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Weird 3C509B problem

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First post, by HighTreason

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I have a 486SX-Class system (Has VLB - in case that's useful to know) that makes use of an ISA 3Com 3C509B... Or it did.

The back story is that the card had a boot ROM which I had disabled with 3C5X9CFG due to never using it and the wait time annoying me. The utility worked for that, just as it did when I initially set the card up. It defaults to 210h with IRQ14... Not a good mix with a Joyport and a PATA Host Adaptor so I moved it to 300h with IRQ 10 as nothing was occupying those. The utility did think something was though and says it can't find a free address. I always run the utility with no memory managers and the BUS divisors set to nominal levels (40/5 for iSA).

Anyhow, I re-enabled the boot ROM for testing a disk imaging idea, this worked fine but after tweaking a few things I didn't need it anymore so turned it back off... This is where my problem started. The card no longer worked and the utility could not see it in the machine. Placing the card into a newer machine (A K6 I emptied to make sure there wasn't a conflict) has the utility swear about the card being in EISA mode, I tried it's reset jumper (I think) but this didn't make the problem go away. A Pentium gives the same result.

I bought two cards, these defaulted to 300h with IRQ 10 so the settings were correct, but my OS couldn't pick them up... Figuring something might be up with it I fired up 3C5X9CFG again (This time in the K6) and bricked a card in the same manner... I tried the other card without the utility, it also doesn't work. Trying to load a packet driver for any card causes the system to lock up which rules out Windows being the issue.

It's very difficult to swap to another card due to the version of Windows I am using (Chicago 189) and I really need this to work for something in the near future. Any ideas?

Is shorting TP1 during startup the correct way to reset the card's settings? Is there any logical reason that the cards won't work, regardless of slot and why on earth do they die when I use the utility?

Not sure if anyone can help, but I've heard of this issue happening to others and figured I'd ask before I go to sleep so if you can help I thank you in advance. If nobody replies in the next few days I guess I'll have to try bashing an NE2000 clone in there, if that doesn't work nothing will.

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Reply 1 of 3, by HighTreason

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Update: After soldering the E1 jumper together the card claims to be in TEST MODE and can be configured.

One reported EISA as it's base IO port and could not be easily convinced to change, the other did not report this but this is irrelevant. As soon as the jumper is removed the cards go back to how they were "Adaptor is in EISA mode, put it in an EISA computer because we built in planned obsolescence." what a pieceashit.

I have a few of these in use... Think I might replace them with a different brand.

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Reply 2 of 3, by HighTreason

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Another update... Probably the last one and only added for the sake of documentation should somebody else ever run into this problem and turns the thread up in a Google search - Only one result seems to be around right now.

As luck would have it the card in the 486 randomly started working, though I have now added it and all other 509's to my "Trash/Replace" list.

As for the other cards, adding a BOOT ROM and enabling it will make the card work, my Boot ROM reports whatever IO/IRQ I set up in 3C5X9CFG and DOS/Windows can use the card. 3C5X9CFG still reports the card as being in EISA mode however.

My conclusion; 3Com fucked up big time and officially made my shit list. Sucks because I used to like them. The Boot ROM is not a practical long term solution as it requires pressing H during boot to make it go away and you have to dick around with the card every time you want to change a setting. Plug and Play is also unavailable with my particular ROM. As far as I can gather, once your card goes this way there's no coming back from it - it simply won't work again.

If you're using a 3C509 I'd recommend following my lead and throwing it in the trash, possibly replacing it with a card such as an Intel, DEC or one of many NE2000 compatibles by a million other brands that don't have this kind of bullshit built in.

Thanks for trying to help... Oh wait, yeah, whatever, enjoy jacking off over your Voodoo/Roland.
High Treason out.

My Youtube - My Let's Plays - SoundCloud - My FTP (Drivers and more)

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