Q: I have problems with the installation, what is the a general procedure?

The following procedure is for Windows 2000 but can also be used as a general guideline. 

To get your drivers properly installed, connect your HDD to the Secondary IDE controller on your motherboard (since the Main IDE is not available). Install the card, but don't connect cables to it.

1. When you are sure that your PCI Ultra DMA ATA/100 Controller Card is properly installed (the cables should not yet be connected to the Hard Drive), start Windows.

2. After Windows starts up, it will automatically detect your newly installed PCI Ultra DMA ATA/100 Controller Card and launch a Found New Hardware Wizard.

3. Click Next>. (If your system fails to detect your PCI Ultra DMA ATA/100 Controller Card, click your Windows Start button, select Settings, then click on Control Panel. A Control Panel window will appear. Double click the Add/Remove New Hardware icon).

4. In Windows 2000 the installation wizard will ask you what you want it to do. Click the "Search for the best driver for your device. (Recommended)". Then click Next>.

6. At the next screen, Windows will automatically search the driver at "A:\WIN2K". Then click the OK button.

7. Then Driver Files Search Results shows the drivers for the CMD PCI-0649 Ultra DMA IDE Controller has been found. Click the Next button to continue the installation process.

8. The Found New Hardware Wizard will appear. Click the Finish button to complete installation.

10. Click Start > Shut Down, and select Shut Down.

11. When the system is shut down, attach the IDE cables from the DMA ATA/100 Controller Card to your Hard Drive and/or CD-ROM (according to the Device Installation Procedure found in Chapter 3).

12. To test that your card was installed properly, Reboot the system. When Windows is running, click on your Windows Start button. Click Settings and then click the Control Panel.

13. A Control Panel window will open. Double click the System icon.

14. A System Properties window will appear. From the Hardware tab, click the Device Manager button.

15. Under the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, your newly installed CMD PCI-0649 Ultra DMA IDE Controller will be listed. Similar to the following example. Double click the icon.

16. A Properties window will appear. Under Device status it should read "This device is working properly." Now you can install your removable HDD bays and attach the cable from your PCI Ultra DMA ATA/100 Controller Card.

Q: What does it mean when I boot the system and the controller card says, "BIOS Not Installed"?

Q: How do I change the IRQ that the controller card uses?

A: The controller card is PnP and supports IRQ or Interrupt Sharing, meaning it will share an IRQ with another PCI device. The IRQ configuration is automatic and cannot be modified. Make sure that PnP in the system's BIOS configuration is set to "Yes" or "Enabled".

Q: How do I boot from the controller card?

A: There are two ways to make the controller card be the bootable device. One way is to make sure there are no HDDs on the motherboard controllers. The motherboard will not find a bootable device, and allow the controller card to boot. The other way is to change the Boot Sequence in your CMOS to boot from SCSI first. Since the system will see the controller card as a SCSI controller, this will tell the motherboard to ignore it’s own controllers and allow our card to be the boot device. Some motherboards do not allow this, so it may not be an option for you. You MAY also be able to turn the auto-detection off on your motherboard and set all the HDDs in the CMOS to "None" or "Not Installed". This is if you have devices (other than HDDs) connected to the motherboard. Again, this last suggestion MAY work. Your motherboard may not allow this type of workaround.

A:

1. Will the system boot from a floppy? If so:

2. Can you access the HDD?

3. Can you run programs from the HDD?

4. Can you copy files to and from the HDD?

If the answers to all the above questions are, "yes," the MBR on the HDD is unreadable for some reason. Here is how to reset it. (NOTE: While this shouldn't cause any problems, there is a possibility of data corruption. Make sure you have any important data backed up.) - Boot the system from a floppy. - Type "FDISK /MBR" at the command prompt. - Type "SYS C:" at the command prompt. If that doesn't help, or you answered "no" to any of the questions above, the problem is that the controller card cannot properly recognize the format of the HDD. This is due to a slight difference between the LBA translation of your motherboard and that of our card.
The only way you will be able to get around it is to repartition/reformat your HDD while it is connected to the controller card.

Q: What are the motherboard requirements of the controller card?

A: Is your motherboard, at least, PCI 2.1 compliant? The controller card will not work on a motherboard that is less than PCI 2.1 compliant. You can get this information from motherboard specifications or the manufacturer of the computer. Other requirements would be a PnP BIOS on your motherboard and that your motherboard supports bus mastering. The controller card will not work in your computer if either one of these requirements are not met.

Q: Will the controller card work in Linux?

A: There is no support for the controller card in the Linux OS. At this point, there are plans to provide such support - under the RedHat version. When the support is implemented is the only remaining question. When the time comes, the drivers will be posted on our website.

Q: Windows 98 - My system does not shutdown properly, which causes scandisk to run on the next boot.

A: Use the following Steps to help resolve Windows 98 Shutdown issues. From your Windows 98 Desktop - (Start Menu) (Programs) (Accessories) (System Tools) Launch ***System Information*** Go to the menu bar under - TOOLS SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTILITY Select ADVANCED (under the General File Tab) Checkmark the CHECK BOX that say DISABLE FAST SHUTDOWN When this option is enabled you should have a clean shutdown of windows 98 every time

Q: I have tried everything with no success, what next?

A: There may be a timing issue with the motherboard,  if the unit is non-returnable, please fill out our electronic RMA form for the repair of the card. We will contact you with a RMA number and shipping instructions. 

Note: All units returned to Dolphin for repair must have a RMA number on the shipping label along with all original hardware that was originally supplied with the unit and a copy of the original invoice, or the package will be refused. Dolphin is not responsible for inbound shipping costs. Outbound shipping cost (UPS ground, continent USA only) is included on repairs that are covered under warranty.