# Performance and Troubleshooting

This section contains the following topics:

- Common Problems and Solutions

- Indicator Lights

- Multiple Adapters

- PCI Configuration Troubleshooting

- PCI and PCI-X Performance Issues

- Other Performance Issues

- Known Compatibility Issues

- Frequently Asked Questions

## Common Problems and Solutions

In addition to the table below, review the product release notes.

Problem | Solution
--- | ---
Your computer can't find the adapter | Make sure the adapter is seated firmly in the slot. Download the latest drivers from the Intel support web site: http://www.intel.com/network Try a different PCI bus master slot. See your computer's documentation to identify bus master slots. Check to see if your motherboard has the latest BIOS. Make sure your PCI slots are v2.2 compatible. Try rebooting the computer. Try a different Intel adapter. If you add an adapter with a bridge chip (such as a dual-port adapter), uninstall and then reinstall all of the drivers for all installed adapters.
Diagnostics pass but the connection fails | Check the responding link partner. Make sure the cable is securely attached, is the proper type and does not exceed the recommended lengths. Try another cable. Try running the Sender-Responder diagnostic Test. Make sure the duplex mode and speed setting on the adapter matches the setting on the switch. For NetWare*, make sure you specify the correct frame type in your AUTOEXEC.NCF file.
Another adapter stopped working after you installed the Intel PRO/100 adapter | Make sure the cable is connected. Make sure your PCI BIOS is current. See PCI Installation Tips. Check for interrupt conflicts and sharing problems. Make sure the other adapter supports shared interrupts. Also, make sure your operating system supports shared interrupts. Unload all PCI device drivers, then reload all drivers. Try reseating all adapters.
The adapter stopped working without apparent cause | The network driver files may be damaged or deleted. Reinstall the drivers. Try reseating the adapter in its slot or different slot, if necessary. Try rebooting the computer. Try another cable. Try a different adapter. Run diagnostics.
The Link indicator light is off | Run the adapter and network tests described in Test the Adapter. Make sure you've loaded the adapter driver. Check all connections at the adapter and the switch. Try another port on the switch. Try another cable. Make sure that the link partner is configured to auto-negotiate (or forced to match adapter).
The link light is on, but communications are not properly established | Make sure the proper (and latest) driver is loaded. Both the adapter and its link partner must be set to either auto-negotiate or manually set to the same speed and duplex settings. The adapter's link indicator light may be on even if communications between the adapter and its link partner have not been properly established. Technically, the link indicator light represents the presence of a carrier signal but not necessarily the ability to properly communicate with a link partner. This is expected behavior and is consistent with IEEE's specification for physical layer operation.
The link light is on, but the tray icon indicates the cable is not attached | If you install the Intel® PRO/100 VE desktop adapter into a CNR (Communications and Network Riser) slot while the power cord is still attached to the computer, you may create a condition in which the adapter cannot communicate with the network. The link light will light if a network connection is active and the adapter will appear to be fully functional to the system, but you will not be able to send or receive packets. In Windows* 2000, if you position the mouse over the network icon in the tray, it will indicate that no cable is attached. You should not install any expansion adapter into a computer while a live power cord is plugged in. However, if you have inadvertently done so and created this symptom, you can resolve it by following this procedure. Shut down the computer and remove the power cord, then remove the PRO/100 VE from the CNR slot. Then plug the power cord back into the computer for several seconds. Remove the cord again, wait several seconds, then reinstall the PRO/100 VE. Re-insert the power cord and power the machine back on.
RX or TX light is off | Make sure you've loaded the network drivers. Network may be idle; try creating traffic while monitoring the lights. Try another adapter.
The diagnostic utility reports the adapter is "Not enabled by BIOS" | The PCI BIOS isn't configuring the adapter correctly. Try PCI Installation Tips.
The computer hangs when the drivers are loaded | Try changing the PCI BIOS interrupt settings. See PCI Installation Tips.
The ACT light is off | Make sure you've loaded the correct network drivers. The network may be idle. Try accessing a server. Try another adapter. Try another cable.
Event viewer message: A device attached to the system is not functioning | In Windows NT* and NetWare, if there is a BIOS setting for "Plug and Play OS", make sure it is set to NO. For Windows 98 SE and ME, this should be set to "YES".
Windows 2000 or XP: Unable to remove Intel® PROSet in SAFE mode | If you experience computer hangs (blue screens) after configuring network adapters with the Intel PROSet utility, try the following: Start Windows in Safe mode Go to the Device Manger, and disable the network adapters and teams. Restart the computer. Windows should be operating normally if the problem was caused by the disabled adapters. To uninstall Intel PROSet, perform the following steps: Start Windows in Safe mode. Use the Device Manager to disable all teaming instances. Restart the computer in Normal mode. Using Intel PROSet, remove all teams and VLANs shown. Go to the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs. Uninstall Intel PROSet.
An adapter doesn't work after installing an adapter driver from Windows Me | If you use the drivers that come with Windows Me, during an installation of Windows Me, the adapter may not function correctly. After Windows Me installs the default driver, you'll need to update all Intel adapters with the newer driver on the Intel CD. See install the Network Drivers for instructions. If you use multiple adapters with Windows Me, you must upgrade all Intel adapters for any to function properly.
Windows 98 is unable to update device driver files | If you're using Windows 98 and have updated or added an adapter, you may experience a problem with device driver update files not being copied. (This is a known problem, for which Microsoft has published a Knowledge Base article, Q242150.) To resolve this problem: Reboot the computer. Remove the adapter via Device Manager and reboot the computer again. When prompted for the adapter driver, choose the option "Display a list of all the drivers...". Then choose the adapter from the list and click Have Disk to update the drivers from the Intel CD. Reboot the computer.
Install prompting for Prodd.vxd and Prokddp.vxd files in Windows 2000 or 98 | If you use the Add/Remove Programs icon in the Windows Control Panel to remove an Intel adapter, and then try to install drivers from a later Intel CD, you may see a prompt asking for the following files: "Prodd.vxd" "Prokddp.vxd" This is because Windows is attempting to install the files associated with the earlier driver, which are not present on the later Intel CD. To resolve this problem, finish the installation and choose "Skip" when prompted for a missing file. Then, instead of removing the driver, update it with the later Intel CD. For instructions on updating the adapter driver, see the "Install the Network Drivers" section in the online guide on the Intel CD.
After upgrading operating systems, Intel PROSet is no longer available | If you are upgrading Windows operating systems and you have Intel PROSet II software installed, it will be deleted in the process. You will need to reinstall Intel PROSet II.
In Windows XP, IP addresses are lost or Intel PROSet becomes unstable with bridging enabled | With bridging enabled, Intel PROSet II does not retain adapter IP address information. If changes are made to any Intel PROSet II advanced feature after enabling bridging, the Intel PROSet II software becomes unstable.
Terminal Server support | When using Terminal Server, make sure only one session of Intel PROSet II is open at any one time. Simultaneous sessions are not supported in Intel PROSet II.

## Indicator Lights

The PRO/100+ and PRO/100 S adapters and the PRO/100 VE, and VM Desktop Adapters and Network Connections have the following indicator lights:

| Label | Indication | Meaning
ACT/LNK | On | The adapter and switch are receiving power; the cable connection between the switch and adapter is good.
| Off | The adapter and switch are not receiving power, or you have a driver configuration problem.
| Flashing | The adapter is sending or receiving network data. The frequency of the flashes varies with the amount of network traffic.
100TX | On | Operating at 100 Mbps.
| Off | Operating at 10 Mbps.

### Other Items to Check

- Use the drivers that came with your adapter, or download the latest ones from the Intel support web site.

- If the LINK light is not on, check all connections at the adapter and link partner. Make sure the link partner matches the link partner or is set to auto-negotiate, and the driver is loaded. (The link indicator will not be active until the driver is loaded.)

- Make sure the cable is installed properly. The network cable must be securely attached at all connections. If the cable is attached but the problem persists, try a different cable.

- For 100 Mbps, make sure the cable is a 4-pair Category-5 or better.

- Test the adapter. Run the adapter and network tests described in Test the Adapter.

- Check the Common problems table and try the recommended solutions

If none of these works, check the Late-breaking News document that came with the adapter or check the Intel support Web site. See Intel Customer Support for information on connecting to Intel's online services.

## Multiple Adapters

When configuring a multi-adapter environment, you must upgrade all Intel adapters in the computer to the latest software.

If the computer has trouble detecting all adapters, consider the following:

- Your operating system may need to re-enumerate the bus, especially if any devices with bridge chips are used. To force the re-numeration, uninstall or unload the drivers for all PCI devices installed and shutdown the computer. Then restart the computer and reinstall or reload all drivers.

  The Intel PRO/100 Dual-Port adapter incorporates a PCI bridge device which allows the card to appear as two adapters to the PCI bus controller. When configuring a multi-adapter environment - when one of the adapters is a dual-port device (such as the Intel PRO/100 S Dual Port) - you must upgrade all Intel adapters in the computer to the latest software.

- The "Plug and Play OS" setting in the BIOS should be set to "No" for Windows NT 4.0 and most other non-Windows operating systems.

Check the sections on installing driver software for your particular operating system for further information.

## PCI Configuration Troubleshooting

If the adapter is not recognized by your OS or if it does not work you may need to change some BIOS Setup program settings. Try the following only if you are having problems with the adapter.

- You may need to change the Plug and Play setting in your computer's BIOS. See your computer's manual for instructions on how to access.

- Enable the PCI slot. In some PCI computers, you may need to use the BIOS Setup program to enable the PCI slot.

- You must install the network adapter in a bus master slot. Some BIOS Setup programs require you to enable the slot for bus master/master. Check your BIOS Setup program and the computer's documentation to make sure the slot is set for bus master/master.

- Configure the slot for level-triggered interrupts. The PCI slot the adapter is using must be configured for level-triggered interrupts instead of edge-triggered interrupts. Check your BIOS Setup program to make sure triggering is set up.

- Reserve interrupts and/or memory addresses into the BIOS. This prevents PCI cards from trying to use the same settings as ISA cards. Check your BIOS Setup program; there may be IRQ options such as Enable for ISA or Disable for PCI.

Here are some examples of BIOS Setup program parameters:

> PCI slot #: Slot where the adapter is installed (1-3)
> Master: ENABLED
> Slave: ENABLED
> Latency timer: 40 - 80
> Interrupt: Choose any one of several that the BIOS Setup provides
> Edge-level: Level

The exact wording of the parameters vary with different computers.

## PCI and PCI-X Bus Performance Issues

- If you insert a 64-bit PCI card into a 32-bit PCI slot, it will operate correctly, but not at peak performance.

- If you insert a 32-bit PCI card into a 64-bit slot, it will also operate correctly, but there will be no performance gain, and the bus will be slowed.

- The same conditions apply with PCI-X cards in a PCI slot, and vice versa. For example, if you have a 133mhz PCI-X adapter card and insert it into a PCI slot, it will still work, but far below its rated capacity.

- The entire bus will operate at the speed of the slowest PCI card installed in the bus.

## Other Performance Issues

Attaining 100MBs requires that many components are operating at peak efficiency. Among them are the following:

- Cable quality and length. Do not exceed the maximum recommended length for your cable type. Shorter lengths provide better results. Straighten kinks and check for damaged sections of cable.

- Available memory

- Operating System - Features vary by OS compatibility, such as offloading and multiprocessor threading.

| NOTE: On NT4.0 computers, some applications may cause incorrect behavior and even blue screen at deserialized drivers. This is an operating system bug admitted by Microsoft that currently won't be fixed in NT4.0. This bug was fixed for Windows 2000 and later. Intel's base drivers are not affected.

## Known Compatibility Issues

This section lists the current known issues that have been observed by our testing labs.

> Issue: Network adapter in systems that use the Intel 450GX chipset.

> Symptom: The computer locks up after running for a few minutes.

> Description: The 450GX chipset has an errata related to "zero-byte" write cycles that causes a system failure under certain conditions. For more information on the errata, download the latest specification update for the Intel® 450KX/GX chipset. A link to this specification update can be found at:
> http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets/450GX/

> Solution: Run BIOS setup and change IOQ Depth From Auto or 8 to 1.

## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

> The computer hangs when the drivers are loaded.

> - Change the BIOS interrupt settings. See PCI Installation Tips for more information.

> - If you are using EMM386, it must be version 4.49 or newer (this version ships with MS-DOS 6.22 or newer).

> Diagnostics pass, but the connection fails or errors occur.

> - At 100 Mbps, use Category 5 wiring and make sure the network cable is securely attached.

> - At 100 Mbps, connect to a 100BASE-TX hub/switch (not 100BASE-T4).

> - For NetWare, make sure you specify the correct frame type in your NET.CFG file.

> - Make sure the duplex mode setting on the adapter matches the setting on the switch.

> The Wake on LAN feature is not working. (NOTE: Only the PCI 2.1 bus requires a WOL cable. The PCI 2.2 bus does not need a cable.)

> - Make sure the WOL cable is attached and that power is being applied to the computer.

> - Check the BIOS for its WOL setting. Some computers may need to be configured for WOL using the BROW utility in the \BootAgnt directory on the CD.

> - Make sure the network cable is fully attached to the adapter.

> The IPv6 protocol does not seem to work after updating adapter drivers on Windows 2000 Advanced Servers.

> > When using a Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1 with IPv6 bound to the adapter,
> > you must unbind the IPv6 protocol from the adapter before updating drivers. This is a result of the operating system implementation of the IPv6 protocol. To update an adapter using the IPv6 protocol:

> > 1. Unbind the IPv6 protocol from the adapter. To find the IPv6 setting, click
> >    Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network and Dial-Up connections >
> >    Local Area Connection ###. Right-click the Connection number to open
> >    the Adapter Properties dialog box. Clear the IPv6 checkbox then click OK.
> > 2. Update drivers.
> > 3. Bind the IPv6 protocol to the adapter. In the Adapter Properties dialog box,
> >    click the IPv6 checkbox. See step one for detailed instructions on finding
> >    the IPv6 option.

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