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bink · Sep 1, 2003, 04:11 PM

Son's girl has one more semester at Purdue and did not have a computer cause hers quit. Gave her an old but very reliable powerbook 3400 to take for the semester. She lived in an appt. with 3 other girls. Each has their own internet connection, probably through a hub type arrangement. I know how to set up a dialup connection but do not know about this type of setup. Requirements are 7.5 or above, 32MB of RAM and 10/100 ethernet.

The 3400 only has 10/T, will this make a difference? It meets all other requirements.

She is having problems getting it to work and I am 100mi away. My son only knows what to do as I tell him over the phone. The 3400 shares a port for ethernet and the phoneline (at least I think that is right). Anyway, ethernet is plugged in there and into the hub or whatever they have. Trying to use the net gets her nothing. She called support and they say all numbers and setting should be put in by the system when she connects to the hub but she is not getting anything. Tech support says she is not getting as IP address but that is about all they can give her. She said they do not seem to be up on Macs.

Thoughts or ideas appreciated.......Rich

Phil Quinney · Sep 3, 2003, 05:41 AM

bink,

I'm presuming your friend is using Mac OS 9 or earlier...so give this a go.

In your control panels find "TCP/IP". Open that up and select "Connect Via: Ethernet" and then select DHCP in one of the boxes further down.

That should request an IP Address for you and get you up and running.

Sorry I can't remember the exact instructions, I haven't used OS 9 in a while.

Phil.

kennedy · Sep 3, 2003, 08:12 AM

Originally posted by bink:
Requirements are 7.5 or above, 32MB of RAM and 10/100 ethernet.

Whose requirements are these? A typical TCP/IP connection wouldn't care anything about what's behind it... just things like "DHCP-capable TCP/IP". This makes me worry it might be something else...

The 3400 only has 10/T, will this make a difference? It meets all other requirements.

10Mbit is not an issue... even speedwise its way faster than their pipe to the Internet... only if she's doing big file transfers between machines on their LAN would the 10Mbit seem slow.

The 3400 shares a port for ethernet and the phoneline (at least I think that is right).

Can someone familiar with the 3400 verify that? That sounds a bit bizarre. And if you're hooking your modem port to the ethernet, that would definitely not get you much.

HTH a little.

Phil Quinney · Sep 3, 2003, 08:55 AM

Sharing the phoneline and ethernet on one port is physically impossible. If you plug a phoneline into your ethernet port it is almost guaranteed to cause damage at the telephone exchange.

However, the ports look similar, and a phone plug will fit in an ethernet port.

A quick check of AppleSpec shows that you should have an ethernet port as standard on the 200Mhz or 240Mhz models but that you may not have one on the 180Mhz (looks like it was a BTO option.)

Phil.

bink · Sep 3, 2003, 04:31 PM

Originally posted by Phil Quinney:
bink,

I'm presuming your friend is using Mac OS 9 or earlier...so give this a go.

In your control panels find "TCP/IP". Open that up and select "Connect Via: Ethernet" and then select DHCP in one of the boxes further down.

That should request an IP Address for you and get you up and running.

Sorry I can't remember the exact instructions, I haven't used OS 9 in a while.

Phil.

Thanks Phil. That is the way we have it set up but the server do not give the IP address.

Is appreciated......Rich

bink · Sep 3, 2003, 04:34 PM

Can someone familiar with the 3400 verify that? That sounds a bit bizarre. And if you're hooking your modem port to the ethernet, that would definitely not get you much.

HTH a little. [/B][/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply. That is what I figured on the 10/100 thing being just a speed issue. As far as the shared port, I took a look at the 3400 we have at school and that is the way it is. Phone line and ethernet connectors both fit and it is the only port available.

Thanks again......Rich

bink · Sep 3, 2003, 04:37 PM

A quick check of AppleSpec shows that you should have an ethernet port as standard on the 200Mhz or 240Mhz models but that you may not have one on the 180Mhz (looks like it was a BTO option.)

Phil. [/B][/QUOTE]

Crap! It is a 180. But I used a crossover cable and hooked the 3400 to a new iMac to transfer files and all worked OK??

Rich

Phil Quinney · Sep 3, 2003, 04:42 PM

bink,

Because the two connectors will fit into the same port does not mean that the port is both for ethernet and phoneline.

***PLUGGING YOUR PHONELINE INTO YOUR ETHERNET PORT WILL CAUSE _BAD_ THINGS***

I was surprised about the 180 having optional ethernet - I didn't think Apple really did BTO back then. You got what the machine had.

Phil.

bink · Sep 3, 2003, 06:33 PM

Originally posted by Phil Quinney:
bink,

I was surprised about the 180 having optional ethernet - I didn't think Apple really did BTO back then. You got what the machine had.

Phil.

As I said, I plugged a crossover cable into this port and was able to transfer files to a new (at the time) iMac.

When my son called from Purdue when they were first trying to set it up, I had him look before connecting the ethernet cable and he said there was only one port. I thought that strange but he said the pix on the door (yes, the thing still has the door) showed the arrows for ethernet and also the phone??????

The 3400 I looked at at school today did not have the door so I do not know what it showed.

Guess I can hook the 3400 at school to their network and see if it works?

Thanks for all the help.

I really appreciate it.....Rich

Davidarm · Sep 4, 2003, 11:52 PM

The 3400 (and the original Powerbook G3) did indeed only have one port for both modem and Ethernet - I used to own one.

Phil - it's not a physical impossibility because it was an RJ-45 jack, so both an RJ-11 (phone) plug and and RJ-45 (Ethernet) plugh would fit, and electrically Ethernet uses pins 1,2,3 and 6, and phone uses pins 4 and 5 - no overlap! Apple also provided a splitter which had BOTH an RJ-45 jack AND an RJ-11 jack so that you could have both Ethernet and phone connected at the same time.

Bink - I see at least 3 possible issues: 1) The Ethernet port isn't on. Apple's motherboard Ethernet ports can turn themselves off to save power. If there is an Ethernet control panel, make sure it's on there, and make sure the TCP/IP control panel is set to Ethernet. 2) They're not using the right cable. If they're plugging into an actual hub, the link light on port they're plugged in to on the hub should be lit when the 3400's ethernet port is on. If it's not, first make sure you're not plugged into an uplink port on the hub. If it's a regular port, try a different cable or a crossover cable to try to get the link light lit. 3) Make sure the TCP/IP control panel is set for DHCP, and under options uncheck Use Only When Needed. Do a Get Info in TCP/IP to see if you're getting an IP address. If you're not, maybe the schools not using DHCP.

The fact that you were able to copy files to the iMac indicates that at least the Ethernet port is good, but doesn't necessarily indicate proper IP function - you probably transferred the files via AppleTalk.

Phil Quinney · Sep 5, 2003, 03:56 AM

Davidarm,

Thanks for the info. I stand corrected!

I never knew thaat this was possible, and that it had been done. Sorry for being so stubborn with my view.

Phil.

bink · Sep 5, 2003, 09:18 PM

Originally posted by Davidarm:
The 3400 (and the original Powerbook G3) did indeed only have one port for both modem and Ethernet - I used to own one.

Yea, I tracked the info down yesterday. Seems it was a BTO though cause you had to buy the internal modem to get the 10/T. If you got one without the modem, then no ethernet. Both the modem and ethernet were on a single card made by Asante, I think.

Sent son on his way to Purdue this afternoon with a new ethernet cable. Also sent along a crossover cable to try.

Is not a campus hookup but an offcampus appt. complex. Son says there is no visable hub so he does not know about the lights. He says there are 3 plug-ins on the wall, one is the phone and he did not know what the other 2 were for but only one would take the RJ-45 cable so that is where he put it.

Thanks for the help and am hoping we can get this sorted out.....

Rich