3G minicard 5500 loses connection (AT&T/cingular) - lattitude D620

Question

My D620 (running XP Prof.) has a built-in minicard 5500 (HSDPA/UMTS/EDGE/GSM). I have an unlimited laptop data plan from Cingular (confirmed to be working and setup properly on network side.) SIM is inserted properly. I am in a high coverage 2G/3G area.

If my PC has been turned off for an extended period of time (for instance overnight) the data connection seems to work right after I boot up. IT only works for a couple of minutes, then dies and says searching for network. It does this indefenitely.

So, it seems after the PC is powered on for a few minutes, the cell connection just goes away.

I am not sure if this is some sort of hardware issue, heat issue, or some other conflict that doesn't seem to occur until after the PC is turned on. Maybe software, port conflict or something else?

I have tried both the Dell laptop card utility and the AT&T connection manager

I have updated the drivers a couple of times as well as updated the firmware on the card itself. I have also ensured that it was turned on in the BIOS and that the wifi catcher was shut off in the BIOS. (I remember reading somewhere that ther wifi catcher was somehow interfering.)

Please, any suggestestions, or do you think the hardware is somehow bad.

This has never worked in this latpop, so I don't have any historical frame of reference fo this laptop in particular.

FYI - The minicard is actually an Expedite EU730 made by Novatel.

Please help.

volcano11 · Answer

I have absolutley no experience with this type of minicard, so I am just taking a wild guess. If you open Device Manager, expand the listing for network adapters, select the minicard adapter, right click, and select properties. Is the a setting under the Advanced tab for any kind of Power Management? If so, try disabling any Power Management that may be enabled and see if that corrects the problem.

Steve

tacafaca · Answer

This subject was started long time ago, but I recently get on eBay my Dell Wireless 5500 Mobile Broadband (3G HSDPA). Every thing is connected correctly, I think. The devise is visible by the system (Dell Latitude D820, Windows XP), but I have a similar problem as mferni, as you can see from these pictures:

http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7QGB-fyarsk/TfOBf2E_pcI/AAAAAAAAB0s/lB8n05i6oZc/mibile%252520-%252520main%252520window.jpg

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mMrS1W5B5H8/TfOBWRS-sKI/AAAAAAAAB0o/l4iF_OzxBFA/mibile%252520-%252520device%252520properties.jpg

http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-arlgFxPYOsc/TfOBiyPqdxI/AAAAAAAAB0w/POOx1ruyLkA/mibile%252520-%252520diagnostics.jpg

I'm wondering could I connect at all, because I'm from Serbia, and I ordered Mobile Minicard from US, which is made for AT&T. I always get the message "Searching for Network". I hope I had plug the right antenna as instructed in this post. Maybe Minicard needs to be unlocked? If anyone has any guidelines I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance!

ieee488 · Answer

Maybe Minicard needs to be unlocked? If anyone has any guidelines I would be very grateful.   All Dell minicards are sold locked when purchased with a Dell laptop.

tacafaca · Answer

All Dell minicards are sold locked when purchased with a Dell laptop.

I got mine over eBay. Manufacturer is Novatel Wireless Inc. This is picture of device:

This is from terminal (device is installed as a modem):

ATI
Manufacturer: Novatel Wireless Incorporated
Model: Expedite EU730 (HW REV [0:44])
Revision: 15.8-15.8-14 [2006-04-10 11:32:52]
IMEI: 010853000136812
+GCAP: +CGSM,+DS
OK

AT+CLCK="PN",0,"00000000" // I think I found on net that zeros are code for reset.
ERROR
Attempts remaining: 4

AT+CLCK="PN",2
+CLCK: 0 // Also found on net that return value "+CLCK: 0" means UNLOCKED, and "+CLCK: 1" means LOCKED.

Thanks for fast replay.

drunken_darvin · Answer

tacafaca, did you manage to fix this problem? I've also got my card from Ebay and now experiencing the same problem

tacafaca · Answer

No, I didn't solve my problem. I give up for now, because of lack of free time. If you dig something please post here. Thanks!

drunken_darvin · Answer

ok, I found what is the issue. www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp

The Expedite EU730 will operate on 850 and 1900 MHz UMTS / HSDPA networks in North America, while the Expedite EU740 will operate on 2100 MHz UMTS / HSDPA networks in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Both PCI Express Mini Cards will be backward compatible to 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) networks for wireless data access worldwide.

So the issue is in EU730 card which doesn't work with European UMTS frequency. It should work with GPRS/EDGE however

tacafaca · Answer

Did you managed to connect on GPRS/EDGE network? I tried to manually search networks, but as you can see with no success.I put SIM from my mobile phone into DELL D820 laptop.

drunken_darvin · Answer

My operator doesn't support 2G, so I can not really check if it works. However, I've found at least two owners of this card in Russia using it at GPRS/EDGE environment.

I am working under Ubuntu Linux and have no option to use native software. There is an AT command to show available networks:

AT+COPS=?
+COPS: (3,"RUS16,250 16","NTC","25016",0)
+COPS: (3,"MTS-RUS","MTS","25001",0)
+COPS: (3,"MegaFon RUS","MegaFon","25002",0)
+COPS: (2,"RUS - Sakhalin","SAKHALIN","25012",0)

OK

3 means this network forbidden to connect, so likely you won't see it in Dell wireless client.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

3G minicard 5500 loses connection (AT&T/cingular) - lattitude D620

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