68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
Asnate MCNB 10Base-T connection
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-01 17:51:04 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.
Posted by: olePigeon on 2022-08-01 19:17:40 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.
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-01 20:27:59 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.
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-02 10:07:15 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!
Posted by: lisa2 on 2022-08-02 11:40:01 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.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-08-02 12:54:13 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.
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-02 14:14:34 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.
Posted by: olePigeon on 2022-08-03 21:59:06 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.
Posted by: LaPorta on 2022-08-04 02:15:22 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.
Posted by: CC_333 on 2022-08-05 13:17:17 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
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-05 13:19:56 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.
Posted by: superseth on 2022-08-08 19:44:19 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.
Posted by: mikes-macs on 2022-09-02 03:25:36 Updating to Open Transport 1.2.1 or 1.3 if possible allows the NIC to work nicely with switches and hubs.
Posted by: gcp on 2022-09-11 08:26:11 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.
Posted by: mikes-macs on 2022-09-11 17:12:02 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.
Posted by: Addicted on 2022-09-18 12:25:32 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.
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2022-09-18 12:47:33 Yeah, having a managed switch, at least that will let you set per-port speeds and duplex settings, is really handy
Posted by: EIMS on 2023-02-10 16:25:31 I have a thread over on TinkerDifferent on how to modify the MCNB and MCLC to get them to work with modern ethernet switches https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/fixing-10base-t-on-more-ethernet-cards.2188/ It is a compatibility problem between the way these cards try to automatically detect which link is active and Auto MDI-X on the ethernet switch.
1