Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Akira on February 17, 2006, 05:41:44 PM
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Hello guys,
If this has been asked before, I am sorry.
I recently purchased a Netgear wireless PCMCIA adapter, compatible with the prism2 driver.
I have an A1200 with an MX1230 030 accel which has 32MB in it, and I am running System 3.0
I am using Miami as my TCP/IP stack (Not Dx, I couldn't get it to run, dunno why, used to work fine before), and while configuring the card as a SANA-II device that uses the prism2.device interface, I could read the card's data and everything.
Now the problem lies when I try to get online. I face one of the following problems:
- Most frequently ocurring problem: when clicking "Online", card's "Link" light gets stuck in either ON or OFF position. Miggy gets frozen until I remove the card.
- Sometimes I get to be online and everything but then, if I try to ping any node in my network, I get no replies.
- Also, I cannot seem to be able to specify DNS servers manually in Miami. This will become a problem further on.
I am conencting to a Linksys Class B wireless access point + router. I have enabled MAC address filtering for security, adding the PCMCIA card's MAC address to the list of allowed addresses. I really don't know what else to do, maybe Miami is at afault (I am using an old version and all), maybe I am misconfiguring something?
Any help will be greatly apreciated. Cheers!
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First of all, have you set the defaults so it connects to your network? And cardreset installed?
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All network configuration is manual in my LAN, i gave the card an IP address, the subnet mask, and specified the address of the gateway. All I am missing from that is specifying the DNS servers manually, something I -cannot- find in Miami. even after all this, though, the card will still not receive replies when pinging other computers on the net.
Now, cardreset is not installed because I read I need another util to load first (Cardpatch?) and I do not have that one, and right now , i have no way to acquire it. Should i install it anyway withut Cardpatch? Wouldn't unplugging and re-plugging in the card after the Amiga has booted be the same?
Thanks for your prompt reply, looking forward to more answers
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The prism2 defaults aren't set on your router, it's set on your Amiga. Read the docs that followed the prism2 driver.
Unplugging and plugging in again will do the same as CardReset, so if you can live with it for now, then it's fine I guess.
As for the DNS servers, try to see what the database button contains.
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The MX1230 may not be PCMCIA-friendly.
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That is checked. It is PCMCIA friendly. Otherwise the card would not be even recognized.
I would apreciate input from those who have used this particular combo of items (A1200, Netgear wireless card, Miami) since speculation is going to take me nowhere.
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Well, I have, but you still haven't answered my question; have you set the prism2 defaults according to the docs???
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Doctor, I am sorry, but at the time of replying, I DID NOT SEE your post!! I am sorry, no mean to be offensive here, just trying to narrow it down.
Now, regarding to your question...
I set the defaults. As far as I know all I had to specify was the network's SSID, which I added to the startup sequence with the specified parameter with the SetPrism2Defaults command. That's as far as strange goes in my network afaik, since I use no sort of keys, just MAC Address filtering.
Any ideas? Any sort of thing I am missing? Perhaps Miami needs to be configured differently as well?
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Since you have MAC adress filtering, have you pressed "Query device" at any time while setting up Miami? Otherwise the MAC adress will not be read, so a mac adress full of 0 will try to connect to your network, instead of the actual MAC adress of the ethernet card.
Furthermore, have you got pccard.library installed in libs:?
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Yes, I query the device EVERY time before going "online"
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Akira wrote:
Yes, I query the device EVERY time before going "online"
Well, you only need to do it once, unless you don't save your settings ;-)
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cool to know.
Thanks for going through this with me by the way.
Still, no bananas. Card would not connect to the bloody network.
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I'm out of ideas. I have earlier made this guide (http://web.sonofon.dk/allan-muller/miami/miami.html) to help people setup ethernet cards on A600 and A1200. Maybe there is something you can use anyway.
I use Miami Deluxe myself, and have no problems at all going online with my A1200D. Other than wrong MAC adress inserted in router settings, IP and subnet mask I'm out of ideas.
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Maybe Deluxe DOES make a difference. My old verison might be to blame. I'll try that as well. And read the guide. Thanks!
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Arrrrrrgh I'm pulling my hair out here.
Changed a few things that I had different looking at your guide, but I still get same most happening error: When hitting online, LINK light freeszes in ON or OFF position, and Amiga cursor locks up unless I disconnect the card.
:(
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Trying, trying and trying...
managed to get MiamiDX working again.
Added the DNS servers just in case
Re-configured everything from scratch, just in case.
I click on online, and the card supposedly goes online, but LINK light is frozen in either ON or OFF position.
As soon as I try t ouse the card, or if I hit OFFLINE, system freezes until I disconnect the card.
What the hell is going on? This is a bog standard MA401 card, and your standard NTSC A1200. I doubt it's the expansion borad, but could it be? Nowhere in the net it says it's incompatible with PCMCIA.
I am crying alredy ;(
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Still no luck. I am going to try to transfer the drivers to my A600 and see if it runs there. Could it be a faulty card?
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@Akira,
Reading through the thread, we keep coming back to the link light staying and the Amiga locking up until its removed every time you try to connect. This sounds hardware related, perhaps with the driver? Do you have another computer (not necessarily an Amiga) that you can try the card with to make sure the card is functional? If it works on the other computer, then you know you have a good card, and the problem lies on the Amiga somewhere.
-David
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I'll find someone with an old PC notebook, because all I have so far here is an A600 which I WILL TRY to load with the card as soon as I can transfer the drivers to it (it has no disk drive). It sure sounds like a h/w problem, strange thing is, sometimes it DOES behave normally, but still i cannot ping any machine. Maybe the card is at fault, I do not know. The A1200 so far has given no problems and it doesn't have any sign of it being faulty.
Cheers for your answer!
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Do you use the latest version of the prism2.device and SetPrism2Defaults (1.4)?
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Well it seems the newest I could find is 1.1!
Checked aminet, and it says this:
"Changes in this version:
- Added a reset handler for AmigaOS 4. This allows the system to restart
if a soft reset occurs while the card is in use."
I do not know if it is much use to me if this is just the only change but it won't hurt to upgrade, thanks for the pointer.
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I knew because my A600 refused to run with version 1.1.
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Worth a try then! Thanks!!!!! Will report back ;)
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Hello.
Sorry for not answering your private messages, i have not been here for some days.
As you know, i am using all this with an A600, not an A1200, and Miami 3.2, not Deluxe.
I have the prism2.setup line in user-startup with textkeyfile and fixed ip adress, submask and gateway in Miami. The dns is the same as the gateway and is found, as someone here said, in the database button.
As your setup seems correct to me, may be it is just a PCMCIA RESET problem that occurs on the 1200 but not the 600. How did you manage to fix this bug? Software? Hardware modification?
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http://de4.aminet.net/util/boot/CardReset.lha
http://main.aminet.net/util/boot/CardPatch.lha
if you can get them use them like this at the top of ss
C:CardPatch
run >:NIL C:CardReset TICKS 50
good luck
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Why do you have to "run>NIL:" it?
I'll try, thanks!
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that just stops it printing rubbish on the screen... pipes the output of that program to nowhere. You can do that with almost any program that you want to stay "quiet".
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It doesn't need to be run'ed in order for the output to be sent to NIL: ;)
I suppose he ran it just in case it fails, but at this point, I rather know everything that happens, having all commands as verbose as possible.
Cheers!
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run C:CardReset TICKS 50
then is ok for you, the run command is need it to free up the main cli who runs the startup-sequence. more for this on amiga os manual as i don't remember why this thing works this way...
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So, is it working now?
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You guys should ask Brian. He loooves wireless! ;-)
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who is Brian, and where do we find him? ;D
Couldn't try anything else yet, real busy with work at the moment ;/
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Oh, is the network encrypted?
(stupid me don't even know if the WLAN util on miggy supports encryption).
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NOpe, no encryption, no key, just blocked MAC address accessing
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Akira wrote:
NOpe, no encryption, no key, just blocked MAC address accessing
You should be aware that using a fake MAC address is even easier than cracking WEP encryption.
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How can they guess teh addresses? It's ok anyway, I guess. dunno..
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It's fairly easy to spy on the traffic between the card and the access point. Best security is to hide the SSID, and then leave the array open. You then have a custom DHCP-setup, which gives all unknown MAC-addresses Google's IP. :evilgrin:
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Didn't understand the last bit, but sounds evil ;)
My SSID is hidden, obviously.
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The prism2.device can do WEP encryption if your adapter supports it.
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Ok, some update here.
Downloaded the prism2 drivers version 1.5.
Transferred to the 1200 and still no luck.
One of two things happens here:
- A1200 PCMCIA port fudged
- WiFi card fudged.
Still got to try it in my A600, if it works there, then it's a problem with my 1200. I got a Squirrel card to test but I have no SCSI device to connect to it :P so it's not much use.
Well, I DO have that 1x Apple CD drive, but I need a caddy for it..hmmmmm.
More progress as I find time for testing things out.