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LANStreamer MC 32

@8FA0.ADF IBM LANStreamer MC 32 Adapter

bk8w6000.boo Token-Ring Network LANStreamer Adapters

TRMLS323.EXE IBM LANStreamer MC32 Diagnostics/Option Diskette v2.0 (zipped image)
TRMLS321.EXE IBM LANStreamer MC32 Adapter Driver Diskette v3.10 (NDIS 2.0) (zipped image)
TRPALS4.EXE IBM Auto LANStreamer PCI Adapter NDIS3 Device Drivers v1.03 (WfW/95/NT) (zipped image)
WWDU.BIN LANStreamer SCO Unix drivers for ALS, LS, and EtherStreamers (readme)

Streamers - General Information

LANStreamer MC 32
LANStreamer Prototype
Known Problems
   Data Integrity Problems with L-S
   LANStreamer Not Seen Under NT4
W95 Configurable Settings
ADF Sections

LANStreamer MC 32 "Dorado Beach", FRU P/N 92F8941 (old) / 74G0098 (new)

92F8941 (downlevel) uses the 60G0661 / 50G8196 pair
74G0098 uses the 74G0107 / 63G9811 pair

U13 & U24 Address match RAM and CAM used for group address matching and multi-port bridge routing information matching.

U16 50G8196 or 63G9811 MCA bus master interface chip "Maunakea".

U17 50G8180(ESD) Token Ring protocol chip "Huntingdale".

Does NOT support FDX.

LANStreamer Prototype

This is one of the first LANStreamer test cards ever made. You can see the sticker reads "DBTC0020". That is "Dorado Beach Test Card 20". It has a number of interesting features.

For starters, the key ASICs are socketed because this was the first card using those new "Maunakea" streamer chips (U9; missing) and the "Huntingdale" TR chip (U10; silver-cap).

Notice the two debug headers along the top (CON1 & CON2). They were used to connect either an HP logic analyzer or a UC processor debug tool called the DASH/DAB. Solder pads for these connectors can be found even on the production cards (the smaller connector was moved to the solder side).

Also of note is the 64 KB RAM at the left side of the adapter (U4 & U5). That RAM did not appear on the production boards. There was 2 KB of RAM inside the TR chip (even at this stage of development) and that was all the RAM the production-level LAN Streamers ever had. But since this was the first TR adapter without the 64 KB "shared RAM" it wasn't obvious whether the microcode would be able to operate with only 2 KB of RAM. The external memory was added so that debug could happen with the goal to reduce the footprint to the smallest amount possible.

There is also an 8 KB RAM and 256 entry CAM above the aluminum TR chip (Huntingdale). Those memories were used for group address matching and multi-port bridge ring number matching. They were not directly accessible from the UC but the protocol handler used them directly in the address match logic. The CAM was probably the most expensive part on this card and there was a lot of pressure to remove it. On the Auto LAN Streamer, it's no longer present as a discrete component, it was moved to the protocol chip (MPC).

The area marked as U3 was an analog front-end plug-in card that was used to test various new analog designs. The analog front end was extremely sensitive to noise and was always going through analysis to ensure the best design. There are two ROM sockets (U6 & U7) but the final cars shipped with a single ROM of 64 KB. The smaller socket (U8) is where the MAC address ROM was placed.

Known Problems

Slot 8 Incompatibility in 8595 and 9595 (SF2223)
Failure to Obtain IP Address Via DHCP on Token Ring w/ SP2 (Q163383)

Data Integrity Problems with L-S Card FRU P/N 92F8941 (Q131351) (edited)

Symptoms

The following error message appears in the event log after starting Windows NT on a computer with an IBM LANStreamer network adapter:

Event ID 5009

The description for Event ID ( 5009 ) in Source ( Streamer ) could not be found.

It contains the following insertion string(s): \Device\Streamer1, Streamer1.

0000: 000c0000 00660002 00000000 80001391
0010: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000 00000008 0000009d
0030: 00000000

Cause

A data integrity problem was identified with the first release of the LANStreamer card. Hooks were added to the LANStreamer driver to minimize the problem. This event log message is logged for the benefit of IBM development to identify that the adapter has the data integrity problem.

The affected LANStreamers are 92F8941. The ROM chip and U16 are different from the later 74G0098.

Resolution

Replace the adapter with FRU P/N 74G0098.

Practical Impact

The data integrity "issue" was overblown by IBM. The problem was only reported on NCR servers, not IBM hardware. It was also very very infrequent and probably only happened with multiple adapters installed. In any case, the higher layer protocols (e.g. TCP) would have caught the rare data corruption anyway.

There was a device driver fix that eliminated the problem, but it had a performance impact, and since people paid $895 for the NIC, it was fixed properly later on (in hardware). That's why there were several different part numbers for the "Maunakea" chip (the revised version probably used the same codename, perhaps with a "2.0" suffix). The change had zero impact on the microcode.

W95 Configurable Settings

(Tested on a Model 77s with Lacuna planar.)

AdapterId 8FA0 IBM LANStreamer MC 32 Adapter

Adapter Data Rate
   This adapter can operate at either 4 Mbps or 16 Mbps. The adapter data rate MUST be set to the rate of the Token-Ring LAN segment to which the adapter is connected.
  <"16 Mbps">, 4 Mbps

Adapter Media Type Selection
   This adapter supports two media types,  STP and UTP. The media type selected MUST be cable connected to the token ring. If not the adapter will exhibit a LOBE MEDIA FAILURE.
  <"STP">, UTP

Adapter I/O address Range
   The I/O address field is a six bit field that selects the I/O address of the adapter. For MC I/O cycles, this dapter is selected when the MC I/O address is within a 256 byte region. For systems with more than one LS32, each must be assigned a separate I/O address range.
  <"1C00-1CFF (io 1C00-1CFF)>, 2000-20FF, 2400-24FF, 2800-28FF, 2C00-2CFF, 3000-30FF, 3400-34FF, 3800-38FF, 3C00-3CFF, 4000-40FF, 4400-44FF, 4800-48FF, 4C00-4CFF, 5000-50FF, 5400-54FF, 5800-58FF, 5C00-5CFF, 6000-60FF, FC00-FCFF

Interrupt Level
   This adapter can use interrupt level:  2, 3, 10 or 11. IRQ3 is prefered.
  <"Interrupt  3">, 2, 10, 11

Fairness/Streaming Data Select
   This adapter can operate with or w/o arbitration fairness and with or w/o Data Streaming. 
  <"Fairness ON/Streaming ON">, Fairness ON/Streaming OFF, Fairness OFF/Streaming ON, Fairness OFF/Streaming OFF

Arbitration Level
   This adapter can operate on one of thirteen arbitration levels: 1, 2, 3 or 5 thru E. If more than one LS32 is in your computer, each must be assigned a separate arbitration level.
  <"Level 1">, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E

Remote Program Load Address Range
   The adapter Remote Program Load (RPL) ROM is relocatable within Micro Channel memory space. The adapter RPL ROM from hex 000C 000 to 000D C000.
  <"Disabled" >, C000-C3FF, C400-C7FF, C800-CBFF, CC00-CFFF, D000-D3FF, D400-D7FF, D800-DBFF, DC00-DFFF

Parity Enable/Monitor Feedback
   This adapter provides the capability of generating and checking data and address parity, plus it can monitor slave device's Selected Feedback Return Exception signals during DMA operations.
  <"Parity OFF/Monitor OFF">, Parity ON/Monitor OFF, Parity OFF/Monitor ON , Parity ON/Monitor ON