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Mac LC II Networking (Open Transport + Asante MCiLC)

S

STorrence

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Dec 17, 2009
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I am currently working on getting an old Macintosh LC II with an Asante MCiLC ethernet card (part no. 09-00062-03 A1) onto the wonders of the world wide web. I have made it as far as installing System 7.5.5 and Open Transport 1.1.2, as well as the original Asante network driver which I tracked down on their legacy site. However, I now have a few problems:

Setting Open Transport to "Dynamic DHCP" and giving it the router's IP address does not allow it to get an IP address successfully. Instead, every time it seems the system goes to access the networking service, it freezes for exactly 2 minutes. This doesn't occur when I have Open Transport disabled, so I'm pretty sure it's one of the networking extensions that's to blame.

Even when the system is unfrozen however, I have used a couple of different networking tools to confirm that I'm not getting an IP address. Instead, I'm getting a bunch of random numbers for the various networking values, as if the card is malfunctioning somehow.

I have noticed that a couple of the caps around the expansion port are showing some corrosion. Thankfully I have another LC II that won't boot but whose caps look to be in good shape. I want to see if there is perhaps a software solution though before I start doing soldering iron surgery on this guy.

Any suggestions? :confused:
 
clottmd said:
Did you get this to work? I may soon take on a similar task.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. IIRC, the LC's corroded capacitors were corrupting the network card. I donated these systems to someone recently who might be restoring them. Didn't keep the Asante driver though. :(
 
I recall once I tried to get a Mac II series machine with an Asante card on a modern network but there was some difference in the negotiation protocols and the new switches refused to properly communicate with the card, I ended up having to use a really old hub or early switch as a compatibility layer.
 
STorrence said:
Unfortunately not. IIRC, the LC's corroded capacitors were corrupting the network card. I donated these systems to someone recently who might be restoring them. Didn't keep the Asante driver though. :(
Click to expand...

I don't know about the LC II, but my LC III was a pig to recap. Even being extremely careful, I still managed to lift a couple of pads and had to reroute traces. Then there was the cap right next to the SCSI connector, oh boy did that take some time to get right, especially since the pad closest to the connector was lifted.

It works like a champ now though, and I chipped it to run at 33 MHz, which makes it noticeably snappier.
 
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