Ref: 03190010
Title: DATATRANSFER= Values for EtherLink II or EtherLink Plus Adapters
Date: 8/30/90

Copyright 3Com Corporation, 1991.  All rights reserved.

If you get a "Network Retrying" error when trying to load Windows 3.0
configured for an Enhanced DOS workstation or if Windows 3.0 takes an
extremely long time to load, you will need to disable use of DMA on the
workstation's EtherLink II (3C503) or EtherLink Plus (3C505) adapter.  You
can disable DMA by changing the DATATRANSFER= parameter in the workstation's
PROTOCOL.INI file to read:

datatransfer= pio_word

This value configures the card for programmed I/O, which will ignore the
DMA entry.  However, if the card is configured for shared memory, this
parameter as well as the DMA parameter will be ignored.  Setting the
parameter "datatransfer= pio_word" allows the adapter to transfer 16 bits
instead of 1 byte at a time.

Note:  For more information about the need to disable DMA to run Windows
3.0 Enhanced for other adapters and for the MINDS drivers, refer to article
#08260005.


More Information About DATATRANSFER

DATATRANSFER= sets the data transfer mode on the adapter.  Following are
the possible values for the DATATRANSFER parameter:

  Block_dma   Intermediate DMA transfer mode for 8086 and
              8088 computers.

  Demand_dma  Fastest DMA transfer mode for 8086 and 8088
              computers. This is the default value for the
              datatransfer= parameter on these computers.

  Pio_byte    Transfer mode for 80286 and 80386 computers.
              Sometimes used to slow data transfer on a very
              fast 80386 computer.

  Pio_word    Fastest transfer mode for 80286 and 80386 computers.

  Single_dma  Slowest DMA transfer mode for 8086 and 8088 computers.

On 80286 and 80386 computers, the DMACHANNEL= value is ignored and
the default becomes pio_word.

This parameter and others are explained in the "3+Open Technical
Reference Manual," Chapter 7, under MAC Driver Parameters.
