networking card... which way to go

[dschallock]

Hello,
I have an Amiga 3000 that is currently in a Mirage3000D tower from Elbox.  I have never really been able to get this setup with the mediator card working.
It works in that the computer powers on and the mediator works as a zorro pass through.  But it has never worked in that it does not recognize any of the pci cards I have tried to plug into it.  **namely** the easynet card and software I bought from amigakit.  But it isn't an easynet problem because I don't think it has ever really recognized any PCI card I plugged into it.
So I have another a3000 that I can get parts from... considering abandoning the whole mediator/mirage tower set up and just getting back into a stock amiga case... but if I do that I don't know what my options are to get a darn Ethernet plug into the system.  I have read that if I had a a1200 I could just use the pcmcia slot, but with zorro as my option what can I do.  Is there any product that is still sold?  I feel like I have thrown so much money at this over the last several years and still can't seem to get the machine connected.... so frustrated.
Any help would be appreciated.
-Dan

[Thomas]

You need to add and configure a PCI graphics card first, then the other PCI cards will magically begin to work. The gfx card's memory is needed for DMA on the PCI bus.

[amiman99]

I have this card in my A4000 (should work on A3000) and it works fine with AmiTCP v4.
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=910 Hydra Systems AmigaNet Zorro II.
The configuration was not that difficult.

[matt3k]

The best zorro NIC cards for the Amiga are IMHO:
1.  Ariandne - (not the Ariandne II) this is the fastest performing zorro solution.  Very nice card.
2. X-surf - this card is slightly slower than the Ariandne, but it has lots of expansion options.

[matthey]

You need to add and configure a PCI graphics card first, then the other PCI cards will magically begin to work. The gfx card's memory is needed for DMA on the PCI bus.

True for 100 Mb/s ethernet cards. Definitely want a gfx card with a Mediator anyway.

@dschallock
Do Mediator PCI cards show with PCIinfo? Don't give up on the Mediator. It's a good Ethernet solution.

[dschallock]

I have tried two different voodoo 3 PCI cards and more recently a Voodoo 5500 PCI card and I can't seem to get anything to work.
I will try PCIinfo and see what it says.

[Darrin]

I have tried two different voodoo 3 PCI cards and more recently a Voodoo 5500 PCI card and I can't seem to get anything to work.
I will try PCIinfo and see what it says.

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from Elbox?

Concentrate on getting the graphics card working first and then install the other stuff.  Also, make sure the jumpers on your Mediator are set correctly.  I had hell getting my A4000 and Mediator working until Elbox pointed out that I had a jumper set wrongly.  Also, try emailing Elbox.  They were a great help to me even though my tower and Mediator were "second hand".

[B00tDisk]

If it were me, I'd go with a Zorro III USB card.  Hook your ethernet into that.  That gives you pretty much all other forms of connectivity: network, hell, even 16 bit sound, scanners, mice, keyboards, external storage of all stripes, printers and, of course, networking.

Fewer points of failure anyway.

[Darrin]

If it were me, I'd go with a Zorro III USB card.  Hook your ethernet into that.  That gives you pretty much all other forms of connectivity: network, hell, even 16 bit sound, scanners, mice, keyboards, external storage of all stripes, printers and, of course, networking.

Fewer points of failure anyway.

Shame they're no longer being made.  I'm going to hang on to my Deneb until I die.  

I should point out that I have a PCI USB card working in my Mediator now as well as the Deneb.  I've got way more USB slots than devices!  I also use a USB-Ethernet dongle for the internet.

[dschallock]

UPDATE.

ok, so I run scanpci and it sees the voodoo 3 card.
I can't cut and paste from the amiga over to this computer (as Im not on the net yet with it. hahaha)
but at the top line it says "PCI Device 0, Function 0 (single function):
the next line says "VendorID   : 0x121A    ; 3dfx Interactive Inc

So based on that alone I am assuming that means its plugged in correctly and should be a software issue after that.

I started to go through the voodoo install guide supplied with my mediator CD.
I already have os 3.9 installed and picasso 96 powering my picasso IV card, but I did an update install from the os 3.9 cd to add the cybervision 3d card.  I changed the name of the card in the devs directory and then restarted and ran picasso96mode.  Here is where the problem starts.  It does not see the voodoo to attach to.  It shows the picasso IV card on Board0 and nothing else.

Where do I go from here?
Thanks for any help.
-Dan

[Darrin]

You might want to find the latest P96 drivers and install them.

I haven't installed a Voodoo card on my Mediator, but in the case of my Radeon card I had to use the latest P96, install the updated driver package from Ebox's website, copy the CV64 monitor driver into DEVS, rename it, run P96 and then create my screenmodes.

[matthey]

UPDATE.

ok, so I run scanpci and it sees the voodoo 3 card.
I can't cut and paste from the amiga over to this computer (as Im not on the net yet with it. hahaha)
but at the top line it says "PCI Device 0, Function 0 (single function):
the next line says "VendorID   : 0x121A    ; 3dfx Interactive Inc

Do you see information like this?:

>PCIinfo

Pci Device 1:
   VendorID: $121a
   VendorName: 3dfx Interactive Inc
   DeviceID: $9
   DeviceName: Voodoo5
   ClassCode: $30000
   RevisionID: $1
   InterruptPin: 2
   SubsystemVendorID: $121a
   SubsystemID: $5
   MemSpace0: $60000000 - $67ffffff
   MemSpace1: $68000000 - $6fffffff
   IOSpace2: $40c06000 - $40c060ff
   RomSpace: $70000000 - $7000ffff

Pci Device 2:
   VendorID: $10ec
   VendorName: Realtek Semiconductor
   DeviceID: $8139
   DeviceName: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet NIC
   ClassCode: $20000
   RevisionID: $10
   InterruptPin: 3
   SubsystemVendorID: $10ec
   SubsystemID: $8139
   IOSpace0: $40c06400 - $40c064ff
   MemSpace1: $70010000 - $700100ff
   RomSpace: $70020000 - $7003ffff

Does your Ethernet card show up?

So based on that alone I am assuming that means its plugged in correctly and should be a software issue after that.

Correct.

I started to go through the voodoo install guide supplied with my mediator CD.
I already have os 3.9 installed and picasso 96 powering my picasso IV card, but I did an update install from the os 3.9 cd to add the cybervision 3d card.  I changed the name of the card in the devs directory and then restarted and ran picasso96mode.  Here is where the problem starts.  It does not see the voodoo to attach to.  It shows the picasso IV card on Board0 and nothing else.

You should end up with a file called "Voodoo" in Devs:Monitors with tooltypes starting with:

SETTINGSFILE=SYS:Devs/P96Settings
BOARDTYPE=Voodoo

The tooltypes are accessed by clicking once on the Devs:Monitors/Voodoo icon and using the right mouse button to select "Icons->Information...". The BOARDTYPE=Voodoo causes Libs:Picasso96/Voodoo.card to be loaded. You can make sure that this file exists. I believe you are doing the picasso96mode part correctly.

If everything appears correct then I agree that you should update P96 and the Mediator software. I would start with the unofficial P96 here:

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/Picasso96.htm

and MM CD UP2.1 here:

http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html

Let us know if that makes a difference.

[dschallock]

ok, I'll be updating the next attempt tomorrow. When I went to one of those links posted to get the latest picasso96 drivers I found those boing bag updates 1-3 caught my eye and I got stupid and distracted and I installed them, and the ROM update and my blew my system up.
So I need to reinstall 3.9 tonight and get everything back to square one and then I'll try the suggestions.
Thanks again for the help, I will post the results soon.
-Dan

[matthey]

@dschallock
Did you already have the "official" BoingBag 1 and 2 installed? The  "AmigaOS ROM Update" in DEVS: caused trouble for some users but were worthwhile upgrades. A backup of the old one is created on installation. The "AmigaOS ROM Update" worked for me but I still created a custom AmigaOS 3.9 kickstart which I BlizKick into my MAPROM avoiding the double reset.

The "unofficial" BoingBag 3 is what I use along with Peter K's icon.library (big speed increase on icons but can be found on Aminet separately). It's mostly bug fixes, older stable enhancements and large HD support. The installation is simple. My AmigaOS 3.9 system is VERY stable.

The "unofficial" BoingBag 4 is more beta software and no doubt has new bugs. The installation is complex. It's a much bigger upgrade

It would be good to report what went wrong so it can be improved. Gulliver has done a nice job of gathering up the software but can't test on every system so needs feedback. I do use the P96 upgrade found there and it does fix some important bugs but some of the drivers could have introduced bugs. Keep a backup of drivers and revert to older versions (like on Aminet) if you have problems.

[magnetic]

1.  Ariandne - (not the Ariandne II) this is the fastest performing zorro solution.  Very nice card.

I think the best/fastest card is the ultra rare Commodore A4066 network card. Great buffers for send/receive