Lava Port-Quad Installation Manual

LavaPort-Quad

Installation Manual

LAVACOMPUTERS

QUAD SERIAL PCI

MADE

IN

PNMOKO S-1
MADEIN JAPAN
0255351

CANADA

P.N.MOKO L75.2

Rev.B00

Congratulations on your purchase of the LavaPort-Quad Com Port
Accelerator for 56K and ISDN external modems and other high-speed
serial peripherals.

Included with your package, you should have the following:

1. The LavaPort-Quad printed circuit board

2. One software installation diskette

3. This user’s manual

If any of the above items are missing,please contact the reseller where
you purchased this product.

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Contents

Quick Install

Installing the LavaPort-Quad Hardware

Windows Installation

· Windows Driver Installation

· Changing Port Numbers (Com 3/4/5 etc.)

· Setting LavaPort Data Rates

· Setting LavaPort FIFO Control

· Flow Control

· Lava Modem Speed Set - for 230.4 kbps

Windows NT 4.0 Installation

· Nt4 Driver Installation

· High Speed Data Rates

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Note: Instructions for installing the LavaPort-Quad

under DOS or Windows 3.x may be found in the

ReadMe file in the Win3.11 subdirectory of

your LavaPort-Quad diskette.

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Quick Install

Windows95/98

1. With the power off, insert the LavaPort-Quad card into any free PCI
slot.

2. Launch Windows - new hardware will be found.

3. When prompted,insert the LavaPort-Quad installation diskette and
select the file “Lava.inf” in either the root or the Win95 subdirectory.
(If the diskette is not found you may have to manually type
“A:\WIN95\”).

4. After Windows has booted,Click the Start button, then Settings,
Control Panel, System, Device Manager, Ports.The LavaPort-Quad
ports will be listed as four of your Com Ports. Click “Properties”to
change the default settings as desired.

5. If desired,install the Lava Com Port Redirect and Lava Modem Speed
Set utilities to change the Com numbers of your ports, and to
automate modem speed settings.

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Hardware Installation

1. Before opening the casing of your computer,make sure that all
power is off.

2. Locate an unused PCI slot and insert the LavaPort-Quad into it.
Ensure that it is well seated.

3. Screw the metal backplane of the LavaPort-Quad board to your PC’s
casing and replace the machine’s cover.

4. Connect your modem cable to the whichever port on the LavaPort­Quad that you would like to use first and turn the PC on.

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Windows Installation

Windows Driver Installation

Note: Make sure that you are installing the correct LavaPort-Quad

drivers for the appropriate operating system.

DO NOT install NT or Windows 3.x drivers under other

versions of Windows

1. With the power turned off, insert the LavaPort-Quad card into any
free PCI slot in your PC.Make sure the card is well seated. Insert the
bracket with Ports 3 and 4 into a free slot. If you must detach the
cables from the card to do so, be sure to re-install the cables back
onto the card with the red wire corresponding to the“1”on the
board.Turn your PC on and start Windows.

2. Windows will automatically detect the LavaPort-Quad as a new PCI
Serial Controller and ask you to insert the Lava Installation Diskette.
The installation files are located in either the root or the Win95
subdirectory of this disk. On some PC’s you may have to manually
type A:\WIN95 when prompted for the Lava Installation Diskette.

3. After the necessary files have been copied,Windows will complete
the full installation of the

LavaPort-Quad

LavaPort-Quad Parents will be created in Device Manager under
Multi-Function Adapters, and four child ports will be created under

. During this process,two

Control Panel | System | Device Manager | Ports.

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4. The LavaPort-Quad hardware appears in Device Manager in two
places: under the Multi-function Adapters tree and as part of the
Ports tree.Please note that any changes to the Resources (I/O
Address & IRQ) used by any one of the four ports on the Lava
Quattro-PCI must be made through the Resources page of the
appropriate LavaPort-Quad PARENT - not through the individual
Ports pages.

Modifying I/O Address and IRQ Resources is NOT recommended.

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5. Click on Ports and select one of the ports listed under the heading
LavaPort PCI.

6. Click Properties.The following screen will appear:

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7. Click the Resources tab. A screen similar to the following
will appear:

Note: Do not be alarmed if Windows reports

an I/O Range or IRQ conflict between the LavaPort-Quad

and some other device in your PC.The LavaPort-Quad is a

fully compliant PCI device,and therefore allows for the

sharing of IRQ and I/O Resouces between devices.

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The LavaPort-Quad hardware appears in Device Manager in two places:
under the Multi-function Adapters tree and as part of the Ports tree.

Please note that the Resources (I/O Address & IRQ) used by the
LavaPort-Quad can only be modified through the LavaPort Parent
device - listed under Multi-function Adapters.

Modifying I/O Address and IRQ Resources is NOT recommended.

If you wish to change the Com number of either one of the ports on the
LavaPort-Quad (e.g.Assign Port 1 to be Com 3 instead of the default
Com 6), please use the Lava Com Port Redirector Utility.This program
will allow you to change the numbering of your ports
I/O address resources

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without changing

Interrupt Resources may be modified for the LavaPort Parent device (see
Device Manager - Multi-function Adapters), but not for individual ports
because all four ports on the LavaPort-Quad share one IRQ. Please note
that interrupt changes require a reboot to take effect.

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Changing the Com numbering of your Ports

Unless you already have more than 4 Com Ports installed in your PC,
Windows will by default configure the LavaPort-Quad ports as Com5
through Com8.If you wish to change the Com number of any one of
these ports (e.g. Assign Port A to be Com 3),please use the Lava Com
Port Redirector Utility included in the“Utils“ subdirectory of your Lava
Installation Diskette.This may be necessary because some
communications applications programs do not recognize Port
designations beyond Com 4.The Lava Com Port Redirect utility will
allow you to change the Com numbering of your ports

without

changing I/O address resources.

To install the Lava Port Redirect utility on your hard drive, insert the
LavaPort diskette into your floppy drive,click Start, Run and type
A:\Utils\Setup.

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Setting LavaPort Data Rates in Windows

The data rate of the LavaPort may be set using the Bits per Second pull
down menu.

Please note that this menu will also appear when setting the“Port
Properties”in any communications application, and may have to be set
independently of your Control Panel settings.Control Panel settings
may not necessarily be linked to those of your Communications
Application. For example, Port speeds in Dial-Up Networking are
controlled independently of speed settings in Device Manager.

For optimum performance,always verify that your LavaPort is set to the
maximum speed supported by your modem, and that both speed
settings are the same in every application.

Please note that the setting of Communications Port Data Rates is often
the most confusing of tasks encountered by modem users. For this
reason, Lava has included the Lava Modem Speed Set utility in the Utils
subdirectory of your LavaPort diskette.Lava strongly recommends using
this utility for all LavaPort-to-modem connections.

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Setting LavaPort FIFO Control in Windows

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Each of the LavaPort-Quad’s four ports incorporates a 64-byte FIFO (first­in-first-out) buffer.

The FIFO control tabs set the buffer“trigger”levels.When the buffer is
filled to its trigger level with the selected number of bytes, the CPU will
be interrupted and asked to either reload the buffer (for transmission),
or retrieve data from the buffer (for reception).

Most efficient data transmission occurs when the CPU is interrupted
infrequently.For each interrupt, the CPU can then service the buffer with
larger data blocks: during transmission, it can place a large burst of data
into the buffer, and during reception it can retrieve a large block from
the buffer and then continue multi-tasking.

Ideally therefore, Receive triggers should be set as high as possible and
Transmit triggers as low as possible.

However, if the Transmit trigger levels are set too low,or Receive triggers
too high, and the CPU is busy when an interrupt is called by the
LavaPort, a short period of inactivity may occur between the port and
the modem.This will reduce effective transmission/reception speeds.

Optimum buffer settings are dependent on your modem speed, your
CPU speed,and the amount of multi-tasking that occurs while online.
For a fast modem and fast CPU performing few multi-tasking functions,
set transmit triggers low and receive triggers high.If multi-tasking while
online,set transmit triggers higher and receive triggers lower.

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Setting LavaPort Flow Control in Windows

Flow Control refers to the type of signaling that is used between the
modem and the LavaPort.

If you are connecting the LavaPort to a modem or ISDN terminal
adapter,use the default setting of Hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control.

Software Flow Control (Xon/Xoff) is used only for connecting the
LavaPort to a non-modem serial device (e.g.Using a null-modem cable
to connect to another Com Port).

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Lava Modem Speed Set for Windows

The LavaPort-Quad supports data rates up to 460.8 kbps, including

115.2 kbps and 230.4 kbps. However, not all modems support Com Port
rates above 115.2 kbps.

If your modem does not support higher data rates and you select a
higher data rate in the LavaPort Properties,Windows will automatically
default to the slowest supported rate in the chain.

Some modems do support higher data rates but require special settings
(AT Commands) and INF files for configuration. Lava has included a
software utility called “Lava Modem Speed Set”which automates these
functions and allows for easy speed reconfiguration.This utility may be
found in the Utils subdirectory of your LavaPort diskette, and is
constantly being updated to support more modems. Please check the
Lava Web site for details:www.lavalink.com.

To install the Lava Modem Speed Set utility on your hard drive, insert the
LavaPort diskette into your floppy drive,click Start, Run and type
A:\Utils\Setup.

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Windows NT 4.0 Installation

Note: Make sure that you are installing the correct LavaPort-Quad

drivers for the appropriate operating system.

DO NOT install drivers for other Windows versions

under Windows NT

Windows NT Driver Installation

1. Once the LavaPort-Quad is installed in your PC, turn on your
computer and start NT.

2. Place the LavaPort-Quad installation diskette into your floppy drive
and select Run from the Start Menu.When prompted type:
A:\NT4.0\Setup.

3. After the necessary files have been copied, select My Computer and
start Control Panel.A new icon will appear called“LavaPort”.This
applet should now be used to configure ALL Com Ports in your PC ­not just LavaPorts.

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Please note that Com 1 may not appear in this applet if you have your
mouse attached to Com 1.

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Setting a 230.4 kbps Data Rate

The LavaPort-Quad supports data rates up to 460.8 kbps, including

115.2 kbps and 230.4 kbps. However, not all modems support Com Port

rates above 115.2 kbps.

If your modem does not support higher data rates and you select a
higher data rate in the LavaPort-Quad Properties,Windows will
automatically default to the slowest supported rate in the chain.

Some modems do support higher data rates but require special settings
(AT Commands) and setup files for configuration. Contact your modem
manufacturer for details.

NOTE:Lava’s technical support department has tested the LavaPort­Quad with several modems,and we have posted instructions on
configuring such modems for higher speed data rates on our web site.
Please check www.lavalink.com,Tech Support, FAQ for details.

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Lava

Technical Support

9:00 am to 5:30 pm Monday to Friday (Eastern Time)

Tel: [phone]

Fax: + 416 674-8262

E-mail: [e-mail]

Internet: www.lavalink.com

Lava Computer MFG Inc.

This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules.Operation is subject

to the following conditions:(1) This device may not cause harmful interference,

and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference

Lava Computer MFG Inc.908 Niagara Falls Blvd.#629. North Tonawanda NY 14120-2060

that may cause undesired operation.