Hi Folks,
Can't get large files (over 300k) text, program, lha, zip, folders, whatever - to transfer via Amiga Explorer (v6.0) Small ones - mostly transfer OK.
The following is an enquiry, but may also prove informative for others running A3000s and Amiga Explorer. It may also prove of psychological assistance.
System specs: (WARNING: Not an emulation. You can cut your fingers on this stuff. Classics demand blood sacrifice!)
Amiga 3000D (mobo Rev. 9/03) in Elbox Mirage tower case with Mediator A3000D Zorro III/PCI rev. 1; Codegan 300W ATX PSU; DCE CSPPC 604e/233MHz with 68060/50 CPU & UW SCSI (cybppc.device); 128 Megs FPM RAM; 2 Megs CHIP; OS 3.9 & BBs; ADATA XPG SX900 65Gb SSD and Transcend SSD340 65Gb SSD in 68 Pin ACARD ARS-2160 Ultra160 SCSI to SATA II adapters for 2.5” SATA HDDs; Samsung SyncMaster 2693H 26" LCD Monitor; Iomega ZIP drive (SCSI); Sony CD-ROM (SCSI); 2 internal 880K floppy drives (DF0, DF1); 1 external HD floppy drive (DF2).
MEDIATOR CARDS: Mediator PCI 4000 rev. 1 (core logic); Level One FNC 0109TX 10/100 EtherNet card; Elbox Spider II USB card; Radeon 9200 256MB/2x128MB 5V-only PCI card (adding nearly 250 megs RAM to system); X-Surf-100 w/ Rapid Road USB; Fast ATA 4000 Mk-VI CF-SATA Controller (2nd.scsi.device). This has a Lite-On CD-RW/DVD ROM ATAPI drive attached as 'slave' on secondary IDE port.
Modem/Router: Asus DSL-N55U dual band wireless N600 ADSL modem/router; Linksys WUMC710 wireless extender bridge connecting Amiga via ethernet.
Somehow, it all just goes, and goes, and goes... for years and years and years...
OK. So, the 'Great Amiga 3000 Resurrection' continues... once again. (Some malware called 'Life' got in the way for a while.)
There are a few issues, (cough) but getting Amiga Explorer working properly is the main concern just now. Using the Genesis AmiTCP/IP stack. Getting the following errors with Amiga Explorer via two Win7 PCs and, of course, the A3000. They mainly occur when trying to copy files over 300k, either to or from the Amiga. I can browse all directories on the Amiga from the PCs, and copy/move files from/to the Amiga under 300k in size. Copying/moving anything bigger fails, and three successive errors always pop up on win7 after every fail.
No errors are reported on the Amiga side in the Genesis 'online' window notification area.
1st error notification on Win7 side: 'Error reading from TCP/IP connection'.
Or sometimes this error says: 'Timeout writing to TCP/IP connection'. Then 30 seconds of the wee blue circle thingy on the Win7 screen, and then the 2nd error message pops up.
2nd error notification on Win7 side: 'Error connecting with the Amiga server: TCP/IP socket not found.
Please make sure that Amiga Explorer 2.1 or higher is running on the Amiga, and that both sides are configured properly.
To test the TCP/IP configuration, try and run "ping 192.168.1.225" at the command prompt, and check if the Amiga replies. Then switch off or disconnect the Amiga, try again, and verify that no replies are received'.
3rd error notification on Win7 side: 'There has been a conflict accessing the Amiga Explorer resources'.
AExplorer v6.0 is running. Recently downloaded from source. Well past v2.1.
A further Amiga Explorer session cannot be started again until: a) AExplorer is stopped and Genesis AmiTCP is closed and re-opened on the Amiga side, and b) Windows Explorer is shut down and restarted on the Win7 side.
For file transfers both to and from the Amiga, 90% of SINGLE files under 300k will transfer successfully, dropping to 50% if sent in groups of ten or more. Only 10% of files over 300k will cross successfully. Then there are the RARE 'rogue surprises' when 10Mbs or more 'make it' - but the green transfer line sloooooooooowwwwws to a crawl about half-way, then picks up a little and manages to crawl over the finish line - to much applause and wild cheering! One thing I discovered via trial and error - the 'success rate' is a little better when the Amiga side of AExplorer is at packet size 4096 and Win7 side at a 32768. Bit of a mystery as I thought they had to be the same size...? Seems to suggest some element of randomness at work here too. Why the odd big file getting through?
So. There's the problem. The way an end-user sees it.
Home network set-up: Asus DSL-N55U dual band wireless N600 ADSL modem/router, ethernet cabled to Asus P5E3 Premium Quad-core desktop PC; Dell StudioXPS 1640 laptop in other room, online via Asus USB AC56 wireless adapter; in another room a Linksys WUMC710 wireless media extender acting as wireless bridge from the modem/router to Amiga's Mediator NIC card via ethernet cable; Bose SoundTouch wireless speaker sits near main PC and modem. Both Asus DSl-N55U and Linksys WUMC710 have their own web set-up/operation interfaces and all parameters are set by the book.
Asus Modem/router lists all connected devices in its client list and their MAC addresses.
All hosts can be pinged from either side successfully (No packet loss.) and the miggy is receiving Internet from the modem/router via WUMC710 wireless bridge OK.
Ports 356 and 139 are open via the AmiTCP:db/inet.access file and reflected in the Genesis prefs GUI. All hosts are present with correct IP numbers in the 'hosts' area.
Things I've tried to rectify the glitch:
Rebooted modem/router. No difference.
Disconnected the Linksys WumC710 wireless bridge and run a Cat 6 ethernet cable directly between modem/router and Amiga. No difference.
Turned off all electrical appliances near the computers and devices. No difference.
Disconnected Bose SoundTouch system, but, present on network or not, playing or not, it makes no difference to the file size glitch.
Shut down the laptop, which also shuts down its AC wireless adapter so it's all offline. No difference.
Have tried a second NIC card in Mediator (the one supplied by AmiKit) but, again, no difference.
Tried the x-Surf-100 - which operates in Z3 mode on the Zorro slots of the Mediator. It brings in the Internet OK, but has exactly the same problems with AExplorer. No diff.
Have disconnected a) Modem/router firewall b) Win7 firewall c) Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus program - all singly and together. No 'guards' at all, but makes no difference.
Took out the Radeon graphics card (in case it was the extra memory causing confusion) and put the old Voodoo 3000 in again. No difference.
Removed Fast ATA 4000 Mk-VI CF-SATA Controller (2nd.scsi.device) from system. God knows why - but no difference.
Howled at the Full Moon - and the neighbours called the cops who showed up with a shrink. When they saw the problem, we all howled together - especially the shrink. No difference.
My knowledge is shaky in this networking/AmiTCP/IP area. Pretty much 'gumped' this A3K refurbishment from sheer memory thus far - but must be doing it mostly right. The last time the A3000 was online was in 2009 via a dial-up to an ISP. It's been a ton of work lately to get her back to her current state - which is pretty good ac'shulee. She's still in good condition - with a new battery - and tarted up with Acard SSD adapters, and humming along at a pretty fast clip for a vintage machine. Quite snappy in fact - and few crashes. This is the most vexing problem right now - getting a true file-transferring system going between the Amiga and the other machines.
I could uninstall Genesis and install EasyNet - bought it and want to try it; but I'll feel like a 'quitter' now that I'm so close with the Genesis/AmiTCP stack. I'd like to nail this first if possible - and learn some lessons along the way.
Hopefully, the file transfer bug is some setting in the more arcane AmiTCP files that I've overlooked or am completely unaware of. Perhaps a modem interface setting? Linksys WUMC710 interface setting? Something on the Win7 side? Any ideas on what might be going wrong here? Anyone else been stuck in this hole?
Will post logs, set-up parameters, etc. if required, for inspection. I'm at the end of the line and have nothing to hide anymore. (Cue a solitary violin at a desolate crossroad...) How bad does it get?
Note in a bottle...
Cheers, Crackpot.
