My sister's iMac (PowerPC G3) still runs OS9 (she's happy with it). She has upgraded to BT Broadband and I am setting up the connection for her. The router is a BT Voyager 210 ADSL connected to the iMac via Ethernet. There is no OS9 compatible software on the BT Broadband installation CD, but the BT Helpline advised to create a network connection and it would work.
With all physical connections in place and the router on, I used the Internet Setup Assistant and created a new network (not modem) connection for a network, selecting no IP address (assigned dynamically), no DNS address or domain name (assumed this is also dynamic) + the usual e-mail address etc.
With the setup complete, I start Internet Explorer and make a successful Broadband connection, the Ethernet light on the router comes on and everything is fine. OK, with IE it's not that fast, but it works and is way faster than the (incredibly slow) dial up that was used before.
The problem is that if the iMac is restarted and/or the router restarted, the connection will not automatically restart. At least not, and here is the strange bit, within the same day or so. I.e. if I boot up the iMac a few days later it sort of hangs before loading the desktop until I switch on the router. Then it goes on to load the desktop. Wait a few minutes until the router is ready and load IE, it connects to the homepage or another selected site and everything works fine.
If I restart the iMac and/or router within a short time (i.e. less than a day) either the ethernet light comes on but then goes out when IE tries to connect, or the light does not come on and just flashes once when IE tries to connect. In both cases I get a site not found error from IE.
If I then create a new network connection with the ISA, I can get it started - this is workaround 1.
I have found that via the TCP/IP control panel I can choose another configuration (out of the many that I have set up using my workaround!), activate that and that restarts the connection - this is workaround 2. I have also noticed that the connection seems to drop out if not used for say 15-20 minutes or so. The TCP/IP connections that are made by the ISA are always Using DHCP server, by the way.
Sorry for the long winded intro! But Ive tried to clarify the situation as best I can. So, the problem is not that I cant make a connection to the router and the BT Broadband connection (I can always use workarounds 1 or 2!), but that the connection seems unable to recover itself after a dropout or after rebooting the iMac. Ive searched around, but I cannot seem to find any config setting in OS9 to overcome the prob!
With all physical connections in place and the router on, I used the Internet Setup Assistant and created a new network (not modem) connection for a network, selecting no IP address (assigned dynamically), no DNS address or domain name (assumed this is also dynamic) + the usual e-mail address etc.
With the setup complete, I start Internet Explorer and make a successful Broadband connection, the Ethernet light on the router comes on and everything is fine. OK, with IE it's not that fast, but it works and is way faster than the (incredibly slow) dial up that was used before.
The problem is that if the iMac is restarted and/or the router restarted, the connection will not automatically restart. At least not, and here is the strange bit, within the same day or so. I.e. if I boot up the iMac a few days later it sort of hangs before loading the desktop until I switch on the router. Then it goes on to load the desktop. Wait a few minutes until the router is ready and load IE, it connects to the homepage or another selected site and everything works fine.
If I restart the iMac and/or router within a short time (i.e. less than a day) either the ethernet light comes on but then goes out when IE tries to connect, or the light does not come on and just flashes once when IE tries to connect. In both cases I get a site not found error from IE.
If I then create a new network connection with the ISA, I can get it started - this is workaround 1.
I have found that via the TCP/IP control panel I can choose another configuration (out of the many that I have set up using my workaround!), activate that and that restarts the connection - this is workaround 2. I have also noticed that the connection seems to drop out if not used for say 15-20 minutes or so. The TCP/IP connections that are made by the ISA are always Using DHCP server, by the way.
Sorry for the long winded intro! But Ive tried to clarify the situation as best I can. So, the problem is not that I cant make a connection to the router and the BT Broadband connection (I can always use workarounds 1 or 2!), but that the connection seems unable to recover itself after a dropout or after rebooting the iMac. Ive searched around, but I cannot seem to find any config setting in OS9 to overcome the prob!