-- Technical Support & Trouble Shooting Guide --

ACTiSYS Corporation has provided this online section of trouble shooting guidelines for your review. In order to save yourself valuable time, please review them before contacting our technical support team.

FAQ for ACT-IR210L Motherboard Adapter

** For installation and troubleshooting the 2000L and 210L are synonymous **

Q: How do I know if my motherboard supports IrDA or not?

A: There are two ways to find out. One is from your motherboard manual. The other is to check the compatible list from our web site which has a partial list of IrDA-capable motherboards.

Please check with your motherboard supplier:

a) The IrDA function was fully tested?

b) Which IR speeds have been tested to work well?

c) Is the IrDA pin-out on the motherboard accurate?

d) Which IrDA I/O chip (model #) is utilized on the motherboard? 

Q: I have a motherboard that supports IrDA. Which product should I choose from you?

A. ACTiSYS offers two adapters supporting the IrDA standard for motherboards; the ACT-iR210L and ACTiR-2000L. The IR210L is compatible with IrDA 1.0, also known as SIR, data rate from 9.6K to 115.2K bps. The IR2000L is for use with IrDA 1.1 or FIR, speeds up to 4M bps.

During product testing we have experienced a number of issues relating to motherboards that claim compliance with the IrDA FIR specifications. Please contact ACTiSYS direct, to inquire into the practicalities of using the IR2000L with the brand of motherboard you have. In practice, a motherboard may claim a data rate of 4M bps, the reality may be very different.

There are a number of issues at the moment with motherboards and the higher IrDA speeds. The IR210L may prove to be the prudent purchase.

Q: What kind of driver software should I install for infrared function?

A. Microsoft offers two IrDA drivers, Infrared Driver 2.0 and Infrared Driver 3.0, each driver is available free of charge. IR2.0 is for SIR (IrDA 1.0) and is to be used with the IR210L. IR3.0 is for FIR (IrDA 1.1) is for use with the IR2000L. Before installing IR3.0, you need to know which I/O chip is used on your motherboard. You'll need the appropriate device driver for the respective IrDA I/O chip on your motherboard, together with the Windows 95 IR driver. There are three manufacturers: Winbond, SMC and NS (National Semiconductor). You may get this information from their web sites: NS: http://www.national.com, Winbone: http://www.winbond.tw.com, SMC: http://www.smc.com.

Q: If my motherboard doesn't support FIR, do you have any other product for FIR?

A. Yes, we have IR2000B/L, an ISA-bus add-on card. It is used together with IR2000L for FIR speed up to 4M bps. IR2000B uses National Semiconductor PC87108A I/O chip. It supports 5 modes: SIR, MIR, FIR, CIR, 500kHz ASK.

Q: What kind of operating systems can I use for the IR210L device?

A: You can use Windows 95 for SIR , Windows 98 has the drivers built-in. Microsoft will release Windows 2000 will have all the drivers built-in, including a FIR driver which was tested against our IR2000B+IR2000L as reference.

Q: How can I set up my motherboard in BIOS?

A: Motherboard uses UART 2 as infrared communication port. You need to set to HPSIR or IrDA 1.0 for SIR, HPFIR or IrDA 1.1 for FIR and HALF DUPLEX mode.

Q: How do I setup my bios for the 210L?

A: Enter your BIOS setup software, usually DEL or F3 during boot.

1. Select "Integrated Peripherals" or "Chipset Features" in the system Bios setup.
2. Onboard UART1(Com1, Seral Port 1 ): 3F8H/IRQ4
   Onboard UART2(Com2, Seral Port 2 ): 2F8H/IRQ3
3. Onboard UART2 mode: IrDA (or HPSIR; don't choose ASK)
4. IR Duplex mode: Half (If BIOS has this option)
5. Tx/Rx Active: Hi/Lo or No/Yes (If BIOS has this option)
6. IR Transmission delay: Enable (If BIOS has this option)

Q: How do I install Windows95 IrDA driver 2.0?

A:

1. Insert the diskette into floppy drive.
2. Run w95ir.exe. Windows will make a sun directory called "msir20"
3. Run from directory "msir20", Setup.exe.
4. Follow the prompts until you reach "Under Manufactures", select "Standard Infrared Device" then select "Built-in Infrared Port on laptop or Desktop" under "Models" section.
5. Follow the screen prompts until it asks you to select a comm port. Choose com 2.
6. Follow the screen prompts again until it asks you what default ports to use. Select the default, usually Com 4, Lpt 3.
7. Click on "Finish". The driver is installed successfully.

Q: How do I install the driver for Windows 98 IR setup ?

A:

1. Connect the ACT-IR210L to the motherboard super I/O chip.

2. Go to "Control Panel" and double click on "Add New Hardware".

3. Click on "Next" twice, then select "No, the device isn't in the list". And click on "next".

4. Select "No I want to select Hardware from the list",

5. Scroll down the menu and highlight "Infrared Devices", then click on "Next" twice.

6. Under "Manufacturers" Select "(Infrared COM port or dongle)", and then in "Infrared Devices" Select "(Generic Infrared Serial Port or dongle)". Click on "OK".

7. At "Infrared Transceiver", Select "Generic Infrared Port" instead. Then click on "Next".

8. Select the COM port to which the Infrared device is physically connected. In most cases, choose COM2. Click on "Next".

9. Follow the screen prompts until it asks you what default ports to use. Select "Use default ports (recommended)". Click on "Next".

10. Click on "Finish", The driver is installed successfully.

11. You should also make sure that you have share your house PC and not password required. Which you can check your Network under Control Panel.

 If the problem is still unsolved, please contact ACTiSYS technical support.