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Asnate MCNB 10Base-T connection

superseth

Active member
Hello! I have 2 of these cards and I am trying to get them working in my Centris 650 (no Ethernet version). The cards can be see by System 7.6, both in there at once actually works, but when I connect a cable I just get a flashing Green light on the back rather than a steady green with flashing orange. I am never assigned an IP. My IIGS with Uthernet II gets an IP no problem from the same switch so I don't know what is wrong. Any ideas? The troubleshooter from Asante doesn't tell me much. I confirmed I have them in "autosensing" port mode using the JP1.


1659401454173.png
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, autosensing doesn't always work with older cards and newer switching equipment. Try setting the speed manually (if possible), or put an era-appropriate hub or switch in between the card and your newer stuff.

The other thing to try is to set the IP address to manual and not use DHCP.
 

superseth

Active member
So from what I can tell this isn't a 10/100 card but just a 10mbs one. According to the manual the options are either FORCE AUI or autosensing, but I didn't see a FORCE 10BaseT config. Maybe I have an old switch around that will fix it?

I should note that the cable coming from this card doesn't light up the connection on the switch.
 

superseth

Active member
Tried it out today using my Airport Express as a bridge to the modern network and still getting the flashing green light on the card constantly. The orange access light will flash when I go to AppleShare in the chooser so it is certainly trying!
 

lisa2

Well-known member
I have one of these cards and I can confirm it does not play nice with modern switches when plugged into the RJ45 port.
If I plug it into an older 10BaseT hub it works fine. Also, if I use a 10BaseT transceiver connected to the cards AUI port I can plug into modern switches OK. It appears to be a hardware compatibility with modern autosense ports, and I don't think this can be fixed in software ( with the driver ). I even tried using a cross over and a 2 pair cable with no success.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
It should work ok with the airport express. My MacCon SE, which doesn't work with any autosensing stuff, does work with the Express as a bridge. Then again, I can't speak to what your card will do. It could be broken, or simply not like what it is connected to.
 

superseth

Active member
Thanks so much for the tips. I hope I didn't throw away all of my AUI transceivers. I know I have seen one in the last few months but that COULD have been me binning it because I haven't needed one in a few decades.

I have 2 of these cards so I think its a problem on the switch side as they both do the same thing. Maybe I'll buy an old Asante hub or something.
 

olePigeon

Well-known member
I like the old, little blue Netgear switches. They're a dime a dozen at my local recyclers. Unfortunately most things are closed at the moment because of COVID.
 

LaPorta

Well-known member
I like the old, little blue Netgear switches. They're a dime a dozen at my local recyclers. Unfortunately most things are closed at the moment because of COVID.
Seriously? Where do you live? I haven't seen anything closed for well over a year.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
Unfortunately most things are closed at the moment because of COVID.
I suspect it's probably because many of them were driven out of business when they were forced to shut down for the better part of a year.

As the market allows, new ones will eventually open to replace the ones we lost, I think.

c
 

superseth

Active member
We have lost so many in the bay area (california) over the last decade that I certainly hope there is room now for some new places to open up. It is a real struggled to find any parts or surplus stuff unless you go deep into San Jose down south.
 

superseth

Active member
For those finding this in the future - it seems that the MCNB 10BaseT port gets confused when connected to modern switches. The card tries to autosense which port to use but something is tripping it up.

I purchased an AUI adapter and connected to the same cable/switch and everything just started working right away. 1660012993439.png
 

gcp

Well-known member
I purchased an AUI adapter and connected to the same cable/switch and everything just started working right away.
Good to know! I had no success getting this same card to work in a IIci over here (from memory - I'd have to double check but 99% sure it was an Asante (c) 1994). Glad I'm not the only one.

Updating to Open Transport 1.2.1 or 1.3 if possible allows the NIC to work nicely with switches and hubs.
I'd have to double-check the configurations I tried on the IIci, but pretty sure I tried with OT 1.2.1, and possibly 1.3 as well, with no luck. Tried with both a Netgear switch, a Ubiquiti switch forced to 10T, and plugged into a GL-iNet wireless bridge, was never able to get it working at all.

This thread has inspired me to fiddle around a bit more.
 

mikes-macs

Well-known member
If you are using Mac OS 7.6 then you're using OpenTransport 1.1.1
If your Mac supports it you would need to download and install the OpenTransport1.1.2 Updater/Installer if you wanted to use OpenTransport 1.1.2. It is a manual update. I used a Netgear Switch no issues even with classic networking without OpenTransport.
 

Addicted

Well-known member
I have a similar Asanté Ethernet, the PDS MCLC, working on System 7.5(.0) over a Cat5 twisted pair 10BaseT cable. It would not auto-negotiate with an unmanaged 10/100/1000 NetGear GS116 ProSafe switch.

I was lucky to have another switch on the shelf, a managed NetGear GS308E ProSafe Plus which offers port-by-port speed negotiation settings. I put it in between the Mac and the GS116 then configured the Mac's port to be 10Mbps/Half without flow control.

On the Mac, I set MacTCP to use a manual address and manually entered my house router as the Gateway address. This worked.

I think the five-port NetGear GS105E ProSafe Plus, which sells for around 40 USD, work work just as well.
 
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