[NTLK] MP2100 / Internet Connection stops

[Morgan Aldridge]

On Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 11:47 cg via NewtonTalk <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
wrote:

> Dear list members
> My MP2100 and MP2100d have been up and running since late ninties. A few
> years as NPDS webserver. Then went for sleep for a fey years :-) In the
> last month I have been trying to get a working ethernet lan connection
> (and wlan using wep). But I could not get them back online - as soon as
> an application starts an internet connection and I click „connect“, the
> ethernet cards led shortly flashes but goes off after 2-4s. Both newtons
> react the same way. Using and 3com ethernet card, or farallon, or d-link
> lan. All drivers installed and read through faq’s. Any hints?
>

What hardware are you attempting to connect to?

I'd stick to Ethernet to start as it's both more reliable and 802.11b WEP
encryption isn't supported on any modern WiFi routers/access points. (While
WPA1 was never supported by non-CardBus PCMCIA cards, IIRC, it also is no
longer supported by modern WiFi gear.)

What type of switch or router are you attempting to connect your
3com/Farallon/D-Link ethernet card to? The PCMCIA ethernet cards are
10Base-T only and while most switches _should_ be backwards compatible, if
you're using a switch which is faster than 1000Base-T (gigabit; e.g.
2.5Gbit, 5Gbit, 10Gbit) it is unlikely to support anything lower than 1Gbit.

On your MessagePad, are you setting a static IP address, network mask,
etc.? If you're using DHCP/BOOTP (i.e. automatic), I've not found that to
work reliably for a couple decades, so I'd stick to static IPs.

I hope we can help you get those MessagePads back on your network!

Morgan
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