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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: Mikko_PKP on May 31, 2004, 11:06:11 PM

Title: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on May 31, 2004, 11:06:11 PM
OK, I am officially at my wit's end. I bought a PCMCIA network card off an Amiga retailer (guaranteed to work with my Amy, that is), put in the included piggyback fix for the A1200 cardreset bug and installed the OS 3.9 network package. However, that's where the problems started.

I cannot get the network to do anything useful. Usually Genesis gets me "online", but sometimes it just freezes the system completely and does nothing. I can usually resume operation by removing the card. Even when I do get "online" I cannot get A-Web to display a single page, it freezes the system as well - reads a few bytes, then freezes, continues after a while, freezes again. Occasionally I do get rid of the freezing, but then, DNS does not work.

I cannot ping the machine from my Linux box on the same network.

My setup:

A1200 (Commodore)
Blizzard A1260/50 + 64 MB FastRAM
2.1 GB internal HDD
OS 3.9


Network setup:

* Target Network 24007 10 Mbps PCMCIA card
* cnet.device 1.8b (standard version)
* D-Link 604 Router/Firewall
- DHCP activated (for Windows machines, Xbox & PS2 use), but Amiga assigned to a static IP (192.168.0.xxx) unused by anything else. Linux box works fine with similar static IP.
- Address of router (192.168.0.1) entered as gateway
- DNS server valid (from resolv.conf of my Linux box), entered as DNS server in Genesis
- No hostname/domainname entered at the moment, experimented with several...
* Internet access via a cable modem behind the D-Link so shouldn't really affect results.

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Gerbinist on May 31, 2004, 11:11:10 PM
Try CardReset from Aminet. It did a lot of good once on my machine and it makes the hardware fix obsolete too. Just put it in S-S
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 03:32:08 PM
Yee-haw! I installed CardReset, removed the piggyback, and hey presto! For the first time I can actually load up web pages. Thanks a million!
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: SilvrDrgn on June 01, 2004, 03:36:51 PM
What exactly is this "piggyback" fix for the reset you're talking about ???
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: SamuraiCrow on June 01, 2004, 03:54:18 PM
The piggyback fix is designed to reset the PCMCIA port during a warm-reboot.  It's just to fix a bug in the a1200 motherboard.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 04:29:00 PM
Yes, it is a thing that sits on the Gayle chip.

But more on the topic, all is still not well in the world of networking. A-Web now loads pages more often than not, the freezing has become more occasional, but BlackIRC and SimpleFTP crash, among others. I cannot help but wonder that there's still something wrong in my system.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: SilvrDrgn on June 01, 2004, 06:10:13 PM
Quote

SamuraiCrow wrote:
The piggyback fix is designed to reset the PCMCIA port during a warm-reboot.  It's just to fix a bug in the a1200 motherboard.

Yes, I know that, but I was wanting _exactly_ what was being talked about.  I.E.  Is it a hardware fix or a software fix?

Now that I see the other post, it sounds like a hardware one.  I had one of those in my A1200 (that I used to own) that I got from Power Computing.  It pushed over the top of the Gayle chip, I believe, and it worked great!

@ Mikko_PKP,
Yes, I think you have something wrong with your system.  Who knows what that would be though??  Installed anything recently ??
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 06:26:45 PM
It's funny that everything worked fine until I put in the network stuff. And it seems to grow worse and worse, after the initial boot with CardPatch & CardReset everything was great, now Genesis has real trouble even finding the card.

And if I take the card out, everything works again. I have an external PCMCIA CD-ROM drive and that runs like there's no tomorrow. There's nothing funny in my startup-sequence or user-startup as far as I can see.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 06:28:13 PM
maybe its a dodgy card?  :-?
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 06:49:03 PM
That's easy to test, I'll try it on my laptop...
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 06:55:54 PM
if it works fine on your laptop then there might be an issue with the pins in your PCMCIA slot
get a torch and try and see if none of them are bent

a lot of A600s and A1200s started suffering from bent pins, especially after the advent of the squirrel and other pcmcia products
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 07:13:05 PM
Tested: card works fine on Windows XP.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: amiga1260 on June 01, 2004, 07:18:06 PM
I also have problems with a PCMCIA card inserted. My Amiga 1200 doesn't boot when the network card inserted. First I have to switch it on and then put the network card in the A1200. I have two A1200's and they have both rev 1d4.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 07:25:57 PM
Quote

Mikko_PKP wrote:
Tested: card works fine on Windows XP.


have you had a look at the pins in your pcmcia slot (on the amiga) ???
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 07:30:24 PM
Checked the PCMCIA port, no bent pins.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Gerbinist on June 01, 2004, 07:30:34 PM
@ Mikko_PKP

I saw you mentioning CardPatch too. CardReset is the only thing you need. Maybe something conflicts when you try running both the patches.

@ amiga1260

Get CardReset from Aminet ;-) It fixes exactly what your are experiencing atm.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 07:31:31 PM
Quote

Mikko_PKP wrote:
Checked the PCMCIA port, no bent pins.


have you tried getting a vacuum cleaner, or blowing in it
there might just be lots of dust getting in the way..
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 07:31:43 PM
OK, the CardReset installation told me to install both... I'll try to remove CP now.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 07:32:09 PM
Quote

Gerbinist wrote:
@ Mikko_PKP

I saw you mentioning CardPatch too. CardReset is the only thing you need. Maybe something conflicts when you try running both the patches.

@ amiga1260

Get CardReset from Aminet ;-) It fixes exactly what your are experiencing atm.


he's tried that, and it only improved things, but not completely erradicating the problem
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 07:32:54 PM
Quote

Mikko_PKP wrote:
OK, the CardReset installation told me to install both... I'll try to remove CP now.


ok, good luck  :-)
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 07:46:27 PM
With CardReset alone, it does something at least, but still freezes the system after a while.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: x56h34 on June 01, 2004, 07:50:12 PM
Try using BlizKick and an appropriate modules for the card reset (available on Aminet). I think they are called comething like DosResetCard and CardPatch. It's basically the same thing but in different flavor, if you will.

BlizKick will also patch a lot of other things in AOS, so it's definitely worth checking out, since you own a B1260 accelerator.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 08:46:59 PM
This solution gave the best results yet. I am actually able to open the amiga.com home page, even though it is tediously slow and the mouse pointer freezes from time to time. These could be features of A-Web II too, I suspect.


Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: x56h34 on June 01, 2004, 08:50:37 PM
Make sure you stop using Aweb II. It's seriously outdated.
Go to http://aweb.sunsite.dk for the latest version.

You can even download a version optimised for your 060 cpu, and not use the all-in-one cpu solution which Aweb II is.

EDIT: I suppose you are not using a graphics card, correct? This could also be a potential reason for constant crashes. In my experience, web browsing on AGA display always produces similar results to yours with both Aweb and Voyager browsers.
Title: Re: A1200, OS 3.9, cnet.device... and no hope left
Post by: Mikko_PKP on June 01, 2004, 09:38:44 PM
No graphics card, that's right. I have a desktop A1200 and want to keep it that way.

I'll see what I can do about the browser issue :) IBrowse should be better, right? I think the only Amiga shop in the 1000 km radius has that.