Frequently asked Questions about Boca Research VL-Bus Enhanced IDE Plus Controller (IDEVL2) ================================================= This document is arranged in the following sections: (A) - General Information about the IDEVL2 (B) - Specifications (C) - Hardware questions Section A - General Information about the IDEVL2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is the IDEVL2? The IDEVL2 is a high performance Vesa Local Bus Enhanced IDE Controller. It supports up to four IDE devices under ATA 4.0, two floppy drives, two serial ports with 16550 UARTs and one bi-directional parallel port with IEEE 1284 (EPP and ECP) support. 2. How can the IDEVL2 be helpful for me? The IDEVL2 provides a 32-bit Vesa Local Bus controller that supports 4 IDE devices, two floppy drives, two high speed serial ports and an enhanced parallel port all integrated in a single adapter that will only take up one slot in your computer. 3. What comes is bundled with the IDEVL2? - IDEVL2 Driver and Utilities diskette - Includes cables for two IDE devices and two floppy drives 4. Where can the IDEVL2 be purchased? Boca Research enhancement products are available worldwide through authorized Boca Research retail stores, distributors, or many end-user catalogs. To purchase Boca Research products or for more information, call your local distributor or Boca Research sales staff at (407)997-6227. 5. What kind of warranty does the IDEVL2 have? All Boca Research products carry a five-year warranty. Section B - Specifications -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are the specifications of this controller? - Supports four Enhanced IDE devices - 360K, 720K, 1.2MB, 1.44MB and 2.88MB floppy drive support - Two high speed serial ports with 16C550 UARTs - One parallel port with EPP, ECP and/or IEEE 1284 support 2. What hardware settings does the IDEVL2 support? IDE: - I/O addresses: 1F0 or 170 - IRQ: 14 or 15 Serial ports: - Com port: 1, 2, 3 or 4 - IRQ: 3, 4, 5 or 7 Parallel port: - I/O addresses: 378 or 278 (for LPT1 and LPT2) - IRQ: 5 or 7 - Modes: Standard, EPP, ECP or IEEE 1284 Section C - Hardware Questions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. How do I configure my hard drives, for Master or Slave? The first hard drive on the Primary IDE should be set to Master. The Second drive on Primary IDE should be set to Slave. The first hard drive on Secondary IDE should be set to Master and the second drive on Secondary IDE should be Slave. 2. Why does the IDEVL2 need a driver? Although the board will still operate in 32-bit access without drivers loaded, the DOS and Windows drivers for the IDEVL2 will enhance hard disk performance. 3. How do you configure a third a fourth hard drive? In order to configure a third and fourth hard drive to the secondary IDE port on the IDEVL2, you must either have support for a secondary IDE controller in your motherboards BIOS configuration or have a third party hard disk driver that will add support for a secondary controller. Note: The drivers supplied with the IDEVL2 are not designed to configure a third and fourth hard disk. This must be supported by one of the options above. 4. What Com ports should I set the Serial ports to? Before installing the IDEVL2, you need to find out what com ports and IRQs are available in your computer. There are many system utilities available that will help you determine what settings are used in your system. The program MSD.EXE (Microsoft Diagnostics) which is included with Windows and DOS version 6.x and above can be used to determine what settings are available in your system. 5. Does the IDEVL2 have built-in BIOS? No. This controller relies on the motherboards BIOS for hard drive configurations. 6. Will the IDEVL2 support large hard drives with more that 1024 cylinders? Yes, but your motherboards BIOS must have support for hard drives with more that 1024 cylinders or have LBA (Logical Block Addressing) support. If your motherboards BIOS does not have this support, there are also third party hard disk drivers that support LBA. 7. Can I use the IDEVL2's drivers with LBA? No. LBA takes full control of your hard disk and will not work with any other hard disk drivers, including the drivers supplied with the IDEVL2. 8. Can I use the IDEVL2 to control my CD-ROM drive? This controller can control an Enhanced IDE CD-ROM drive on either the Primary or Secondary IDE interface.