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PS/2 model 70, Etherlink III and windows 3.11 ?

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whaka

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2021
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90
Location
France
hello,
i face something i don't really understand with this card (installed in 32 bit slot) and using the etherdisk v6.1 driver.
is the etherlink 3 really compatible with windows 3.11 when used in a 32 bit slot ?
when the system boot it hang on the windows bootscreen forever, no error message, just hang there.

the packet driver work flawless with dos, and find the card with address 600h, but it seems windows don't like that.
when you go in configuration menu to modify address, valid range is from 200 to 3F0. and by default, set to 300, i guess the issue is here ?
is it a windows limitation, or i miss something ?

thanks :)
 
ok, so part of the answer is yes it's because it use an address range windows don't allow.
i tried another etherlink 3 in a 55sx (so full 16 bit bus), by default the machine configure it to use address range 200 to 2F0 (iirc)
this address range conflict with something (don't know what) on the 70. during 3.11 installation, i set the address to 200, with the native 3.11 driver, and it work fine.

so, there's something i can do for 3.11 allowing 600 address range ?
i'm really puzzled as the packet driver is not bothered by that...
 
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Are you running the packet driver before you run wfw3.11? If so there will be a conflict trying to use the same address.
 
yes, you're right, i forgot to say i take care to not start the packet driver when i use windows.
i just used the packet driver once to see what happen with it.
 
You can skip around configuring wfw3.11 drivers for the nic and just use the packet driver then run "winpkt"(easily available from the internet) for dos with address the Dos packet driver uses before starting wfw3.11 and use Trumpet Winsock of similar on startup of wfw3.11. Then you can use any network type program-Web browser, telnet, ftp, irc etc.. The wfw3.11 ftp and telnet programs work just fine in normal win3.1/3.11. This is how I get tcpip on my Zenith 286LP Plus running MS Windows 3.1 in enhanced mode ;)
 
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It's been quite a while since we had a decent MCA/PS/2 related thread. When I looked into them back in the early '90s my responce was "no thanks!". My understanding is that there are two bios layouts. One for good ol Dos and the other specificly designed for 16/32 bit OSs that take full advantage of MCA hardware, ie OS/2 at the time...
 
Caluser2000 said:
MCA hardware generrally have a setup disk to interact with the rest of the system to make sure there are no conflicts.. You may need this to set up the adderss you want the nic to use.
Click to expand...
yes, not generally. it's mandatory, you can't bypass this. maybe MCA RS/6000 and their specific cards don't use ADF but i'm not sure :)

i can't use the address range the ADF use by default (200h to 20Fh) because of a conflict, but i don't know with what.
when you adjust manually, the machine tell you a conflict exist in this range, but not with what.
so when i used the automatic setup the first time i added the card, it was set automatically from 600h to 6F0h. but windows seems to only allow range from 200h to 3F0h.
you can't set the address range you want, you can only use what the card is made for. but i'm still puzzled the packet driver can deal with, when windows seems to not...

i know about trumpet and all, but for the moment i don't consider this as a "clean" solution. but if there's no other way :D

Caluser2000 said:
My understanding is that there are two bios layouts. One for good ol Dos and the other specificly designed for 16/32 bit OSs that take full advantage of MCA hardware, ie OS/2 at the time...
Click to expand...
yes, CBIOS and ABIOS, but it's not specific to MCA PS/2's all clones since the 286 use the same concept.
IBM introduced this with the 5170, if i'm not wrong.
 
but it's not the case here, that's all the problem :D (by the way, i tried windows 95 and no problem with it.)
wfw 3.11 only want the card in the addresses ranges i give above, everythig else is considered as non valid.
it's like if they only limited things to the isa version of the card, which by default is set to 300h. but 300h is not an option for the mca version.

i'll post soon some pictures of what i mean.

edit : ok, i finally found what cause the conflict in the default addresses range, that's the joystick port of the snark barker (sound blaster MCV replica)
that's weird, as an etherlink III with the default addresses range and the snark barker coexist without issues in a 55sx of mine... but the 55sx is a 16 bit mca only, maybe that's why ?
in the 70 the etherlink III is in a 32 bit slot (and the card is 32 bit capable)
 
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whaka said:
hello,
i face something i don't really understand with this card (installed in 32 bit slot) and using the etherdisk v6.1 driver.
is the etherlink 3 really compatible with windows 3.11 when used in a 32 bit slot ?
when the system boot it hang on the windows bootscreen forever, no error message, just hang there.

the packet driver work flawless with dos, and find the card with address 600h, but it seems windows don't like that.
when you go in configuration menu to modify address, valid range is from 200 to 3F0. and by default, set to 300, i guess the issue is here ?
is it a windows limitation, or i miss something ?

thanks :)
Click to expand...
Hey, I have a 3com Etherlink III too, but I'm missing the driver diskette. Could you point me to a source that may have the driver or could you upload it here?
Thanks
 
Family_Basic_179 said:
Hey, I have a 3com Etherlink III too, but I'm missing the driver diskette. Could you point me to a source that may have the driver or could you upload it here?
Thanks
Click to expand...
What version of the card? MCA, PCI, VLB, EISA or ISA? And what revision of TX? Just no letter at the end, or A B C or TXM?
 
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