[Tinkerer]

I've received some free Quadras (800 and 900). Want to network them with 10Base10 Ethernet through an exisiting known good hub. When I try, I get the "check your connections" generic error.

I've done all the right stuff: reinstalled 7.5.5 clean, enabled Open Transport, restarted, turned on AppleTalk, etc, etc. I'm down to two alternatives: either both of the AAUI to RJ45 10BaseT cables that came with the systems are bad OR ... and this is what I'm wondering about ... there are actually no ethernet controllers on the motherboard even though there are AAUI connectors coming out of the case.

What makes me think so? When I look at the AppleTalk control panel Options, neither Quarda shows a hardware address (my 8500 does - and it's sucessfully connecting through Ethernet). Were Quadra 800s and 900s Ethernet-enabled out of the box, or is there some kind of upgrade required?

Thanks!

[Axiom]

I could be mistaken, but I have never heard of a Mac with an AAUI port that was not Ethernet- ready. My info on the Quadra 800 & 900 (from Newer's GURU) does not indicate any additional upgrades required for Ethernet.

Am I correct in understanding that you are using cables with an AAUI connector on one end and RJ-45(male) on the other? To be honest, I have never seen such a thing, and I don't know how such things work.

My Nubus/AAUI Macs are connected to Ethernet using transceivers, and I would recommend those as a potential solution. They run about $30 each.

[This message has been edited by Axiom (edited 05-23-2000).]

I've never heard of AAUI to RJ45 cable. I agree with the previous poster, you need a transceiver. These usually come in one of two sorts, RJ45 or BNC.

I have 950/800s and previously had a 900, all they need to work is a transceiver.

I would think the cables you refer to are trancievers. Do they have a box on the end where the RJ45 connector is? Have you selected Ethernet built-in in the AppleTalk control panel? Any time the computer is started without being connected to a hub it will switch to the printer port and stay that way until manually switched back. It will also switch if the battery is going bad.

[Tinkerer]

OK. The posts about the transcivers sound right. The cables I was given with the system are cables only - AAUI to RJ45. There are also two (separate) boxes I took to be 10BaseT to ThinNet media adapters, with a RJ45 jack at one end, and a female BNC at the other. Could these also be the transcievers? (They are Farallon units, but I can't recall the product name just now.) In that case I would have to get a pair of 10BaseT transceivers. Is that where the hardware address resides, in the transceiver hardware?

Thanks for your help, by the way, all of you.

Odd I've never heard of the cables you mention either.

But the boxes you mention sound suspiciously to me like Appletalk boxes that let you run Appletalk connections over phone lines. They won't work with the Ethernet.

Instead of getting a couple of transceivers for the AAUI ports, I'd reccommend getting a couple NuBus ethernet cards instead. I'm sure you can still find them around, and they'll cost you about the same. But, unlike the transceivers, they won't come loose alot and drive you bonkers

AAUI sucks