal multiplier, you must have
     logger running before the port is touched the first time.  Here is
     how.  Reboot your computer, go to an OS/2 session and execute (for
     info on com1) x:\path\LOGGER COM1.  Then go to another OS/2 session
     and execute MODE COM1.  You can then examine the information produced
     by logger.  Note that LOGGER.EXE has an optional parameter of a disk
     file name.  If a disk file name is given, the information produced by
     logger is written to that file, as well as being displayed.

2-DTR/DSR flow control does not work, I am using a 16650.

     The 16650 and similar devices do flow control on chip (in hardware)
     Unfortunately DTR/DSR flow control is not supported.  One can use a
     special cable to achieve the desired flow control.  Simply move the
     wires for the DTR and DSR signals to the RTS and CTS signals at the PC
     end of the cable.  Then specify RTS/CTS flow control.

3-Why is the IRQ not show in the Hardware (Resource) Manager screen(s).

     During boot time, the SIO2K driver set does not always know the IRQ
     that the serial port is going to use. This is especially true with
     legacy ISA serial ports.  However, the first time the port is accessed
     by a program, the IRQ is determined and is reported to the Hardware
     Manager.  So, if you are not seeing the IRQ for COM1 when rmview is
     executed, then do a MODE COM1, and then execute rmview.  The IRQ
     should then show up on the rmview report(s).

4-Why is a message about failing an integrity check being displayed.

     Assuming the drivers have not been otherwise altered, you are probably
     running a disk compression utility.  In order to use the SIO2K
     drivers, they must NOT be altered in any way, which includes
     compression.

5-Why is the FIFO depth shown as 1 for a Hayes ESP when the port is used in
compatibility (16550) mode via uart.sys.

     The 16550 emulation by the Hayes ESP seems to have a few problems. The
     compatibility mode should be avoided if possible, when ESP.SYS is
     loaded.  One of these problems causes the probed FIFO depth to show up
     incorrectly.  However, once uart.sys has detected a FIFOed device, the
     FIFO size will only be increased, not decreased.  Even though the
     probed depth is shown as 1, the 16 byte FIFOs (for a 16550) are still
     used.

6-I am having problems using a Hayes ESP card in compatibility mode.

     Once ANY ESP port has been used in enhanced mode (touched by ESP.SYS),
     power much be cycled before ANY ESP port will again work in
     compatibility mode again.

     If your are not using ESP.SYS, try forcing a 16450 uart for the port
     in the uart.sys section of sio2k.cfg.  If this still fails, you should
     use enhanced mode only, via ESP.SYS.


7-One of my applications complains that the buffers are not large enough.

     Why some people, including some very good programmers, insist on
     believing in the need for large buffers is beyond this writers
     comprehension.  The buffers in the SIO2K drivers are sufficiently
     large enough (and then some) for any application to work well (at top
     speed).

8-I am getting an "In Use" or "Not Ready" error when I try to use one of my
serial ports, even though that port is not being used by another program.

     The serial port may not be in use, but the IRQ the port uses probably
     is in use.  See FAQ number 1 for a description of how to use
     LOGGER.EXE.  Information produced by logger should tell you exactly
     why you are getting the error.

9-Why do the drivers skip assigning hardware to COM2 (or COM3/COM4), then
assigns other hardware to ports after that?

     You probably have PCMCIA.SYS installed.  If the SIO drivers detect
     that PCMCIA.SYS is installed, then a COMn (COM2 through COM4) opening
     must be available for a possible PCMCIA modem being inserted.

10-Why am I getting errors when I use higher bit rates?

     There are several possible reasons:

     1 - The most common reason is a flow control problem.  You should
     always try to use RTS/CTS flow control. Xon/Xoff flow control may
     react too slowly at higher bit rates.  Refer to your application
     manual (or their support) to determine how to set flow control.

     2 - The second most common reason is possibly your serial cable.  If
     you are using a serial cable at high speeds, it must be a good quality
     shielded cable.  Also, the cable should be as short as possible.  The
     longer the cable, the less the bit rate it will be able to pass.

     3 - Another common reason is that your UARTs supporting hardware, like
     the RS232 drivers and receivers, cannot support the higher bit rates.
     That is to say, simply because your UART can generate 921600 bps,
     other associated hardware in your computer may not be able to work
     correctly at these rates.

     4 - Last, it could be that your computer is simply not fast enough to
     handle the higher bit rates.

11-Why does my PCMCIA modem not work?

     Try removing, and reinserting the modem card after your system has
     booted.  The PCMCIA drivers seem to only report the existence of a PC
     card modem to the serial drivers when it (the modem) is inserted. If
     the modem is already inserted when the system is booted, the modems
     existence is not reported to the serial drivers.  This may work
     differently on some systems.

12-Does Sio2k support WinModems?

     Currently (10-18-00) no.  I will look into WinModem support as soon as
     time permits.  Watch the history.txt file for information.


13- Why does my serial ports behave strangely (or not at all) when I switch
from sio2k back to com.sys?

     Sio2k enables advanced features of serial devices. Often com.sys is
     not aware of the advanced features.  On some (poorly designed) system
     the advanced features are not reset to their default state when you
     boot by ALT-CTRL-DEL, or by shutdown, unless you also power off.  If
     you have this problem, you should alter your config.sys to use
     com.sys, shutdown or ALT-CTRL-DEL, then power your system off.  The
     power off, then power on will reset the uarts to a state the com.sys
     understands.

14- How do I prevent the kernel warning message at boot time?

     By far, the best solution is for IBM to correct the problem and adhere
     to their own driver specifications.  In the opinion of the author,
     this anomaly makes the system unstable at boot time.  I also believe
     the bug could be the reason that many other WARP drivers will not work
     on WSeB.  If a corrected kernel is released and installed on your
     system, the message will go away automatically.

     Until and/or if a corrected kernel is released, you can eliminate the
     warning message by adding "WSeB", without the quote marks, to your
     sio2k.sys command line.

15 - Does the sio2k drivers work on SMP systems?

     Yes.  At least this is so for many SMP systems reported by users and
     including the authors SMP system.  However, the OS/2 SMP systems
     tested by the author DO NOT follow IBM's published specification for
     device driver initialization.  Specifically, on SMP systems device
     drivers are initialized on ring 0, while the driver specification (and
     all other OS/2 implementations) state the driver will be initialized
     on ring 3.  This incorrect initialization sequence no longer causes a
     problem for the sio2k drivers.  However, the author is concerned there
     may be other undocumented/uncorrected errors in the SMP
     implementations by IBM et al.

16 - Does the sio2k drivers work on WSeB?  I tried them but have problems.

     Yes, the sio2k drivers have been tested and work well on WSeB with and
     without SMP.  However, there seems to be a problem in the WSeB kernel,
     or device drivers.  Something on WSeB systems interferes with IRQ3,
     note that com2 usually uses IRQ3.  Due to this interference, the sio2k
     drivers (and com.sys too) will not work well on some WSeB systems when
     the comm port is using IRQ3.  The only solution is to switch the IRQ,
     if possible, or to switch to a comm port this is not using IRQ3.

17 - Why is the I/O addresses shown in the SIO2K.SYS part of SIO2K.LOG not
the same as I specified in the configuration file.

     If you are speaking of the address following "AutoVirtIo=" then you
     need not be concerned.  At the time that SIO2K.SYS makes the log
     entries, VSIO2K.SYS has not yet processed the config file.  The
     addresses following "AutoVirtIo=" are the addresses that will be
     assigned in the Dos/Windows sessions if NO config file specifies
     otherwise.  That is, the configuration file will override the
     addresses shown after "AutoVirtIo=".


18 - Why does the kernel debugger not work correctly after uart.sys has
initialized.

     Try adding "NoSuperIo", without the quote marks, to the uart.sys
     command line.  This will prevent uart.sys from enabling the enhanced
     features of SuperIo uarts which may confuse the kernel debugger.

19 - Why is the virtual IRQ for COMn in DOS/Windows sessions wrong.

     This is a complicated subject, and the virtual IRQ may not be wrong.
     Lets use com3 as an example.  First you can attempt to use the
     vsio2k.sys command line option "vItqList" to specify the virtual irq
     that com3 is the use.  For example vIrqList(3,5,3=7).  This says that
     vsio2k.sys can use virtual IRQs 3, 5, and 7.  The "3=7" fragment says
     that com3 is to use virtual IRQ 7.  However, there is still a
     potential problem. Virtual IRQ 7 may be in use by another driver.  If
     virtual IRQ 7 is not available, then vsio2k,sys will attempt to use
     the default IRQ for COM3, which is IRQ 4.  This will not work because
     IRQ 4 is not in the vIrqList of IRQs.  Finally, vsio2k.sys will select
     either IRQ 3 or 5, the other available IRQs in the pool.

     If the virtual IRQ is assigned other than what you think it should be,
     it will still work.  All you need to do is configure your DOS/Windows
     app to use the virtual that vsio2k.sys has assigned.  The vsio2k.sys
     log file will show the port/irq combinations.  For a given computer
     system, the virtual IRQs should always be the same.

20 - Where do I find the vsio2k.sys log file.

     First, you must have "LogFile=x:\path\vsio2k.log", without the quote
     marks, in your vsio2k.sys command line.  Then you must open a Dos or
     Windows session, then close the session.  You can then examine the log
     file specified in the vsio2k.sys command line.

21 - Why does my modem fail to initialize correctly the first time I use it
after booting.

     The first time a uart (COMn Port) is accessed uart.sys probes the uart
     for fifo size and maximum bit rates.  This test is performed by
     placing the uart into loop back mode and transmitting a few
     characters.

     Even though the uart is on loop back mode, the transmitted characters
     on some uarts "leak" out, and are actually transmitted to the modem.
     The modem may see these characters as the beginning of a AT sequence
     that never completes.  Then when your application attempts to
     initialize the modem, the initialization fails because the modem
     thinks it is already in the middle of an initialization sequence.

     The solution should be a simple modification to your modem init
     string.  I believe the addition if a simple CR (Carriage Return),
     usually shown as ^M in init strings should correct the problem.  The
     ^M should be added at the beginning of the modem initialization
     string.  If this fails, then try expanding your modem init string such
     that the entire string is sent twice should correct the problem.


22 - Why does FaxWorks (aka PMFAX) not work with sio2k?

     If you are seeing an error message mentioning FMD1, FMD2 etc, then
     FaxWorks is NOT using the sio2k drivers.  An independent driver named
     FMD.SYS is supplied with FaxWorks, and by default, FaxWorks will use
     their driver.  The last time I used FaxWorks, it could be configured
     to use the installed serial driver.  Configure FaxWorks to use the
     installed serial driver and it should work with sio2k.

23 - How do I run DOS doors with my BBS?

     The following comes from Bob Juge, http://www.juge.com:

     Here are my lines, see if they help (the vx00.sys line is the one that
     provides FOSSIL support in DOS sessions, the "Os2Shares" at the end of
     the sio2k.sys line is needed to allow DOS apps to share the comm
     port):

     device=c:\sio2k\uart.sys logfile=c:\sio2k\sio2k.log
     device=c:\sio2k\vsio2k.sys logfile=c:\sio2k\vsio2k.log vIrqList(3,4)
     device=c:\sio2k\vmodem.sys logfile=c:\sio2k\sio2k.log nPorts=4
     device=c:\sio2k\vx00.sys logfile=c:\sio2k\sio2k.log
     device=c:\sio2k\sio2k.sys logfile=c:\sio2k\sio2k.log Os2Shares

24 - Why does the install program -----------------

     The goal of the install program (script) is to install on as many
     systems as possible without asking the user any questions.  The
     install program assumes your OS/2 installation is structured much as
     it was when the OS/2 installation was completed.

     Those that have problems with the install program have probably
     modified the standard location of OS/2 components.  Fortunately, if
     you have enough knowledge to do such modifications, you should also
     know how to manually install the drivers.

     Additionally, the install program is a REXX script and the source is
     in the sio2k distribution zip.  This enables you to modify the script
     to your liking.

25 - Why does the throughput for the 16650, 16850 and 16950 seem less than
that for a 16550?

     The 16650, 16850 and 16950 have on chip flow control.  This relieves
     the cpu from the burden of flow control and means your serial ports
     use less processor time.  However, the on chip flow control seems NOT
     to be very efficient.  The on chip flow control seems to assert flow
     control at times that it is not necessary.

     I have discovered that the sio2k driver's software implementation of
     flow control seems much more efficient than the on chip flow control,
     close to 1000 characters per second at 115200bps.

     You can add 'Use16550', without the quote marks, to the uart.sys
     command line (in config.sys) to force the driver to NOT use the slower
     on chip flow control.  Use of this option will slightly increase the
     overhead on the processor.