Using an ethernet ADSL modem from OS 9.1

Hi, susan -

The control panels setup for using DSL with OS 9 is short -

• In the TCP/IP control panel, set
Connect via: -to- Ethernet
Configure: -to- Using DHCP Server

• In the AppleTalk control panel, set AppleTalk to use a bus other than Ethernet.

• In the Internet control panel, be sure your account info is entered correctly on the E-Mail tab.

In addition, after connecting the ethernet cable to the iMac, if the iMac is running you will need to restart it. On many Macs, if a live device is not detected as being connected on ethernet at startup, the bus will be disabled.

Remote Access is used to connect for dial-up access, using Point-to-Point protocol ( PPP ). It is not used when making an TCP/IP connection to the Internet using Ethernet.

Be sure you have closed the TCP/IP Control Panel (and clicked Save) to make your changes active. As Don has said, if you cannot select Ethernet at all, you may have to restart your Mac.

To force your Mac to make the connection via Ethernet, you simply open your Browser and type something like apple.com into the URL line and hit return. It will either display Apple's Web site, or get errors that can be fixed up with a little more configuring.

Have you read this Apple article? Mac OS: How to release and renew a DHCP lease
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106879

Something else to note, from reading another Apple article, Mac OS 9: About PPP Over Ethernet http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42714
it appears OS 9 doesn't support PPPoE - at least not without some struggle and an AirPort setup.

There's another guide to setting up broadband internet that may help, http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/help/internet/osesmac9.html
The walkthrough includes screenshots...

I'm trying to get an iMac Indigo G3 350Mhz, OS 9.1 to connect to BT Total Broadband via ethernet, hoping that something amongst that or someone here can help out.

Hi Christopher Corbettis1!

What is your complaint/symptom? Do you need PPPoE? When you plug in your Ethernet cable, does the light for that port come on at the modem?

Hello Grant, it seems very similar to Susan's setup, the BT Voyager modem (210 or 205, didn't make note) connects just fine with a Dell notebook computer. I went through all of the steps that Don gave in a post above - save for the email account, that can wait for now. I don't need PPPoE, BT use PPPoA - and from what I can tell, all UK ADSL providers, but I don't know if the same is true for France... Searching for "os 9" adsl pppoa, and a lot more variants of that yesterday haven't yielded much more than I posted in my previous comment.

Plugged the ethernet into the iMac (double checked it was the right connection!) and nothing, tried switching off the modem, leaving it, then back on, restarted the iMac several times over. Checked all of the relevant extensions were loaded in the Extensions Manager, the Apple System Profiler gives details about the built-in 56K modem, but the ethernet section was blank.

One other point I found out was that the IP and router addresses are both set to itself, 169.somethingelse ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106871-en), which I hoped to fix by restarting the modem, and although I gave it a minute, I'm not sure that was long enough.

I'm going to try the steps I found above, Force reconfiguration of IP settings http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106879

I didn't want to hijack this thread though, I know it's better to start a new one, but then as I said above, it seems to be a very similar setup.

Susan Walker-

It is possible that the problem lies with your Ethernet cable. There are two varieties of Ethernet cables, "staright" and "crossover".

The Mac that works has a feature they are calling Auto-MDIX, which means that it senses and adjusts itself to work with either cable. The Mac that does not work does not have that feature:

42717- Apple products that require an Ethernet crossover cable

The way to determine which cable you are using is to look through the clear plug at each end. A straight cable has the same colored wires in the same positions at each end, a crossover cable has two pairs swapped.

From what I could find on that interface box, it includes the functions of a Router (although some models may be limited to a single computer). Thus, there will be two sides to its configuration.

The Internet side seems to require you to specify your ISP login and password when setting up the Router function, but once that is done, the local network side has no trace of the inconvenient details of PPPoA, and behaves like a direct, "always on" connection. I don't think your Mac needs to know or care about PPPoA.

One other point I found out was that the IP and router addresses are both set to itself, 169.something

169.254.xxx.yyy is the range of "Self-assigned" Ethernet Addresses. Your Mac uses this when it broadcasts a request for an IP address, but nobody will talk to it.

Do you get connection lights on at the Router/Modem when you plug in the cable to your working Mac? You may have a bad cable or the wrong kind. In most cases, a straight cable would be expected for this connection.

How is your G4 set up?

The info would be in System Preferences > Network > Show: Network Status then double click on your Built-In Ethernet port and the pertinent stuff will be in the TCP/IP pane and the PPPoE pane.

If your G4 is not using the Mac OS X PPPoE pane, then the router/modem must be doing any required ID and password stuff for you, and you should just see an "always-on" connection at your Mac.

I was not familiar with the modem you described (Thompson SpeedTouch 510) so I searched for it. I got a review of it that said it was a Router/Modem, and its Internet side could be configured to free the user from having to deal with the details of PPPoE or PPPoA.

If this is true, you could enter your Id and Password into the Router/Modem, and get an "always-on" connection on the local computer side. (When you re-configure BOTH your g4 and G3 to NOT use PPPoE. )

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/hardware/reviews/2002/q4/st510v4.html

If you do not have manuals on it, they may be available from this page:

http://www.thomson-broadband.co.uk/codepages/content3.asp?c=7&ProductID=478

The spec sheet says that device does MDIX, so my theory about straight vs crossover cables is all wet.

Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Susan,

I have connected old Macs to internet and network using a Netgear 834 router. Grant is right in his hint to router configuration. All the stuff you tried is done within the router. It sounds like you have not configured your router yourself. If you want to give it a try: from a browser type in the URL of your router
http://192.168.0.1/ ( replace with your router address ). A name and a password will be requested. If this was not changed from factory settings use "admin" and "0000". You will get inside the router configuration.
If the router was configured correctly any computer connected to a router ethernet socket will be able to use this "access point". The Mac TCIP panel has to be set to "ethernet" and "DHCP Server" - that is all. Be sure to check that all Apple extensions are active. The info button of the TCIP panel will reveal your Open Transport version. Mine is 2.8.3 ( OS 9.2.2) Download an update idf necessary.

Hans