Amiga 1200 and Genius PCMCIA Network Card

[yilez]

I bought a PCMCIA Network card and I am not sure how to get it working.

The card is listed here: http://www.g-mb.de/pcmcia_e.html

It is the Genius ME3000II.

Apparantly it works with cnet.device (which I copied to devs:network). I fired up miamidx, and tried setting it up by adding the hardware, then setting up the interface and then pressing 'go online', or whatever the button is. I don't really remember.

Anyway, it says "going online" next to the interface, and then locks up. I can't even move my mouse. It stays like this until I either removed the card, or turn off the power to the amiga (pressing the 3 keys doesn't work.).

Any ideas?

according to the site above, it works. It does mention the gayle reset fix, but I have no idea what this is.

I did try installing cardpatch and cardreset, and adding them to the startup sequence, but I don't know if I'm doing that right.

Thanks in advance.

[save2600]

I had trouble getting Miami to recognise the IP's of my cable modem. Not having a router, I simply reset my modem every time I hook it to the PCMCIA ethernet card on my A1200. If you're switching between another computer and the Amiga, you may be experiencing the same problem. Also, play with the SANA II settings if need be. Mine have to be set to 'DHCP' in order for me to get a gateway.

[yilez]

I'll have a look through my settings again. I had set it up with a static IP, so I'll try DHCP and see if that helps.

I am connecting to a router. I'll draw a little picture of my network for you.

Printer -----\

Amiga ----- Switch ----- Router ----- Internet

NAS   _____/

[save2600]

If you continue to have problems after configuring DHCP, remove your PCMCIA card, reset the computer and insert it *after* the system boots.

Some motherboards have a PCMCIA reset problem in that the card does not get recognised upon bootup/resets. A capacitor soldered between a pin on Gayle and wherever corrects this. I've got cardpatch installed, but sometimes my system hangs when I have my CF card in the system upon startup. Not always, but often. Never seem to experience hang-ups when my ethernet card is installed though (upon startup).

[yilez]

Ok, Thanks.

I'll try that tonight.

 :-D

[yilez]

Right, I have just tried again, and it isn't working.

I noticed that there is a card info tool in the cnet.device download, and that freezes when I try and use it. It even says "If the system freezes, remove the card" as though it is expected.

The card IS in the compatibility list as being working. I'd rather not mess about soldering on the amiga motherboard - I will ruin my computer. The card reset tool should be a software alternative, shouldn't it?

Is there anything else I can try?

[save2600]

Hmmm... yes, try those cardreset and cardpatch progs. Doubt that's the problem though. Sounds like you have a Miami setting issue...

[tone007]

Doesn't really sound like a Miami issue to me, to double check, try a different TCP stack (demo of AmiTCP is worth a shot.)  If it does the same thing, I'd blame the card and buy a new one.

I had a somewhat similar issue with a WiFi card on my 1200, only it would freeze the system even without trying to load the stack/driver.  Got a different card and it worked fine.

[amigagr]

just in case, download CardPatc and CardReset from aminet,
put them in the C directory of your boot partition,
and at the top of the Startup-Sequence write:

C:CardPatch
Run >NIL: C:CardReset TICKS 50

[AmigaMance]

I noticed that there is a card info tool in the cnet.device download, and that freezes when I try and use it. It even says "If the system freezes, remove the card" as though it is expected.

 If card_info causes a system lockup too, stop wasting your time in configuring the TCP/IP stacks. The problem lies elsewhere.

I'd rather not mess about soldering on the amiga motherboard - I will ruin my computer. The card reset tool should be a software alternative, shouldn't it?

 That's right. You don't need to do any soldering.

Is there anything else I can try?

 There are many different "flavors" of the cnet.device in the archive. Try all of them.
Remove any patches from your startup-sequence.
If this fails, try an older version of cnet.device.
  >>    >>   , consider buying another compatible card. Perhaps the one you have is just faulty...
  >>    >>   ,   >>       >>       >>  PSU.
  >>    >>   ,   >>       >>       >>  motherboard or fix any timing issues of your current motherboard in case your CPU is 68040+. (Use the search function of the forum for more info about this)

 I bet some of these suggestions will solve the problem.

[yilez]

I tried different version of the cnet.device driver. Not all of them, but the only ones I haven't tried are the A600 and old versions. I'll give an old version a go.

I will also try using the card reset parameters suggested. Before I was just calling them without any parameters.

The PSU I'm using is from an A500. I heard they were better due to the higher wattage. I'm also using an 030 with 4MB of fast ram. I have tried removing it, but I still get the issue.

If I can't get it working today, I think I'll resign myself to thinking that the card is broken.

[ncafferkey]

Some A1200 motherboard revisions are fussier than others about which PCMCIA cards they work with. Do you have an early revision by any chance? If so, it's possible that this network card only works with later revisions.