Old Net WiFi modem and ZTerm - not responding

[Bolkonskij]

Hi everybody,

using a Mac IIci with a new Old Net WiFi modem, latest firmware (well, it claims to have shipped with it) and ZTerm 1.0.1 on System 6.0.8. I managed to once set it up according to the docs it came with and connect to the eotd BBS it mentions. I've then changed both modem and ZTerm to use 38400 bauds, saved my config according to docs and went to bed.

The next day I wanted to use the thing again but any keystrokes in ZTerm don't get recognized. Keyboard working fine. Alright, let's set it up from scratch once again and hope it is only a one timer. I'm hitting the flash button for 5 secs as suggested in the docs. It blinks and comes back on. According to the docs, this should set it back to 300 bauds default.

ZTerm was set to 300 baud, XON/XOFF, parity none, data bits 8, stop bits 1 before that. Now all ZTerm gives me are some gibberish chars where the Getting Started guide says it should display plain English.
Another attempt, same result. Now hitting the reset button as suggested by the guide. No dice, another set of gibberish chars being output.

Maybe *flash* didn't overwrite my settings? Switching back to 38400 baud in ZTerm. Low and behold, suddenly keystrokes work again. I can type an AT, but hitting return doesn't send any command to the modem. No response. Yawn.

Everything points into the direction of a mismatch between settings in the modem and Zterm, hence no communication between the two ?

I've tried another 5V power supply and also booting into System 7.1 and running ZTerm on there but no dice either.

Anyone else running into something like that?
What could be the issue?

 

[Byte Knight]

Anyone else running into something like that?
What could be the issue?

Weird. You could try "AT&F" to restore factory settings although it sounds like the command may not get to your modem. You may need to reinstall the firmware using this tool.

I prefer using the WiModem232 Pro, which also has the full AT command set capable of hosting BBS's on Macs and Apple II's!

 

[Daniel Hansen]

Are you able to hit the web server? Perhaps not since you've reset it. Yeah, resetting usually works so your experience is interesting. Reset it again?
Also, I've found it can be finicky about the order of things... so try resetting / restarting the modem first, connecting it to the iici, then starting the iici.

 

[Genjoke]

Hi. I'm having EXACTLY the same problem under 7.1.2 on an LC II. I've tried my Classic II and it's the same.

It once worked on my Classic which is out of service right now.

Any luck Bolkonskij?

Hi everybody,

using a Mac IIci with a new Old Net WiFi modem, latest firmware (well, it claims to have shipped with it) and ZTerm 1.0.1 on System 6.0.8. I managed to once set it up according to the docs it came with and connect to the eotd BBS it mentions. I've then changed both modem and ZTerm to use 38400 bauds, saved my config according to docs and went to bed.

(…)

 

[Bolkonskij]

@Genjoke

Yes, it works AGAIN!

But - I have not the slightest idea of what made it work again. I tried flashing it, I tried reset and I've unpowered and powered it back on. At one point it came back with 300 baud default, which I have since cranked up to 38400 baud again. It has been working fine so far for about a week now, though I'm always frightend what will happen the next time I power it on ;-)

One thing I noticed is that using the press-the-flash-button-five-seconds doesn't delete your personal settings. For instance, my wifi settings were all still saved. I thought that flash would wipe everything clean and kind of reset it to factory settings but that's obviously not the case. It just seems to reset the baud rate (?) to 300.

In any case, keep trying the combination of the above. And please let us know if you should be able to pin down exactly a way to recover.

Also, anyone had any luck setting up MacPPP and using it with the modem? I've installed both the MacPPP control panel and the PPP extension according to the YouTube video on the matter. However, I still get the "MacPPP: No resource" error. I'd appreciate to hear from somebody who managed to get it working and what exactly they have entered in the settings.

 

[Genjoke]

@Bolkonskij

I tried Flashing it as instructed above but my moddem doesnt show up as a USB device on my modern mac.

Nice to know that you managed to put it back to work. I'll keep trying.

When it worked some time ago I managed to use PPP… If mine comes back to life I'll tell you exectly how I did, as I dont remember each step exactly.

 

[Bolkonskij]

@Genjoke

Why would you connect it to a modern Mac. Because you want to use the 2 MB flash space?

I always only ever plugged it into my IIci. Do you have an older version of it? I think I read that only the latest edition (which I have) supports the on-the-fly firmware updates, if that is why you connected it ?

Try flashing, try reseting ...all the while you have Zterm open and set to 300 baud. At one point the "gibberish" disappeared and I got a "OK" in response to the AT command.

 

[Genjoke]

@Genjoke

Why would you connect it to a modern Mac. Because you want to use the 2 MB flash space?

I always only ever plugged it into my IIci. Do you have an older version of it? I think I read that only the latest edition (which I have) supports the on-the-fly firmware updates, if that is why you connected it ?

Try flashing, try reseting ...all the while you have Zterm open and set to 300 baud. At one point the "gibberish" disappeared and I got a "OK" in response to the AT command.

I was trying to flash the firmware using the suggested Pyton tool. You con only flash the microcontroller by connecting it to a modern computer.

btw, mine, as yours, came back to life out of the blue!