Readme File Supra NetCommander ISDN Diamond Multimedia ___________________________________________________________ Release Notes: Supra NetCommander ISDN 10/6/96 1 Phonemate Answering machines: Phonemate brand answering machines will not work when plugged into NetCommander. This includes the Phonemate models 9300 and 3500. (The problem is with the way these products respond to the ring signal provided by NetCommander.) 2 Incoming data calls: At this time, Dial-Up networking can be used ONLY for outgoing data calls. You cannot use the product for incoming data calls. This is a limitation of the current implementation of Microsoft Dial-Up networking. We hope to provide this feature in future updates of the NetCommander software. 3 Distinctive Ring: We have tested the distinctive ring feature on a variety of products based on the Rockwell modem chipset. Due to the lack of standards for ring patterns, other devices may not respond to the ring patterns provided. 4 Order of installation: If you install the NetCommander hardware into your system PRIOR to installing Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 95 will install NetCommander in the "other devices" section and you will never be prompted to install NetCommander software. This will prevent proper installation of the product. You will need to remove the NetCommander from the "other devices" section and reboot in order for Windows 95 to "see" the card and prompt you to install the NetCommander software. The correct sequence for installing a new system is: - Install Microsoft Windows 95, including Dial-Up networking - If Windows 95 is already installed, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE Dial-Up networking and the appropriate networking protocol stack installed. The TCP/IP protocol is required by Internet Explorer and other Internet browsers. - Power down and install NetCommander hardware - Boot your system and supply the NetCommander diskettes when prompted. To check/remove the "other device" entry: - Double click on "My Computer" - Double click on "Control Panel" - Double click on "System" - Click on "Device Manager" - Look for "other devices" If "NetCommander" appears under this heading remove it and reboot your system 5 Unplugging the ISDN line while operating: Do NOT unplug the ISDN cable from the NetCommander or the wall jack while connected. Doing so may result in you having to reboot the system to reconnect to the ISDN line. 6 Use of encrypted password: If you attempt to connect to an ISDN server with the Encrypted Password Enabled when the site does not support this feature, you will have to reboot before you can successfully make ANY connection. 7 I/O address conflicts when using 230h: We have seen conflicts with use of I/O address 230h in some systems containing sound cards. If this conflict occurs you will find that the diagnostic test in AutoISDN will fail the hardware test with the "FPGA Fail" message. You can work around this by using the system properties page to reserve I/O address 230h. To do so: - double click on "My Computer" (on the desktop) - double click on "Control Panel" - double click on "System" - click on the "Device Manager" tab - select "Computer" with a single click - click on the "Properties" button - click on the "Reserve Resources" tab - select the "Input/output (I/O)" radio button - click on the "Add" button - edit the "Start value:" to be 230 - edit the "End value" to be 23f - click on the "OK" button - click on the "OK" button - reboot the system when prompted 8 Flex Channel retry methodology: When the Flex Channel feature is enabled, there are circumstances where the second data call cannot be completed. The following describes how NetCommander responds to the various possibilities. A "session" is the time from completion of the primary data call to its termination. Situation: Second call fails due to bad number or other "permanent" problem. Response: NetCommander will not retry the second call during the remainder of this session. Taking the telephone through an off/on hook cycle will reset this and allow a retry of the second call. Situation: The second call fails because the destination is busy. Response: NetCommander will retry the call every 5 seconds until the call completes, is no longer requested, or fails in another way. Situation: The second call completes, but the other end does not send any data. Response: NetCommander will hang up the second call and will not attempt the second call again during this session. Taking the telephone through an off/on hook cycle will reset this and allow a retry of the second call. Situation: The second call completes, but the other end responds incorrectly by resetting the packet sequence numbers. Response: NetCommander will hang up the call, wait approximately 40 seconds, and then retry the connection. If the connection cannot be completed successfully after 6 attempts, NetCommander will discontinue attempts to make the second call for the remainder of this session. Taking the telephone through an off/on hook cycle will reset this and allow a retry of the second call. 9 Display of phone numbers with AT&T Custom switch: If your line is supplied by an AT&T 5-ESS Custom switch configured as Point to Point, the switch will not send the destination phone number when an incoming call is received. Due to this, certain of the call monitoring features will not work. Specifically: distinctive ring will not work and the incoming call destination phone number will be "unknown". Note that the recommended line configuration when connected to an AT&T 5-ESS Custom switch is Multipoint. 10 Auto Switch Detect: You can now choose "Auto Detect" for the switch type from either NcSetup or AutoISDN. The Auto Detect heuristic requires the 10 digit phone number(s) to operate. (Area code + 7 digit number) The heuristic is based on expected responses from the switch and will not succeed in all cases. If your line is still not active after a few seconds, you will need to manually configure your switch information.