Bad Comm Slot Ethernet Card?

[Mike Richardson]

I've got a Performa 577 here that I got in my big haul.

One of the first things I did was install a Comm Slot Ethernet card.

I have noticed that it will sometimes randomly crash when trying to use Fetch or any other Internet programs, as well as EtherTalk/AppleTalk. Also, you have to turn it off and on a few times to get it to boot.

With some RAM it would not boot at all, and other RAM you had to turn it off and on a good 10 times. Some other RAM only needs to be turned off and on a few times for it to boot.

I hacked together a PRAM battery with 3 AA batteries and it works fine with almost 5v power coming from it.

So I had an idea and pulled the ethernet card and it boots fine! Then I installed a PDS ethernet card - boots fine!

So is the ethernet card bad? That's what I'm thinking here. Or the comm slot is bad, maybe I can dig up a modem to put in there and try booting.

 

[Mike Richardson]

Well the PDS ethernet is crap too. When I try to turn on AppleTalk it freezes up or crashes with a type 1 error. The "Apple Ethernet LC" extension is in there. It's running Mac OS 7.6.1. Loading Netscape freezes it.

I can either have good booting but no internet, or poor booting with internet.

 

[Patrickool93]

Try replacing all the TCP/IP related Apps/extensions/control panels. Maybe something is corrupting it...

 

[gobabushka]

you might try a clean install of the system

 

[Mike Richardson]

I just installed System 7.5.3 and 7.5.5 update.

No luck. It didn't even install the "Apple Ethernet LC" extension which is required. Without it, when I choose Ethernet in the AppleTalk control panel it says "Make sure it is connected, etc". With the extension, it crashes with a type 1 error.

This system has some kind of aversion to Ethernet cards.

 

[madmax_2069]

i would update to 7.6.1 and install everything for a 68k on the system 7 today page in important updates. maybe something is conflicting with it.

and like you said it can be a bad card. remoce it and blow out the slot and replace it and see if it does it again.

i had no problem with my PDS ethernet card on my P 475. it runs real good. i run system 7.6.1 with the updates from system 7 today in the important updates section for a 68k.

you might be missing a few things somewhere or got a bad pref file. or a extension is corrupt

 

[Mike Richardson]

I hooked up my Asante Mini EN/SC 10T SCSI ethernet adapter and installed the drivers. It actually works on 7.5.5 with Open Transport! Now it's on the network without any weird crashes. The only bad thing is, I stole the adapter from the Mac Plus, and he's mad. >

 

[equill]

Now that you have mentioned the System in use, it may be time to ask which version of OT you have installed. If it is only 1.1.1, an update to 1.1.2 will be in order. If the NIC is not an Apple (there were Farallon CS II cards), make sure that you install the Farallon software before the OT, so that the Farallon has no chance to overwrite 1.1.2 with older OT components. It will also be of use to disable un-needed extensions such as Ethernet for NuBus, TokenRing, &c., &c., leaving only Ethernet extensions that you do need. Check that AppleShare Client is 3.7.4, and not lower. Last, but not least, make sure that your ethernet cables are connected before you boot your Macs, to avoid problems of recognition if they are plugged in after startup.

de

 

[Mike Richardson]

It crashed in 7.6, 7.6.1, and 7.5.5. In 7.5.5 I've tried both Open Transport and Classic Networking. This has to be some kind of hardware issue with the cards or the slots. The SCSI adapter works beautifully.

 

[madmax_2069]

i would see if the slot needs to be blown out. could be dust in it allowing for a bad connection.

or could be a dead spot on one of the pins.

or could be a bad card like you said