K3565 not recognised by Mac OS X Mountain Lion

[dpg]

I have a K3565 3G dongle which isn't being recognised at all by a Macbook Pro (retina display) running OS X Mountain Lion with the latest release of Vodafone Mobile Broadband for Mac version 4.09.11.00. When I plug the dongle into the laptop the lights showing that the device has found a mobile signal flash on and off but the device is not mounted as a USB drive in Finder and it is not shown under Devices in Vodafone Mobile Broadband.

The same dongle works fine in two different PCs running Windows 7 and also in an older Macbook Pro laptop running OS X Snow Leopard which is running version 3.04.11.00 of Vodafone Mobile Broadband.

I've searched here but although I have found some threads about connectivity problems with this device and Mountain Lion no one seems to have discussed or found a solution to the problem of the dongle not being recognised at all by the latest Macbook Pro.

Any ideas what I need to do to get the dongle recognised by the laptop running Mountain Lion?

[dpg · Accepted solution]

I have managed to get it working now. It isn't quite clear what happened to fix it - I uninstalled and reinstalled the VMB software several times and rebooted in various orders. It still wasn't working but then I left the dongle plugged in for longer than usual (approx 10 minutes rather than one or two as I had tried previously) and it was recognised all of a sudden.

(It still didn't connect to the network but this was down to incorrect default settings in the latest version of VMB. After manually configuring the APN details it has connected OK. BTW, it is quite hard to find out what the correct APN settings should be - this doesn't seem to be obvious on any of the main Vodafone support webpages).

[oldboater]

HELP: tried all the above, been to Vodafone & Apple stores, none can help, any ideas? 

[Retired-Andy]

Hi oldboater,

There should be no issues with running Vodafone Mobile Broadband version 4.09.11.00 on your Mac. What version of OS X Mountain Lion are you on? The software will work with 10.8 but it’s recommended that your Mac is on OS X 10.8.2.

Can you try a re-install of the software please, you can get the full version from here, on our Global Technical Support Site.

Can you also make sure that the “use authentication” box is ticked.

Let me know how you go on.

Thanks,

Andrew

If you have the time, would you be able to complete a short feedback survey for me? You can find it here and it’ll go to ensuring I’m offering the best service I can.

[oldboater]

Hi Andrew,

My Mountain Lion version is 10.8.3 and I'll have another go. Have tried the whole business several times but my device is not recognised.

Cheers

[oldboater]

Tried all that again, same result i.e. device not recognised. Blue light on dongle flashing regularly. Were do I find the 'Use Authentification' tag, can't find it anywhere.

Martyn

[Retired-PaulE]

Hi Martyn, 

You can find the option you're looking for in the APN (Access Point Name) settings in your Mac.

Paul 

[oldboater]

All sorted now, APN changed to PP.Internet and access regained works just fine

thanks

[dpg]

Just for clarification for the benefit of people who read this in the future with a similar set of issues:

There is a difference between the device not being recognised at all by the computer and the device not connecting to the network.

I was having the first problem (followed by the second), but, from his reply, it seems as if the second poster (oldboater) was just having the second problem.

As oldboater says in his post, the solution to the K3565 not connecting to/authenticating with the network is that if you have a SIM with a non-expiring PAYG contract you need to set the APN to pp.internet in the VMB software  ("Connections" tab, click the arrow next to "Mobile Connections" for a drop-down list of settings, you need to add a new set of settings as the software doesn't allow you to edit the default, so click "+", select "APN" and put "pp.internet" in the APN field and tick "Use authentication"). This is needed because the default settings of the VMB software are not compatible with this dongle and type of contract and this procedure doesn't seem to be mentioned in any of the Vodafone documentation.

However, if you have the first problem - the computer not recognising the dongle at all and it isn't shown in the VMB software under "Mobile Devices" in the "Devices" tab - then the solution seems to be as I mentioned in the second post: leave the dongle plugged in for much longer than you think is necessary and it is eventually recognised, provided that the software has been correctly installed (which may require you to uninstall and reinstall, as happened with me). I was giving up after just 5 minutes or so, but I was clearly being too impatient!