Macintosh SE/30 and Blue SCSI v2 with Pico W - Internet Woes

[insanelygreat88]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this topic or if there is a topics already around this, I'm a newbie!

I have a Macintosh SE/30 with a Blue SCSI v2 with Pico W installed. Everything works great, except for internet. I have followed the instructions from the Blue SCSI website to set it up, but I can't seem to get it online. I also tried using the Wi-Fi Desk Accessory and it opens and allows me to choose a network, but when I put the password in, nothing happens. It doesn't connect. If I try it enough times, eventually the list of networks/hotspots disappears and no networks are shown.

I'm not sure what is happening, as I've tried this on my other compact Macs and it works with no issues. It's only on this SE/30.

Anybody run into this problem before or have a solution? I'd love to get the SE/30 connected to the internet.

Thank you!

EDIT:
I'm running System 7.1 and the SE/30 has 8MB of RAM.

 

[eric]

The Pico-W has a very small antenna unfortunately - distance from AP, noise, shielding, etc could all play a factor here. It sounds like everything functionally is working - you are seeing AP's (eventually) which means things are working.

There is nothing inherently different with the SE/30 in this regards from your other compact macs. I have it working happily on my SE/30. I have a 2.4Ghz "retro" access point just for my old machines on the network in my office so I can be sure to have good signal.

 

[Garrett]

Is the bluescsi.ini configured correctly? How far are you from your router? Can you post a screenshot of your MacTCP configuration window? There are a few things to get set up before it'll all work properly!

 

[speakers]

I played around with this (see: https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/bluescsiv2-wifi-with-se-30.3410/) and used a cheap-ish Vonets repeater close to the SE/30. Not ideal but workable.

 

[insanelygreat88]

The Pico-W has a very small antenna unfortunately - distance from AP, noise, shielding, etc could all play a factor here. It sounds like everything functionally is working - you are seeing AP's (eventually) which means things are working.

There is nothing inherently different with the SE/30 in this regards from your other compact macs. I have it working happily on my SE/30. I have a 2.4Ghz "retro" access point just for my old machines on the network in my office so I can be sure to have good signal.

What's strange is I have a Macintosh Classic with the same type of BlueSCSI and Wi-Fi works just fine, so I'm guessing that it's some kind on internal issue. Something inside the SE is causing interference.

 

[chuck.dubuque]

The SE and SE/30 have a metallic spray paint on the interior of the computer housing that acts as shielding. IIRC the Classic and Classic do not in order to save costs, and I believe the FCC regulations changed over time allowing them to move most of the shielding to the chassis.

There are some guides on the internet to soldering antenna leads onto the Pico, but you would have to find a way to mount the antenna outside the case and be tidy.