National Instruments PCI/PXI GIGABIT ETHERNET ADAPTERS User manual

©2002 National Instruments Corp. All rights reserved.
National Instruments™, NI™, NI-488.2™, and ni.com™ are trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. Product and
company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. For patents covering
National Instruments products, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file
on your CD, or ni.com/patents.
December 2002
370620B-01
PCI/PXI GIGABIT ETHERNET ADAPTERS
INSTALLATION GUIDE
National Instruments gigabit Ethernet adapters are based on the
Intel 82540-compatible Ethernet controller.
This document explains how to install and troubleshoot the Ethernet drivers
for your PCI/PXI board. Some boards also contain additional functionality
(for example, GPIB). Refer to the documentation that came with your kit to
install the software for the other functionality.
Installing Your PXI Board
Complete the following steps to install the Ethernet adapter:
1. Shut down Windows, if it is running, by clicking Start»Shut Down.
2. Turn off your PXI or CompactPCI chassis. Keep the chassis plugged
in so that it remains grounded as you install the adapter.
3. Remove the filler panel from a PXI peripheral bus master slot. The
adapter requires a bus master slot to take advantage of the onboard
DMA and Ethernet controllers. All PXI chassis and most CompactPCI
chassis contain only bus master slots. Refer to your chassis
documentation to verify you are using a bus master slot.
4. Touch a metal part on your chassis to discharge any static electricity
that might be on your clothes or body.
5. Insert the adapter into the selected bus master slot. Use the
injector/ejector handle to fully inject the device into place.
6. Screw the front panel of the adapter to the front panel mounting rail
of the PXI or CompactPCI chassis.
Installing Your PCI Board
Complete the following steps to install the Ethernet adapter:
1. Shut down Windows, if it is running, by clicking Start»Shut Down.
2. Turn off the computer and unplug the power cord.
ni.com

PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide 2 ni.com
3. Remove the cover to give yourself access to the expansion slots.
4. Choose an empty PCI slot and remove the slot cover by unscrewing the
screw that secures it.
5. Insert the adapter into the PCI slot and push until it is firmly seated.
Reinstall the screw you removed in step 4.
6. Replace the cover and plug in the power cord.
Connect the Network Cable
Complete the following steps to connect the network cable:
1. Connect a Twisted Pair Ethernet (TPE) network cable to the adapter as
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Connecting the Network Cable
• For 1000BaseT (gigabit over copper), use Category 5 (must be
4-pair wiring). Be sure to use Category 5 cable that complies with
the TIA-568 wiring specification. For more information on this
specification, refer to the Telecommunications Industry
Association Web site, www.tiaonline.org.
• For 100BaseTX, use Category 5 wiring or better.
Caution If using less than 4-pair cabling, you must manually configure the speed and
duplex setting of the adapter and the link partner. In addition, with 2- and 3-pair cabling,
the adapter can achieve speeds of up to only 100 MB/s.
• For 10BaseT, use Category 3 wiring or better.
• To use this adapter in a residential environment (at any speed), use
Category 5 wiring. If the cable runs between rooms or through
walls and/or ceilings, it should be plenum rated for fire safety.

©National Instruments Corporation 3 PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide
• The cable length is limited to 100 m.
• The adapter must be connected to a compatible link partner,
preferably set to auto-negotiate speed and duplex.
• The PCI-8231/8232 and PXI-8231/8232 automatically
accommodate either MDI or MDI-X connections. The
auto-MDI-X feature allows you to directly connect two adapters
without using a crossover cable.
2. To configure Ethernet for your adapter, continue with the procedure
specific to your operating system outlined later in this guide.
Install the Drivers
Follow the installation instructions for your operating system. The adapter
works with the following operating systems:
•Windows Me/98
•Windows 2000/XP
•Windows NT 4.02
Windows Me/98
To install the drivers, complete the following steps:
1. Shut down, then power off the computer as shown in the following
figure.

PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide 4 ni.com
2. Install the hardware and cables, then power on the computer as shown
in the following figure.
3. Install the PCI-PCI bridge driver.
Windows automatically detects the new hardware.
Follow the prompts in the Wizard. Select the recommended options
when given a choice. If Windows asks where to search for a new
driver, clear all checkboxes and click Next.
4. Install the Windows Me/98 Ethernet drivers.
Windows Me
Windows automatically detects the new hardware and displays an Add
New Hardware Wizard window, as shown in the following figure.
Insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM and follow
the instructions. Choose the Recommended options when given a
choice and click Next.
Windows 98
Windows automatically detects the new hardware and displays an Add
New Hardware Wizard window, as shown in the following figure.
Insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM and follow
the instructions presented. Choose the Recommended options when
given a choice.

©National Instruments Corporation 5 PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide
If Windows asks where to search for a new driver, make sure the box
next to CD-ROM Drive is checked and click Next, as shown in the
following figure.
Tip If Windows displays a dialog box saying it cannot locate the file on the Intel PRO
Adapter CD-ROM, insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM and tell
Windows to copy files from the Win98Me directory of the CD-ROM drive (typically
d:\Win98Me\).

PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide 6 ni.com
Tip If Windows displays a dialog box indicating it cannot locate a file on the Windows 98
CD-ROM, try inserting the Windows 98 Installation CD-ROM and tell Windows to copy
files from either the top directory or the win98 directory of the CD-ROM drive (typically
d:\ or d:\win98\).
5. Restart the computer as shown in the following figure, then connect to
your network.
Windows 2000/XP
To install the drivers, complete the following steps:
1. Shut down and power off the computer, as shown in the following
figure.

©National Instruments Corporation 7 PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide
2. Install the hardware and cables, then power on the computer as shown
in the following figure.
3. Install the Windows 2000/XP Ethernet drivers.
Windows 2000
Windows automatically detects the new hardware and displays a
Found New Hardware Wizard window, as shown in the following
figure. Insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM and
follow the directions. Choose the Recommended options when given
a choice.

PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide 8 ni.com
If Windows asks where to search for a new driver, make sure the box
next to CD-ROM Drive is checked and click Next.

©National Instruments Corporation 9 PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide
Windows XP
Windows automatically detects the new hardware and displays a
Found New Hardware Wizard window, as shown in the following
figure. Insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM and
follow the directions. Choose the Recommended options when given
a choice and click Next.
Tip If Windows displays an Insert Disk dialog box or indicates it cannot locate a file on
the Intel PRO Adapter CD-ROM, insert the PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters CD-ROM
and tell Windows to copy files from the Win2kXP directory of the CD-ROM drive
(typically d:\Win2kXP\).
4. Restart the computer as shown in the following figure, then connect to
your network (Windows 2000 only).

PCI/PXI Gigabit Ethernet Adapters Installation Guide 10 ni.com
Windows NT 4.02
To install the drivers, complete the following steps:
1. Shut down, then power off the computer as shown in the following
figure.
2. Install the hardware and cables, then power on the computer as shown
in the following figure.