Networking Forums

Networking Forums > Wireless Networking > Wireless Internet > Problems with 3Com

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes

Problems with 3Com

 
 
news.rcn.com
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      11-02-2005, 05:27 PM
I have about ten or twelve computers with a mixture of mostly PCs but a few
Macs, all supposedly connected on the network. Some of them even network
together! I Have a mixture of mainly notebooks but a few desktops (with
internal NICs or USB devices). Netgear, Buffalo, Linksys, D-Link, etc NICs.
All seem reasonably easily configurable or if not, the Technical Support
departments know their hardware's quirks and can tell you what is wrong.
(except possibly Netgear whose MA401 is very quirky and while it does work
with 98 or XP, it is only really happy with Linux: But their MA301 and MA111
work fine)

But I am having a problem with a 3com PC card, a 3crwe62092A with a curious
flat spring-out aerial. It has a gigantic 32 megabyte install exe file which
doesn't seem to comprise a configurable scanner. But the card installs, and
shows up in device manager without any exclamation marks. The card is
always properly recognised on boot and flashes pleasingly to show it is
working. It's extraordinarily limited utility usually even shows the
strength of the link and link quality. And you can even switch between
networks. But it is the only card I have never managed to get to connect
to the Internet. And it has an internal diagnostic utility which doesn't
allow you to do much but which has never shown it working, even when it is
showing a good link quality and signal strength!

On any computer I have ever installed it on. (I need hardly add that
whenever I have had this problem, I have always connected some alternative
NIC and they have inevitably worked immediately and without either problems
or configuration issues)

There is also a 500 kb update to the file which device manager seems to
think it doesn't need. Obviously when I can't get the card to work, I update
the driver. On no computer has that ever made the slightest difference.
There is also a firmware update which does nothing.

3Com seems to be the only NIC company which couldn't care less about
supporting its products and has actively refused to assist. Has anyone else
had these problems with either this company or this card OR found that
uninstalling the whole shooting match and installing some generic scanner
does the job if you can get the 3com card drivers themselves installed?


 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
news.rcn.com
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      11-07-2005, 03:08 AM
UPDATE:
If you unplug the NIC and plug in a Buffalo (as an example) card, even with
the 3Com utility running, you can connect to the Internet immediately and
without problems using the Windows XP internet connection utility.

If you then put the 3Com card back in, you can't connect at all: Either
directly or by rebooting and letting the card and utility set themselves up.
You get "DHCP SERVER ISN'T REACHABLE" followed by a BSOD

You then re-boot and find that this 3Com driver has somehow corrupted
NTOSKRNL and the whole computer won't start in any way or at all, either in
safe mode or normally: It get about three seconds past the 'choose OS
screen': Then stops.

I suppose I should report this to Driverguide.com and then report back if
3Com will cooperate in repairing the damage their driver and utility seems
to have done

"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:MO6dnYGa5LqdmPTeRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have about ten or twelve computers with a mixture of mostly PCs but a few
> Macs, all supposedly connected on the network. Some of them even network
> together! I Have a mixture of mainly notebooks but a few desktops (with
> internal NICs or USB devices). Netgear, Buffalo, Linksys, D-Link, etc
> NICs.
> All seem reasonably easily configurable or if not, the Technical Support
> departments know their hardware's quirks and can tell you what is wrong.
> (except possibly Netgear whose MA401 is very quirky and while it does work
> with 98 or XP, it is only really happy with Linux: But their MA301 and
> MA111 work fine)
>
> But I am having a problem with a 3com PC card, a 3crwe62092A with a
> curious
> flat spring-out aerial. It has a gigantic 32 megabyte install exe file
> which
> doesn't seem to comprise a configurable scanner. But the card installs,
> and
> shows up in device manager without any exclamation marks. The card is
> always properly recognised on boot and flashes pleasingly to show it is
> working. It's extraordinarily limited utility usually even shows the
> strength of the link and link quality. And you can even switch between
> networks. But it is the only card I have never managed to get to connect
> to the Internet. And it has an internal diagnostic utility which doesn't
> allow you to do much but which has never shown it working, even when it is
> showing a good link quality and signal strength!
>
> On any computer I have ever installed it on. (I need hardly add that
> whenever I have had this problem, I have always connected some alternative
> NIC and they have inevitably worked immediately and without either
> problems
> or configuration issues)
>
> There is also a 500 kb update to the file which device manager seems to
> think it doesn't need. Obviously when I can't get the card to work, I
> update
> the driver. On no computer has that ever made the slightest difference.
> There is also a firmware update which does nothing.
>
> 3Com seems to be the only NIC company which couldn't care less about
> supporting its products and has actively refused to assist. Has anyone
> else
> had these problems with either this company or this card OR found that
> uninstalling the whole shooting match and installing some generic scanner
> does the job if you can get the 3com card drivers themselves installed?
>
>



 
Reply With Quote
 
news.microsoft.com
Guest
Posts: n/a

 
      11-08-2005, 05:22 PM
This erroneous error message (which obviously doesn't mean what it says) can
be easily cured by booting off an install disc to the Restore Console and
running bootcfg /rebuild and following the instructions (followed if
necessary by chkdsk /r and possibly /p)

Don't know why the 3Com driver would do this or why the company wont respond
or assist when their driver both wont work AND causes this catastrophic
damage to a whole OS!

"news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
news:9-OdnS05Qd2kTvPeRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> UPDATE:
> If you unplug the NIC and plug in a Buffalo (as an example) card, even
> with the 3Com utility running, you can connect to the Internet immediately
> and without problems using the Windows XP internet connection utility.
>
> If you then put the 3Com card back in, you can't connect at all: Either
> directly or by rebooting and letting the card and utility set themselves
> up. You get "DHCP SERVER ISN'T REACHABLE" followed by a BSOD
>
> You then re-boot and find that this 3Com driver has somehow corrupted
> NTOSKRNL and the whole computer won't start in any way or at all, either
> in safe mode or normally: It get about three seconds past the 'choose OS
> screen': Then stops.
>
> I suppose I should report this to Driverguide.com and then report back if
> 3Com will cooperate in repairing the damage their driver and utility seems
> to have done
>
> "news.rcn.com" <news.rnc.com> wrote in message
> news:MO6dnYGa5LqdmPTeRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have about ten or twelve computers with a mixture of mostly PCs but a
>>few
>> Macs, all supposedly connected on the network. Some of them even network
>> together! I Have a mixture of mainly notebooks but a few desktops (with
>> internal NICs or USB devices). Netgear, Buffalo, Linksys, D-Link, etc
>> NICs.
>> All seem reasonably easily configurable or if not, the Technical Support
>> departments know their hardware's quirks and can tell you what is wrong.
>> (except possibly Netgear whose MA401 is very quirky and while it does
>> work
>> with 98 or XP, it is only really happy with Linux: But their MA301 and
>> MA111 work fine)
>>
>> But I am having a problem with a 3com PC card, a 3crwe62092A with a
>> curious
>> flat spring-out aerial. It has a gigantic 32 megabyte install exe file
>> which
>> doesn't seem to comprise a configurable scanner. But the card installs,
>> and
>> shows up in device manager without any exclamation marks. The card is
>> always properly recognised on boot and flashes pleasingly to show it is
>> working. It's extraordinarily limited utility usually even shows the
>> strength of the link and link quality. And you can even switch between
>> networks. But it is the only card I have never managed to get to
>> connect
>> to the Internet. And it has an internal diagnostic utility which doesn't
>> allow you to do much but which has never shown it working, even when it
>> is
>> showing a good link quality and signal strength!
>>
>> On any computer I have ever installed it on. (I need hardly add that
>> whenever I have had this problem, I have always connected some
>> alternative
>> NIC and they have inevitably worked immediately and without either
>> problems
>> or configuration issues)
>>
>> There is also a 500 kb update to the file which device manager seems to
>> think it doesn't need. Obviously when I can't get the card to work, I
>> update
>> the driver. On no computer has that ever made the slightest difference.
>> There is also a firmware update which does nothing.
>>
>> 3Com seems to be the only NIC company which couldn't care less about
>> supporting its products and has actively refused to assist. Has anyone
>> else
>> had these problems with either this company or this card OR found that
>> uninstalling the whole shooting match and installing some generic scanner
>> does the job if you can get the 3com card drivers themselves installed?
>>
>>

>
>



 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
problems with WDS 3com AP 7760 Solli_76 Wireless Networks 1 02-28-2007 08:11 PM
problems with web using 3Com Steve Church Broadband 7 02-08-2006 10:35 AM
3com Router/Client Problems nospam Wireless Internet 0 12-06-2005 10:06 PM
3Com router and P2P problems RMC Home Networking 7 09-09-2004 10:45 AM
3com Dual 56k LAN Modem Problems RatBox Home Networking 0 11-16-2003 04:16 PM



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11