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Feeling lucky, is the 3c509B compatible with 8088 using NE1000 drivers?

Sometimes I get DHCP timeouts, but I connected mine to a wireless bridge so that's why I mentioned it.

There is a troubleshooting document included with the mTCP distribution; maybe it has some hints?
 
For those having trouble tracking down a card to work in an 8 bit slot... I use an ne2000 clone based on the realtek 8019 chipset with the ne1000 NDIS driver.
 
CHAD2430 said:
My friend has an IBM XT with a similar card and he claims to have gotten it to work on his machine. I wonder what's preventing me from going further.
Click to expand...

Make sure you are using a 3Com 3C509B card. The non-B variant doesn't work in 8-bit machines. I don't recall the details but it's in the datasheet for these cards.

Hope this helps!
 
Hi All

So here my first post on a thread that helped me quite a bit...
I proudly own a 1983 IBM 5150 with now a 5c509B (c) and i am trying to make it part of my network..

I used the 3c509 from this thread and all seems to work but this is a weird one..

When TMCP DHCP is executed it returns that no response/packets where received ?
Ping the gateway same..

But I see the packets in wireshark ??
Packet.jpg

Same in the other direction from PC to XT it does not reply..

Could it be LAN via Asus RT-AC87U is too modern ?

Hope someone can give me some advice here..
 
Working Card 3c509b(c) or not?

Working Card 3c509b(c) or not?

Hi all,

My first post here after struggling with an 5150 to get it on the network..
This thread helped me a lot, but i'm not quite there yet...

3C509B (c) is placed in Slot 1 ( left side)

Is used the packet manager from this thread and i see packets send from my IBM but i see no replies ??
DHCP Discover packages are send but get no reply ??

Pckmnr.jpg
Also a Ping to the IBM is not responded to..

Mtcp reports no packets with DHCP..

But in wireshark i see them ??
Packet.jpg

Is my network the issue ( to modern ) or am forgetting something?

Hope someone can help me here..
 
It wouldn't hurt to try a static ip config to narrow the issue down. I ran a 5150 with the card hooked to a modern gigabit switch, and it works fine with a static ip.
 
fsikkerm said:
Is used the packet manager from this thread and i see packets send from my IBM but i see no replies ??
DHCP Discover packages are send but get no reply ??
Click to expand...

You see no replies because, based on your screenshot, your network card is set to IRQ 10 -- but 8088-class systems can't go that high, they can only go as high as 7. Common IRQ assignments are:

0 - System timer
1 - Keyboard
2 - free
3 - COM2
4 - COM1
5 - Hard drive
6 - Floppy drive
7 - LPT1

You probably don't have a second serial port in your system, so you should run the 3com config utility to (re)set the network card to IRQ 2 or IRQ 3, or IRQ 7 if you don't have a parallel port installed. Warning: The 3com config utility for your card might require a 286 or higher to run, so you might need to move the card to a 286+ system to configure it, then move it back. But try it in your existing PC first.
 
Hi and thanx for the tips. I will give them a try..

You would expect the DHCP server to send a "Offer" packet back and that is not happening ..

I will post the progress..
 
The wrong IRQ setting has the property of the packet driver software not being notified of new packets arriving. Once you switch the IRQ to 7 or lower, the card should work.

Also, do your initial tests with a wired connection; I have mine connected to a wireless bridge and sometimes DHCP doesn't want to "behave", whereas it always works 100% connected via ethernet cable.
 
Trixter said:
The wrong IRQ setting has the property of the packet driver software not being notified of new packets arriving. Once you switch the IRQ to 7 or lower, the card should work.

Also, do your initial tests with a wired connection; I have mine connected to a wireless bridge and sometimes DHCP doesn't want to "behave", whereas it always works 100% connected via ethernet cable.
Click to expand...
Thanks
I'm busy getting a 286 together to change the irq to 7.
Petty that just is not possible with 3c5x9cfg configure /i:7 on the ibm
I will post the progress
 
fsikkerm said:
Petty that just is not possible with 3c5x9cfg configure /i:7 on the ibm
Click to expand...

Did you try? I thought 3c5x9cfg did actually work on an 8088, but I could be wrong. If the program starts up, that should be enough, although you might want to remove other non-essential cards (sound card, serial ports, etc.) to reduce the possibility of the program getting confused.
 
3c5x9cfg never worked for me on my v20 tandy 1000sx. had to set mine up on my 486. once setup tho the card runs fine.
 
Trixter said:
Did you try? I thought 3c5x9cfg did actually work on an 8088, but I could be wrong. If the program starts up, that should be enough, although you might want to remove other non-essential cards (sound card, serial ports, etc.) to reduce the possibility of the program getting confused.
Click to expand...

It started and under dos 5.0 even got the menu, but message No Nics founds..
So just an hour ago I wend to my friend and hooked the card in a Pentium one with Isa .. Card recognized and I have set the IRQ to 7
Work like a charm now :cool:

Now on to set a HyperV linux and gone try
ETHERDFS - THE ETHERNET DOS FILE SYSTEM
http://etherdfs.sourceforge.net

So all thx for the helpfull info..:D
 
Glad you got it working!

ETHERDFS uses custom frames that don't seem to work over wireless bridges, so you'll need to connect both source and destination with wired cable.
 
Mike Chambers said:
Another (substantially more ghetto) option would be to solder a wire to bridge the IRQ 10 line on the card to another IRQ line that will work in an 8-bit slot and patch the packet driver to always use that interrupt instead of what the card tells it. :)
Click to expand...

Is this an actual possibility? Could I really just solder Pin D3 on the card to Pin B4 and have it work on IRQ 2?

I've got a 5150, but no 286 to set the configuration for the proper IRQ. Does PNP need to be disabled on the card as well or does the card work as long as the right IRQ is used? I'm hoping it might work since I see that 3COM offered both "Legacy" drivers and ISAPNP drivers for the 3C509B.
 
In trying to figure out how to get Nestor's nifty driver to work without a 286, I spent some time documenting everything that had been done and recommendations for using the driver. You can see my unfinished attempt here/ . Please let me know if you see errors or have suggestions.:)

By the way, I may have found a way to get the card working without a 286 and without doing any ugly soldering. It appears 3COM's configuration program has an undocumented command /PNPRST which is to be used if you have an old BIOS which puts the card in a state where it is perpetually waiting for PNP info. After doing the reset, one can use another command to disable PNP on the card. After a reboot, the configuration program is then supposed to work.

3C5X9CFG /PNPRST
3C5X9CFG CONFIGURE /PNP:DISABLED

I haven't tested this yet as it is extremely late, but I thought I'd share and maybe somebody could weigh in on whether it's worthwhile.

Cheers!
 
hackerb9 said:
By the way, I may have found a way to get the card working without a 286 and without doing any ugly soldering. It appears 3COM's configuration program has an undocumented command /PNPRST which is to be used if you have an old BIOS which puts the card in a state where it is perpetually waiting for PNP info. After doing the reset, one can use another command to disable PNP on the card. After a reboot, the configuration program is then supposed to work.

Code: 
[FONT=Courier New]    3C5X9CFG /PNPRST 
    3C5X9CFG CONFIGURE /PNP:DISABLED
[/FONT]

I haven't tested this yet as it is extremely late, but I thought I'd share and maybe somebody could weigh in on whether it's worthwhile.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I would be very interested in hearing if you get this to work!
 
Strangely, when I run 3C5X9CFG.EXE on my IBM PC (5055), I get an error that /PNPRST is not a valid command. But when I ran the same executable under emulation (DOSBOX) it gave the expected message that "The PNP mode has been turned off." Perhaps the program is branching based upon detected CPU type? Anybody here good at disassembling old .EXE files? You can download it from here: https://github.com/hackerb9/3C509B-nestor/raw/master/3c5x9x/3C5X9CFG.EXE.
 
It's a 400K executable (uncompressed) with a 50K overlay -- not a trivial thing to RE. It would be much easier, and take way less time, to just simply get an easier card to work with (I like the Intel Etherexpress 8/16) with a setup program that works on 8088s.

Or, source a 286+ ISA system to reconfigure the card with.
 
hackerb9 said:
Strangely, when I run 3C5X9CFG.EXE on my IBM PC (5055), I get an error that /PNPRST is not a valid command. But when I ran the same executable under emulation (DOSBOX) it gave the expected message that "The PNP mode has been turned off." Perhaps the program is branching based upon detected CPU type? Anybody here good at disassembling old .EXE files? You can download it from here: https://github.com/hackerb9/3C509B-nestor/raw/master/3c5x9x/3C5X9CFG.EXE.
Click to expand...

Interesting problem and challenging task. Unfortunately its difficult to debug such a large program on a XT but I think I got it.

Extract above linked 3c5x9cfg.exe with unp.exe and do the following changes on the file:

fc /b 3CUNP.EXE 3CUNP-p.EXE
Vergleichen der Dateien 3CUNP.EXE und 3CUNP-P.EXE
00012E45: 3D B8
00012E48: 7C 90
00012E49: 03 90
0002CD62: 8E 90
0002CD63: 06 90
0002CD64: 96 90
0002CD65: 23 90

Then run
3CUNP-p /PNPRST
on your XT. Works at least in PCem, dont know about real hardware and if the 3COM is patched the right way after executing. Please try and report...
 
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