I'm having a bit of a problem with WFW 3.11 and the PCMCIA network card I have. It's a Realtek RTL8139(A) card, for which I found the 3.11 drivers.

These drivers also came with some files that go into the Autoexec.bat to initialise the card (they are loaded before C:\WIN31\NET.EXE). I get the card recognised in Windows, but the network doesn't work. Thing is, I thought maybe I need to install some PCMCIA support in Windows 3.11 too, so I downloaded the CardWizard program off IBM's download page for the Thinkpad 600 laptop.

I installed this from Windows, and in turn it added many lines to my config.sys file, including loading of the EMM386 driver. Thing is, when this is loaded, the boot up process freezes at C:\WIN31\NET START! If I remove the EMM386 then the drivers won't load so I can't win really.

Anyway I might as well paste my config files while I'm here (I run a multiboot as you can see)

CONFIG.SYS

[Menu]
menuitem=win98;Windows 98 SE
menuitem=win3;Windows 3.11

[Common]
dos=high,umb
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
device=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
Country=044,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys

[win98]

[win3]
Files=60
Buffers=20,0
Lastdrive=Z
Stacks=9,250
devicehigh=C:\WIN31\emm386.exe NOEMS x=D000-D7FF
rem SystemSoft CardSoft/16(TM) PCMCIA Drivers
device=C:\31\CARDWIZ\CARDXTND.SYS
device=C:\31\CARDWIZ\SSCBTI.SYS /NUMADA:2 /ADA1SKTS:2 /ADA2SKTS:2
device=C:\31\CARDWIZ\CS.SYS /POLL:1
device=C:\31\CARDWIZ\CSALLOC.EXE
devicehigh=C:\31\CARDWIZ\ATADRV.EXE /S:4
devicehigh=C:\31\CARDWIZ\MTSRAM.EXE
devicehigh=C:\31\CARDWIZ\MTDDRV.EXE
device=C:\31\CARDWIZ\CARDID.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS

[common]

Autoexec.bat

@ECHO OFF
mode con codepage prepare=((850) C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ega.cpi)
mode con codepage select=850
keyb uk,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keyboard.sys

goto %config%

:Win98
REM c:\crystal\cs32mix /L=13,13
C:\Progra~1\Winter~1\NTFSfo~1\ntfschk.exe /q *
REM C:\Program Files\Winternals\NTFS for Windows 98\ntfschk.exe /q *
WIN
goto end

:win3
@ECHO OFF
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\WIN31;C:\CRYSTAL;C:\31\CARDWIZ
c:\31\rt\rtpci.exe /md000 /i11
c:\31\rt\rtbios.com
C:\WIN31\net start
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE

GOTO END

:end

It's a bit annoying. What I'm wondering is if I even need the CardWizard drivers? Because the RTPCI and RTBIOS files in the autoexec.bat pick up the PCMCIA network card with or without the card wizard drivers. But when entering Windows in this situation, there is no IP bound to the network card and I can't seem to see what the problem is, so my thinking behind that was that I need to install those CardWizard drivers for 3.11. Any opinions on this whole mess?

Cheers

Alex

Did you or did you not install TCP32B ??

Did you or did you not install the drivers thru the Network Wizard ??

Thanks for the reply.

I installed both TCP32B and the network drivers during WFW3.11 setup.

http://www.yale.edu/pclt/WINWORLD/W...

You should add-on 'tcp32 tcp/ip support' after windows is setup........then install the adaptor drivers.

Cheers, I'll give that a go!

Hmm bit of a problem.

And also one thing seems to be rectified.

The problem: you suggested I install the TCP/IP support after I've setup Windows and then install my network adapter. However, you have to install an adapter first to be able to install the protocols.

The one thing that was rectified was the freeze up when using EMM386 - I noticed I was using the version in C:\WIN31, rather than the DOS7.1 version in C:\Windows (98SE)

This stopped the freezing up at NET START, like i said. But during Windows booting, I had at least 3 blue screens with "invalid VXD links to service:" - so it's proving to be a bit of a struggle, moreso because I've not used 3.11 on "real hardware" for many years now!!

Cheers

Best to run W3 on top of MS-DOS6.22 IMHO

If you are dual-booting, W98SE overwrite MS-DOS files from earlier versions:

If you are running W3 on top of WinDOS then you need the patch......

Not really quite sure you are doing !!!

Lol I am using the 3Xstart patch, would have mentioned it but thought it was pretty obvious...

It all seems to run ok (WFW that is) - it's just the network card I'm having trouble with. I'll give it another go as I have some more ideas.

Well I think i've got the PCMCIA Network card working now - I used the drivers from the "LAN" folder, not the "Cardbus" one as before, which I assumed I was supposed to use as it was a PCMCIA card but never mind.

Anyway there is a new problem. IE5 won't load any sites. I just get "Cannot find server" or "Page cannot be displayed" - can't remember which one. TCP/IP is fully configured though, and it *must* surely be working, because in IE5, when I type http://10.0.0.2 in my address bar, I can access my router's configuration perfectly! But also, I can't access any network shares - I've set the workgroup to "MSHOME", obviously the same workgroup name as the other computers in the house, but it's not picking up any of these shares on those machines, nor are these computers noticing Windows 3.11 shares from the laptop.

Any ideas?

Thanks again