At the command prompt, type: WIN /N

That will start Windows 3.11 but disable the Microsoft TCP/IP Networking protected mode drivers for that instance.

It starts with network also. But it takes some time to "timeout" the connection.

You might want to give Trumpet Winsock a try as a TCP/IP stack. On my setup with a PCI-E gigabit network card, it was the only solution that worked . (Microsoft TCP/IP-32 version 3.11b caused my system to freeze.)

I've got a few of DOS systems which I connect to the network.

On two of them, If I try and load a packet driver without the network cable plugged in,
it hangs - I think it might be the driver trying to figure out what kind of
connection it has...

Are there options with your Windows NET driver to tell it what kind of
connection?

My solution for the DOS systems is to only load the packet driver when I
want network ... not really possible/practical with Windows.

One of them is set up to be started remotely and access the network..
My solution here is to put a timed prompt in AUTIOEXEC.BAT so that when
I'm working with it on the bench and not collected to network - I can "bypass"
it hanging.

You could do something like this with Windows .. but you would have to modify
some Win startup files based of the prompt response... You'd kinda have to know
what you are doing, but it is doable!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-02-25, 14:32:

It starts with network also. But it takes some time to "timeout" the connection.

It's a lot of time. Like multiple minutes. That's probably while OP thought the system was frozen

Cyberdyne wrote on 2025-02-25, 14:32:

It starts with network also. But it takes some time to "timeout" the connection.

Maybe it tries to negotiate an IP address via DHCP, which somehow takes so long?
It's just a wild guess.

Another reason for a long time-out used to be the MPU-401 in my case, when I ran WfW 3.11 in Virtual PC 2004/2007 years ago.
That's because the SB16 driver did install an MPU-401 driver, but the emulated SB16 didn't feature an MPU-401.

That in turn was because Virtual PC originated from Macintosh version,
which originally featured an SB Pro 1.0 emulation only in older releases (hence incomplete OPL3 emulation).

So when I disabled MPU-401 driver in system.ini, WfW 3.11 had loaded up more quickly.

That's what I wrote 15 years ago:
Howto: Installing Sound Blaster 16 drivers for Windows 3.1 in Virtual PC

Edit: Another possible conflict: MPU-401, NICs and ACPI often use IRQ 2/9.
The 300h port address might also be used by both NIC and MPU-401.

Edit: On a second thought, I can't remember that either WfW or TCP/IP-32 3.11 did respond with a blue screen just because DHCP server isn't answering.
I rather remember that a pop-up window appears, with a similar message.
But maybe my memory is playing tricks on me?

Sleaka_J wrote on 2025-02-25, 13:06:

At the command prompt, type: WIN /N

That will start Windows 3.11 but disable the Microsoft TCP/IP Networking protected mode drivers for that instance.

This worked perfect for me.

Also thanks for the other suggestions.

I do have the packetdriver and so on for DOS. Actually using some freedos tools, I sync with an NTP server at boot, because my 386 looses time. This process times out pretty fast, but now, with the option of "win /n" I should make a bat-file to determine if I can make a connection or not, so I can avoid the NTP timesync and start windows with /n automatically. 😀

gras wrote on 2025-02-25, 20:08:

I do have the packetdriver and so on for DOS. Actually using some freedos tools, I sync with an NTP server at boot, because my 386 looses time. This process times out pretty fast, but now, with the option of "win /n" I should make a bat-file to determine if I can make a connection or not, so I can avoid the NTP timesync and start windows with /n automatically. 😀

The RTL8019 is a dead simple NIC ... NE2000 compatible. (Technically RTL8019 is the
actual chip) - IIRC ReadTek made a card ... but other vendors did as well.

Since yours has the BNC, it's a 10M card - so it's not trying to figure out
if it's on a 10 or 100 connection.

Can you load and use the packet driver in DOS?
Does it have the big delay if you don't have a cable plugged in?

If no, it's something windows is doing - could be trying to get an IP address...
but it's not a hardware problem like I see on a couple other NIC
where I only use a packet driver.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

I'll try and investigate further, how I can determine if I have a cable or not. Maybe by measuring delay. Maybe by the DOS TCP driver not obtaining an IP. Should be possible 😀

The original problem was solved with

1win /n

, really nice and simple.

Windows 3x slow to boot without the cable was a common and well known issue due to windows trying to register itself on the network.
It's not even a bug, it's just how windows worked back then.
win /n was always the solution.

MS were always slow learners SBS server 2008 (and maybe later) setup will fail if not connected to a network, doesn't need internet access, it just wants to see a network connection of some type

gras wrote on 2025-02-25, 21:58:

The original problem was solved with […]
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The original problem was solved with

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1win /n

, really nice and simple.

YES!!! 30+ years later, my early Windows knowledge has finally helped someone!

/fistpump

chinny22 wrote on 2025-02-25, 23:41:

Windows 3x slow to boot without the cable was a common and well known issue due to windows trying to register itself on the network.
It's not even a bug, it's just how windows worked back then.

And was a thing even with 9x. One of the few things that ME solved for me (and likely because it partially switches to the NT networking stack & drivers).