Cannot connect K3805-Z dongle to my Mac

[feduptrying]

I've been trying to connect this dongle on and off all day.  Finally got the Connect button lit (the shop had failed to tell me I needed to activate the dongle!), but when I went to actually connect it told me it couldn't.  Something to do with needing to reassign connection settings, APN etc etc.  I need this desperately as we are in new premises and our business broadband supplier has let us down badly with reconnection dates.  Please help!  Thanks.   ps  I am on an Apple Mac - a new one bought end of last year.  

[SatanicBuddha]

Dear feduptrying,

It is possible that you may have made an error in the installation of VMB.

Please give this a go, bearing in mind that the APN settings given are for a contract dongle as oppsoed to a PAYG:

Customer gets this message when they fail to connect:

‘Could not create network settings. Check that the APN, user name and password in the current connection settings are correct. If the problem persists, please try deleting the current connection settings, and re-starting the application’

Close that message.

There are two solutions to this.

Solution 1:

a)     At the top of the screen, click on Vodafone Mobile Broadband and select Preferences.

b)     Select Account Type.

c)     If Prepay is the type currently selected, click Contract.

d)     You will get a message confirming what you are doing and asking if you still wish to proceed. Click Yes.

e)     You will now get a message asking you to restart VMB. Click OK.

f)      Click OK on the Account Type screen to close it.

g)     Shut down the Vodafone Mobile Broadband screen by clicking the red x in the top left hand corner of the window.

h)     Click on Finder, then Applications. Look up Vodafone… and double click to restart it.

i)      Try connecting.

If solution 1 doesn’t work, move on to solution 2.

Solution 2:

a)     On the VMB, click the Connections tab.

b)     Double click the third option in the list; Mobile Connections.

c)     It should show a setting called Vodafone UK – Default (if it shows any other, delete them by highlighting each setting and clicking the ‘-‘(minus) symbol below it. Note that the Vodafone UK – Default setting cannot be deleted).

d)     Double click the ‘Vodafone UK – Default’ setting. 4 tabs will appear. Under Name, will be ‘Custom settings 1’.

e)     Click the APN tab and make sure the following fields are set as below;

• ·                      APN – internet
• ·                      Authentication should be ticked
• ·                      User name – web
• ·                      Password – web
• ·                      Request authentication details should be unticked

f)      Click OK, you’ll be taken back to the Connections screen.

g)     Make sure ‘Custom settings 1’ is highlighted (very pale blue).

h)     Click on the Main tab and try connecting.

With regards to the first solution, if you are PAYG, then select Prepay as oppsed to Contract.

Give this a try and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

[wondersn]

This is exactly the same advice that I was given over the phone for exactly the same problem and guess what? - IT DOESN'T WORK.

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi wondersn

I'm currently speaking to a device specilist about this issue. as soon as I have more information I will reply 

Can I just ask which make of Mac you have and which osx version your running on this.

Thanks
BenJ
eForum Team

[SatanicBuddha]

Sorry my solution doesn't work, wondersn.

When the modem is plugged in, are any lights showing on it?

If red: this means either the SIM has not been activated (call Vodafone to do so), or there isn't a signal in the area (again call Vodafone to find out if there are any faults. Also check the coverage viewer to see what you should get: www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/network-and-coverage/uk-coverage-map/index.htm).

If blue or green flashing: it can see a 3G or GPRS signal respectively. The light goes solid when a connection is established.

If no lights: issue could be that the USB port is not supplying any or enough power to the modem to work, therefore try another port. Or it could be that the modem is faulty. If possible, try the modem in another computer and see if you are getting the same problem.

Lastly, my post detailed the APN for a contract SIM. If you are prepay, the APN will be different. I'm afraid that I don't have the other APNs to hand at the moment (I deal with contract modems), so try searching the forum for them, or another member or mod may post them here for you.

Let us know how it goes and if you were able to connect, what worked for you.

Cheers

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi wondersn

I've had word back from my device specialist regarding this issue,

Some errors of this type can point to disk permission issues.

I have some steps that are well worth doing to resolve this issue:

• Ensure that the customer’s user account is an administrator account
• Ensure that the hard disk name does not include invalid characters (~ / \  etc.)
• If Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac is not working any more after updating Mac OS X via Software Update, we recommend you try the following:
  • Repair the disk permissions 
  • Download the latest available ‘Combo updater’ from the Apple Support website, and run it again
• In general, use the Disk Utility application to repair file disk permissions

Remove the Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac application completely
Release 2.x:
- Start the Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac Installer application
- Accept the EULA
- From the drop-down menu, select 'De-install'
- Click OK to remove the Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac application
- Restart the Mac, and empty the Trash
- Check that the Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac application is completely removed.
Release 3.x und 4.x:
- Use the ‘VMB Uninstaller’ from the Vodafone Utilities folder to remove the application

Repair Permissions
- Start Disk Utility from the Applications/Utilities folder
- Click on the First Aid tab
- Select the startup hard disk
- Click the “Repair Permissions” button towards the bottom of the window
- Wait until the statement appears that Permissions were repaired successfully.

Run File System Check
- Restart the Mac and immediately press and hold the Command (Apple) key and the "s" key for single-user mode

- Once the startup text has finished, type "fsck -fy" - note the space between "k" and "-" and the fact that you may need to check where the correct keys are located on your keyboard, as the keyboard is treated by the system as an English keyboard in single-user mode
- Press the Return key
- Observe the checks being run: if a problem is found, it will be announced and an attempt made to repair it
- Once all checks have been run, a text will appear, either saying something was found, or saying that the disk appears to be OK
- If anything was found, it is worth pressing the arrow-up key, to call up the last command, and then pressing the Return key to run fsck again
- Once the statement is displayed that the disk appears to be OK, type "reboot" at the prompt, and then press the Return key to restart as normal.

Check for Software Updates
- Repair the disk permissions first.
- Start Disk Utility from the Applications/Utilities folder

- Select the startup volume from the list on the left-hand side

- Select the First Aid tab on the right-hand side

- Click the Repair Disk Permissions button, and wait until the repair is complete.

Repairing permissions on the startup volume or disk.

- Select Software Update... from the Apple menu

- If any are shown, install them.

- Restart the Mac if required

- Run Software Update until no further updates are listed:

Set up a new user account
- From the Apple menu/System Settings/Users control panel, set up a new user account on the Mac, making the new user an Administrator
- Log out, and log back in again using the new account 
- Install the Vodafone Mobile Broadband application and restart the Mac
- Insert the device
- Run Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac.

If your still having a problem, please reply back with the following:

• Exact error message (with screen shot if possible)
• System profile info
• System Log
• VMB debug report

Once I have these I can troubleshoot this further for you.

Thanks
BenJ
eForum Team

[Kerridge]

You have to have  Voda software version 4.9.3 downloaded on your mac..Your mac will configure everything automatically for you.

[headcheese]

From you mentionin that the connect button becoes visible this woudl suggest that teh software can see the USB modem and you get a signal. If you'r ein an area of patchy signal then it might take a while to find one, or you might have to move around a bit to find one.

As previous posters have mentioned you need to have a blue or green flashing light on the dongle as this signifies it picking up 3G or 2G signals respectively.

If you're getting an error regarding APN settings then thse woudl eb the first thing to check. Theere are various PAYG settings so you may need to try each of these in turn to find out the right ones specific to your account:

smart (if you're a pay as you go customer on a £5 for 250MB lasting up to 30days plan)

pp.internet (if you're a pay as you go customer on a £15 for 1GB, lasting up to 90 days plan)

ppbundle.internet (if you're a pay as you go customer on a £15 for 2GB lasting up to 30 days plan)

As per one of the previousposts on here, this is how you enter the APN settings:

a)     On the VMB, click the Connections tab.

b)     Double click the third option in the list; Mobile Connections.

c)     It should show a setting called Vodafone UK – Default (if it shows any other, delete them by highlighting each setting and clicking the ‘-‘(minus) symbol below it. Note that the Vodafone UK – Default setting cannot be deleted).

d)     Double click the ‘Vodafone UK – Default’ setting. 4 tabs will appear. Under Name, will be ‘Custom settings 1’.

e)     Click the APN tab and make sure the following fields are set as below;

•·                      APN – internet
•·                      Authentication should be ticked
•·                      User name – web
•·                      Password – web
•·                      Request authentication details should be unticked
f)      Click OK, you’ll be taken back to the Connections screen.

g)     Make sure ‘Custom settings 1’ is highlighted (very pale blue).

h)     Click on the Main tab and try connecting

I hope that helps.