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3C509-C(ombo): Trouble using with 8088

Nevets01

Nevets01

Experienced Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
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132
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United States
Exactly what it says on the tin. I'm using the packet driver from HERE, and it loads successfully. The MAC address it gives me in the readout is exactly the same as the one printed on the sticker on the card. I am using packet int 0x60, and IRQ No.7 (the only one available, according to CheckIt).
I was under the impression that 3C509b and later was 8088 compatible, again, with the patched driver, but after running the packet driver executable, and trying the DHCP program from MTCP, it prints the initial message, hangs, and won't respond to anything, even Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Any pointers?
 
I'm running a 3c509B on one of my XT clones, but the CPU is a V20, so more along the 186/286 line, supporting additional instructions. Could that be your problem?
 
Perhaps you need to run the 3c5x9cfg program, you might need to put it in a 286 or better to do that, and the put it back in the 8088.
 
I've used the 3c509B in my XT before just for the boot rom socket, But i had to set the card up in a AT first so it would work in the 8-bit slot of the XT as jafir said.
 
IRQ 7 can be a risky venture if you also have parallel port capabilities. I think my setup uses IRQ 5 and I'm also using interrupt 64h as the request vector--there was something that didn't allow 60 to be used.

If you'd like, I can dig out my system and give you the details.
 
Trixter said:
Knowing what cards you have installed, and using what resources, would be helpful. I highly doubt only 7 is available.
Click to expand...

Well, CheckIt said 2, 4, and 7 were available.
However, 3c5x9cfg.exe (with the NIC, in a 5x86 system) did not have options available for 2 or 4, so 7 was my only option.
As for the cards I have installed, they are as follows:
1 and 2: PGC
3: 3C509c
4: gameport/mouse/Hercules/ram combo card
5: EGA
6: 360k floppy controller (IRQ 6)
7: XT-IDE (IRQ 5)
8: slot-8 compatible RS232 card (IRQ 3)
 
You have 3 display adapters? I’ve never seen more than 2 in an XT. That’s pretty cool. Do they all work at once?
 
IRQ 4 should be a reasonable choice for a NIC, assuming you'll never have a COM2/COM4 port. However, if you truly do not have any parallel ports installed (or configured by accident on the combo card), IRQ 7 should be ok.

The config program might be getting confused by all of the hardware you have installed. If you remove everything except the FDC, XT-IDE, and EGA card, it might report more options.
 
What I/O port is your 3C509b trying to use? I kind of wonder if it might be stomping on your XT-IDE card. According to Vogons the possible choices include:

I/O address: 0x280, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350.

XTIDE cards seem to default to running at 0x300, I don't know what the default is for the 3C509b. I will relate that the Realtek 8019AS network cards I've been using in my (mostly XT clones) not only default to 0x300, 0x300 has to be unoccupied in order to run the configuration program to change them to some other address. This was annoying because the earlier prototypes of my homemade XT-CF boards were fixed at 0x300 so I'd have to pull them out to run the card configuration tool. I ended up redesigning my CF interface to default to 0x320 instead to avoid this hassle.
 
jafir said:
You have 3 display adapters? I’ve never seen more than 2 in an XT. That’s pretty cool. Do they all work at once?
Click to expand...

Yes, they do! It's pretty neat. I'll attach an image; it's a bit old, this was in my dorm during the school year, and the card layout is a bit different:
IBMdetailsSmall.jpg

The 5153 just has a directory listing, the 5151 has Borland C, editing the program that put the lines out on the PGC-driven Trinitron. The idea is to re-create that old Windows screensaver with the pipes that go everywhere, since there's not much software for the PGC.
 
Trixter said:
IRQ 4 should be a reasonable choice for a NIC, assuming you'll never have a COM2/COM4 port. However, if you truly do not have any parallel ports installed (or configured by accident on the combo card), IRQ 7 should be ok.

The config program might be getting confused by all of the hardware you have installed. If you remove everything except the FDC, XT-IDE, and EGA card, it might report more options.
Click to expand...

Well, seeing as I'm configuring it on a completely separate computer, that shouldn't be a problem.
I removed the serial card, and set the IRQ to 3, the interrupt to 64h, and the I/O address to 320 (so as not to conflict with the XT-IDE), but I get the same result.
Something I just noticed -- on installation of the packet driver, it says that it's using the "twisted pair (BNC)", despite the fact that I configured it in the config utility for to use the RJ45. Hmm. Anyone have any idea what's going on there?
 
So to be clear, when you run DHCP.EXE the machine is actually hanging hard, not just failing to get an address?

Funny story: just finished work an hour ago, decided it was time to actually test a network card in my just-completed second Tandy 1000 EX/HX expansion bus card. Card I tried in it was an exact copy of the card I'd used previously so it was baffling when it didn't work; wasted fifteen or twenty minutes swapping cards and ISA risers between my two machines when finally, forehead-slapping-ly, I noticed I'd accidentally set the jumpers on the new base card so COM1 was on IRQ 3 (which the network card was set to), not IRQ 4. Fixed that, now it's all good.

One possibly relevant note about this, though: the failure condition at least with this hardware/packet driver combo is DHCP.EXE timed out and returned an error that not only did it get no server response, it received no packets from the packet driver. The machine didn't hang hard.
 
Trixter said:
Missed this the first time. The 3c509B has been verified compatible but you can't make that assumption for later cards. Is your card *exactly* a 3c509B-Combo card?
Click to expand...

My card says on the silkscreen "3C509COMBO".
That might be the case then, that it may not be quite compatible. Well, darn. I guess at least it was only a $4 card though, so no big loss.
Thanks all, for the help!
 
Nevets01 said:
My card says on the silkscreen "3C509COMBO".
That might be the case then, that it may not be quite compatible. Well, darn. I guess at least it was only a $4 card though, so no big loss.
Thanks all, for the help!
Click to expand...

It's not the 'B' version? Does the main IC not say parallel tasking? I think that means it is older than 3c509b, and could be a different chip design.

Does the packet driver you are using work on any other (386+?) system. Maybe if you aren't using the official driver, try that? I think it's possible that the driver you are trying is not compatible with this version. The packet driver that was written to be compatible with the 8088 might not support this older, less common version. Since it seems to work with the same PNP config program, maybe it could be fixed, if the card is working at all.
 
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