3 Mobile Broadband dongle no longer connects to XP

nottseagull

I had a new 3G ZTE Broadband dongle from 3 three weeks ago which I connected to XP Home with no problems. The installation software is preloaded onto the dongle, so no external software is needed. However, a week ago I had to disconnect from the internet in order to run anti-malware with anti-virus turned off. I stopped the connection using Task Manager, as I thought it was quicker than using "safely remove hardware." When I came to reconnect, I got an error 638 message ("the request has timed out"; it had been trying to dial out, I think.)
I was unable to reconfigure the settings, so I simply uninstalled the software, restarted and attempted a fresh install. I now find that although the dongle light quickly changes from red to constant green (showing it is picking up the 3 signal), and that Windows recognises the device, no automatic install is attempted.
I have to open the 3Connect folder from the newly created G Drive, and manually start the install by opening one of the files therein. Everything appears to install, except that when the turquoise & white 3 box appears, it shows as "No network" and "Click to connect" is greyed out. A clue is that the 3 icon does not appear in Windows Network Connections as it used to.
The dongle, however, will install and connect correctly and automatically in another PC.

Rossy.

I had one of these a year or so ago. Complete pants

Try taking the sim out and put it back in, worked for me. In the end i gave up with 3, cancelled the contract and got proper broadband

good luck

kwikbreaks

You don't actually need the software to run these things so long as the drivers are installed and it originally set up a dialup connection with the correct APN settings for the sim (or you could do that manually).

Open your network connections and check to see if there is a dialup connection present. If so right click it and create a shortcut (which should then go on your desktop). Double click shortcut and then click the dial button and it should connect OK.

If it doesn't you'll probably need to re-install the usb drivers and maybe setup the dialup connection with the correct APN values.

nottseagull

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Open your network connections and check to see if there is a dialup connection present.

Did you get as far as this part....

nottseagull wrote: »

A clue is that the 3 icon does not appear in Windows Network Connections as it used to.

or did you mean any dial-up connection? The 3Connect icon used to sit next to the existing one. Either way, I have no idea what the APN values would be.

Donnie

Run LSP-Fix.

kwikbreaks

nottseagull wrote: »

Did you get as far as this part....

or did you mean any dial-up connection? The 3Connect icon used to sit next to the existing one. Either way, I have no idea what the APN values would be.

Had you responded politely I would have told you how to set this up. I used to do it all the time because I didn't like the vodafone software but instead you decided otherwise so you'll get no help from me,

Donnie

I thought long and hard before replying too....

busenbust

Try a reinstall of (any new) drivers .

nottseagull

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Had you responded politely.....

I can only assume you mistook my diligence for sarcasm.
I think that some people are so used to getting free stuff via the Web that they take free advice for granted. They give a vague outline of their problem with, it seems, as little background information as possible; some don't even state the model or OS where relevant. They don't bother checking their spelling or grammar so that all those who come across their
post have to read it at least twice to understand it.
I take the opposite view; I think that knowledgeable people who give up their time to help complete strangers with their problems are to be commended, and that their time should be conserved. For example, in my post #4, I reproduced the sentence to which I was referring so that the dozens of folk who may have read it didn't have to locate in in my rather long OP. In fact it was its length which led
me to assume that not everyone would read it in its entirety, and it occurred to me that if you fell into this category, then an ambiguity would arise as to which of the two connections you meant.

kwikbreaks

OK. The most likely reason your software doesn't run from the dongle is because you have somehow disabled autorun on the virtual CD drive it emulates. Right click on properties may sort that or you may have to use something like tweakui.

You don't need the software anyway as I said - all you need is a dialup connection with the correct APN information.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310410

http://www.filesaveas.com/gprs.html

nottseagull

Before attempting to open those (it took 9 minutes just to thank you using WM5 on GPRS, despite having Opera!) I have this update on the situation.
Now, after inserting the dongle, a box is appearing entitled 'Files Needed' stating that "The file
'massfilter.sys' on ZTE Multimeter USB Modem Driver Disk is needed. Type the path where the file is located and then click OK".
It then suggests I copy the file from C/Program Files/ZTE_1.2059.0.8/Drivers/32bit/WNET, but I have already deleted that
folder in order to reinstall the dongle. Surely the drivers are preloaded onto the dongle?
The only dial-up icon I have is 'XXXSERVER'.
'Modem - Standard 19200 bps Modem(COM 1). Properties asks for a phone no.!