DOS-class VMs don't recognize PCnet-FAST III (6.0.0 regression) => fixed in svn

[Socratis]

Based on a discussion in the forums (​Possible bug: unrecognized PCnet-FAST III network card (in a guest DOS) with VirtualBox 6.0), it seems that there's an issue with the emulation of the above mentioned card.

It has been confirmed by multiple users.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this personally, I'm planning on it...

[andyp1973]

I have tried this with dev build 6.0.1 r127640 and the problem persists.

-Andy.

[andyp1973]

Logs from identical VM guest running under 5.2.22 and 6.0.1

[andyp1973]

Slight clarification...

The 5.2.22 log comes from a Linux host the 6.0.1 from a macOS host but the only difference in setup is the network device being bridged to.

-Andy.

[PThorn]

I was able to get the driver to detect the card by adding parameters to the command line:

PCNTPK.COM INT=0x60 IRQ=0x0A IOADDR=0xD020

(took the values from the last screenshot ​here). With this change the driver correctly prints the MAC address as set in the VM config. However, dhcp.exe fails with timeout errors. So I used wireshark to see if there is any traffic coming out of the VM. Turns out there is: the VM sends DHCP DISCOVER packets and my DHCP server responds with OFFERs. The VM does not seem to receive those DHCP responses though.

Other VMs (Ubuntu, etc.) with the same net config (bridge to en0, the adapter type is different of course) successfully obtain DHCP leases and have network connectivity under the same VirtualBox instance.

VirtualBox 6.0.0 release, macOS 10.14.2.

[PThorn]

FreeDos 1.2 VM log with manual PCNET driver config and an attempt to run dhcp.exe

[michaln]

Yes, this was a regression in 6.0.0, should be now fixed.

The problem was not so much with DOS VMs as with specific drivers which failed to detect the emulated hardware. The DOS packet drivers were affected, NetWare client and server drivers were affected. DOS NDIS drivers were not affected, and neither were Windows and OS/2 NDIS drivers or Linux drivers.

[Socratis]

Can you try the latest test build, r128070 or later?

[PThorn]

Build 128072 (macOS) is confirmed working. Thanks for the fix!

[andyp1973]

Likewise, I can confirm that this is working using 6.0.1-r128072 (also on a macOS host).

-Andy.

[haakondahl]

Any projected date for the release?

[Socratis]

@haakondahl
There's never a projected release date for any version. If you're immediately affected, install the latest test build.

[haakondahl]

Replying to socratis:

@haakondahl
There's never a projected release date for any version. If you're immediately affected, install the latest test build.

Thank you. I'm new to this. I'm leery about modifying UEFI settings -- have worked around using mkisofs and some disk-swapping. Which is part of the DOS experience, so... I shall wait patiently and be grateful.