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Xircom Pocket Ethernet EEPROM unreadable error
- Thread starter jhhoward
- Start date
Alternative link:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkWAuNgNhxwTga06k6VlLjrF-mA6lg?e=aA2i99
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkWAuNgNhxwTga06k6VlLjrF-mA6lg?e=aA2i99
So that's all that the driver needs from the EEPROM then.It generates a random MAC address, a manufacturer time stamp based on the current time, and a checksum value which should pass the driver test.
I wonder what other configuration data is stored in there, and I also wonder if the ASIC stores any operational data there as well.
Thanks!
So that's all that the driver needs from the EEPROM then.
I wonder what other configuration data is stored in there, and I also wonder if the ASIC stores any operational data there as well.
Yeah can't be sure but this was just based off the attempted Linux driver which was developed by reverse engineering the DOS packet driver. There may well be other stuff needed in the EEPROM for it to function properly. Getting a proper dump from a working adapter would be ideal.
OK so a quick update. RetroTech Chris did a video on his Youtube channel about Xircom network adapters so I reached out to him to do some EEPROM dumps. I'm going to leave the results here for future reference:
Adapter 1:
Manufactured on 12/04/1994 at 25:10:03
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 3f8e 0030 0a46 8293 3350 0054 c780 102f
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:3F:8E
Adapter 2:
Manufactured on 02/01/1993 at 25:50:36
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 2165 002e 0811 a39d 3350 0054 c780 0f85
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:2E:21:65
Adapter 3:
Manufactured on 23/05/1995 at 09:40:19
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 b44f 0030 8a5c 139a 3350 0054 c780 8a51
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:B5:4F
Adapter 4:
Manufactured on 09/04/1997 at 09:04:06
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 28a8 0030 8e45 691 3350 0054 c780 1f18
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:28:A8
EDIT:
So here was an example of my EEPROM code generator, which was missing some data:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7c d7 3b 00 84 3e e7 35 00 00 00 ab ca 85 14 83
So based on the dumps of the missing first 16 bytes, it is actually an ASCII string:
'(C) Xircom 1993'
And another missing word of data which is constant across the dumps is 'P3' in ASCII, maybe it stands for Pocket Ethernet 3?
Adapter 1:
Manufactured on 12/04/1994 at 25:10:03
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 3f8e 0030 0a46 8293 3350 0054 c780 102f
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:3F:8E
Adapter 2:
Manufactured on 02/01/1993 at 25:50:36
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 2165 002e 0811 a39d 3350 0054 c780 0f85
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:2E:21:65
Adapter 3:
Manufactured on 23/05/1995 at 09:40:19
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 b44f 0030 8a5c 139a 3350 0054 c780 8a51
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:B5:4F
Adapter 4:
Manufactured on 09/04/1997 at 09:04:06
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 28a8 0030 8e45 691 3350 0054 c780 1f18
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:28:A8
EDIT:
So here was an example of my EEPROM code generator, which was missing some data:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7c d7 3b 00 84 3e e7 35 00 00 00 ab ca 85 14 83
So based on the dumps of the missing first 16 bytes, it is actually an ASCII string:
'(C) Xircom 1993'
And another missing word of data which is constant across the dumps is 'P3' in ASCII, maybe it stands for Pocket Ethernet 3?
Last edited:
Thanks for posting this!OK so a quick update. RetroTech Chris did a video on his Youtube channel about Xircom network adapters so I reached out to him to do some EEPROM dumps. I'm going to leave the results here for future reference:
Adapter 1:
Manufactured on 12/04/1994 at 25:10:03
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 3f8e 0030 0a46 8293 3350 0054 c780 102f
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:3F:8E
Adapter 2:
Manufactured on 02/01/1993 at 25:50:36
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 2165 002e 0811 a39d 3350 0054 c780 0f85
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:2E:21:65
Adapter 3:
Manufactured on 23/05/1995 at 09:40:19
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 b44f 0030 8a5c 139a 3350 0054 c780 8a51
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:B5:4F
Adapter 4:
Manufactured on 09/04/1997 at 09:04:06
Raw EEPROM contents: 4328 2029 6958 6372 6d6f 3120 3939 2033 28a8 0030 8e45 691 3350 0054 c780 1f18
Ethernet Address: 00:80:C8:30:28:A8
EDIT:
So here was an example of my EEPROM code generator, which was missing some data:
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 7c d7 3b 00 84 3e e7 35 00 00 00 ab ca 85 14 83
So based on the dumps of the missing first 16 bytes, it is actually an ASCII string:
'(C) Xircom 1993'
And another missing word of data which is constant across the dumps is 'P3' in ASCII, maybe it stands for Pocket Ethernet 3?
Any chance you have the model #s associated with each of these? It's likely there's a few bits in there indicating the specific PE3 model.
Also, the host portion of the MAC address is just the serial number in hex. So when reprogramming/replacing the EEPROM, it's possible to restore the original MAC.