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VXIpc-870 Windows NT PCMCIA Installation

PCMCIA is supported on the VXIpc-870 by the native Windows NT PCMCIA driver under certain conditions:

  • PCMCIA devices will work with the native Windows NT PCMCIA Card Services driver if you free an interrupt resource.

National Instruments recomends that you use a third party Card Services software package if you are NOT using National Instrument PCMCIA devices. Third party PCMCIA Card Services software will allow you to use PCMCIA devices without worrying about freeing resources.


Installing PCMCIA Support
Two steps are required in order to use the native Windows NT PCMCIA driver:

  1. Free interrupt resources (1 per PCMCIA card)

  2. Install and configure Windows NT PCMCIA support

Freeing Interrupt Resources
This section includes information on disabling specific devices on your VXIpc-870 controller in order to free the interrupt resource associated with those devices. The devices that are listed here are not the only devices that you can disable, they are simply devices that are not always used in the system. Consult your Windows NT documentation for information on disabling other devices.


Disabling the Parallel Port
There are two main steps associated with disabling the parallel port:

  1. Disable the Parallel Port in the BIOS
    1. Shut down the system and enter the BIOS configuration utility by pressing and holding the DEL key as soon as you turn on the VXIpc-870.

    2. Select the Integrated Peripherals option.

    3. Set the Onboard Parallel Port to Disabled.

    4. Press F10 to save the changes and exit the BIOS configuration utility.

  2. Disable the Parallel Port in Windows NT
    1. Double click on the Devices icon in the Window NT Control panel.


    1. Set the HW Profile of the "Parallel" Device to Disabled.


    1. Set the Startup Mode of the Parallel Device to Disabled.

    2. Reboot the system.

Disabling the SCSI Interface
There are two main steps associated with disabling the SCSI interface:

  1. Disable the SCSI interface from Windows NT.
    1. Double click on the SCSI Adapters icon in the Windows NT Control Panel.

    2. Select the Drivers tab and remove the Symbios PCI (53c8xx) driver.


  1. Disable the SCSI interface during the boot sequence.
    1. Press CTRL-C during the SCSI scan portion of the boot sequence (you will see a message indicate that you can press CTRL-C to enter the Symbios Configuration Utility).

    2. Select the Change Adapter Status option.

    3. Use the Enter/Return key to change the Next Boot Status to Off.

    4. Exit the Symbios configuration utility and reboot the system.

Disabling the Ethernet Interface

  1. Double click on the the Network icon in the Windows NT control panel.

  2. Remove any network adapters listed under the Adapters tab.

Installing and Configuring Windows NT PCMCIA Support

  1. Copy the pcmcia.sys file from the winnt\i386 directory of the Windows NT CD onto your hard drive into the Winnt\system32\drivers directory on your hard drive.

    Note: Use the pcmcia.sys file for Windows NT Service Pack 4. Do not use the pcmcia.sys from Windows NT Service Pack 6.

    Download the Windows NT Service Pack 4 pcmcia.sys file


  2. Double-click on the Devices icon in the control panel and change the pcmcia device startup option to Boot.

  3. Shut down the system and insert your PCMCIA cards (see note).

  4. Reboot the System. Double click the PCMCIA icon in the Control Panel to determine if your PCMCIA devices are detected by Windows NT.

    Note: Windows NT is not a plug a play operating system and so will not assign resources to your PCMCIA devices automatically. You will need to configure your PCMCIA devices to use the interrupt resource that you made available. Consult the documentation for your PCMCIA product for more information on configuring it in Windows NT. Resources for National Instruments PCMCIA devices must be configured prior to inserting the cards.
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