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Windows 8 Limited Connectivity

Tomlewis86
2: Seeker
2: Seeker
Hi.

Seems there is a problem with Vodafone dongles on windows 8. So far I have used a couple of dongles. The only one I have a model number for is the K3770. I have tried it with the newest Mobile Broadband Software, version 10.3.210. The Vodafone software itself says its connected and when Norton is installed it says that it has detected a mobile Internet connection and turns on a kind of low usage mode (I've tried it with and without Norton by the way). The problem comes when you bring up the settings through the charms and it shows the connection as Limited and won't load any pages.
I have so far tested 2 dongles on 3 different laptops and get the same issue on ll of them. All the laptops are brand new with fresh installs of Windows 8.

Hopefully that's all the info you need but just let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks a lot
Tom
22 REPLIES 22

Nabs
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Tom,

 

Given that Windows 8 has just been released i suspect that the VM software is not yet fully copmatible with the new OS.

I'm sure the development team will be working on it and will have an updated version available as soona s possible.

 

If these are business critical laptops I suggest rolling back to a fully supported version of windows.

 

Nabs

Retired-Lee
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

Hi there Tomlewis86,

 

Thanks for your post.

 

Can you confirm that you are able to browse? Your post alludes to connectivity issues but I can't work out exactly what's going on.

 

Do you see any error messages?

 

I've asked some of my colleagues for some possible solutions but if you could provide me with any more information I'll be better placed to advise accordingly.

 

Cheers,

 

LeeH

Tomlewis86
2: Seeker
2: Seeker
Hi

No I am unable to browse. I get limited connectivity so if I was connected to a router with a similar message I would be able to access network functions but not Internet. With a dongle it just means I am unable to get online to view webpages or run windows updates etc.

Thanks for your time
Tom

Hi Tom,

 

It should be possible to use your K3770 with Windows 8 and the version of Vodafone Mobile Broadband you have. Both have been tested and are deemed to be fully compatible with Windows 8 (provided you have .NET 3.5 installed)

 

To give you a bit of background on how things should work:

An installation of Vodafone Mobile Broadband is needed on Windows 8 systems to provide the OS with the drivers for the K3770

To get Vodafone Mobile Broadband installed on Windows 8 you might get prompted to install .NET 3.5 when running the Vodafone Mobile Broadband setup (if it’s not installed on your system - although this is dependent on how Windows was upgraded or the OEM build of Windows 😎

Once Vodafone Mobile Broadband is installed then Windows 8 should detect the K3770 when it’s inserted

You should then be able to use either Vodafone Mobile Broadband in the desktop view or the built in Windows connection manager (accessed via the charms) to connect, browse, send / receive data etc. etc.

 

The K3770 was one of the key devices that Vodafone used when testing Windows 8 and Vodafone Mobile Broadband and issues of this nature weren’t encountered.

 

From what you’ve written it’s a little tricky to identify exactly where the problem lies, so it may be a case of trying things and seeing if this changes the results for the moment.

 

Can I just check that your logged on to the Windows 8 systems with full admin rights, and that you installed Vodafone Mobile Broadband when logged on with full admin rights?

 

Also, in your forum post you mentioned that you have “fresh installs of Windows 8”. Did the laptops in question come with Windows 8 installed on them or did you upgrade them from a previous version of Windows? If it was the latter which version of Windows did you upgrade from? How did you go about upgrading? Did you choose to save any data from previous Windows installations when upgrading?

 

If it was the case that the laptops came with Windows 8 installed on them it may be the case that the OEM build and software contained within is having some effect. Knowing the make and model of the laptops in question would be helpful from our perspective. This may still be applicable if you upgraded the laptops to Windows 8 and chose to save data/settings during the Windows 8 installation process.

 

You’ve mentioned about Norton and it’s low usage mode. Although you’ve tried it both with and without Norton there may have been some effect of Norton (or similar software) if it was running in the background during installation of Vodafone Mobile Broadband. Initially what might be worth trying is a clean boot (selective start up) and then retesting, as this will rule out a background application interfering with network traffic. If this doesn’t yield success then it may be worth uninstalling Vodafone Mobile Broadband and then reinstalling whilst the Windows 8 system is clean booted/running a selective start up. This will rule out other applications affecting the Vodafone Mobile Broadband installation.

 

To clean boot:

Right click a tile (when in the modern UI/Metro view)

Click on “All Apps” in the bottom right hand corner

Click on Run

Type msconfig in the run prompt and press return

In the System Configuration Utility ensure the General tab is selected

Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked (You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).

Click the Services tab.

Select Hide all Microsoft Services. **Do not skip this step!**. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.

Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab by selecting “Disable All”.

Click Apply, then click OK.

Click Restart.

 

The low usage side of things sounds like the metered connection function within Windows 8. Windows 8 tends to set mobile connections as metered connections (or at least give you the option to specify this) so that data allowances or bundles don’t get used up by things like background applications or even Windows itself updating, without the knowledge of the user.

 

You can set the connection as a non-metered connection by:

Accessing the charms

Clicking on settings

Clicking the network icon

Right clicking the Vodafone UK connection

Clicking on “set as non-metered connection”

 

It may be worth seeing if any success can be gained by setting the connection as a non-metered connection.  

 

If you find that the clean boot and / or the metered connection settings don’t make any difference then it may be worth scrutinising the network side of things.

 

I know this may sound like a slightly odd question, but did you have a SIM inserted in the K3770 when installing? The reason that I ask is that Windows 8 installs the SIM as a software device within the device manager. Windows 8 can then read the IMSI from the SIM and cross reference the IMSI against a database of APNs (this database is part of the Windows 8 OS) so that, to an extent, Windows 8 can configure your system to connect to the correct APN. If a SIM wasn’t inserted it may be the case that Windows didn’t know which APN to configure your connection to use, as it couldn’t read an IMSI.  It might be worth checking your APN settings as a matter of course.  The APN settings you should be using are dictated by the type of account that you have.

 

internet (if you are a contract/pay monthly customer)

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)

 

In all cases the username and password are both: web

 

To check your APN settings on Windows 8:

With the K3770 inserted:

Access the charms

Click settings

Click the network icon

Right click on the Vodafone UK connection

Click on “View connection properties” – this will make Windows 8 switch to desktop mode displaying the Vodafone UK connection properties

Click the profile tab

Select custom in the “Access Point” drop down list

In the Access Point Name (APN) field enter the APN that relates to the type of account that you have (detailed above)

In the username field enter: web

In the password enter: web

 

If you find that this doesn’t make a difference then what we’re probably looking at is something related to either the network configuration of the Windows 8 system itself or maybe even an issue relating to the Vodafone network itself.

 

The latter can generally be ruled out if other mobile devices are successfully using Vodafone data services in the same location. If you can provide us with the mobile number associated with the SIM that you’ve used for testing then we may be able to identify network related errors from the tools we have at our disposal.

 

To do this, simoply follow the instructions on the PM that I have sent to you and one of the team can get this information passed over to our support teams for you.

 

You can find your PM inbox here.

 

If a point of failure hasn’t been established from what you’ve been through so far we’re going to have to request further information to assist you. You might want to communicate this to us privately as some of it you might not want to put on the forum. What would be really handy from our point of view would be:

 

The results of msconfig/all (run from your command prompt)

The mobile number that you’ve been using for your testing and a ballpark idea of when the errors/non-functional connections have been occurring

 

If you could also answer the following questions it would be great:

Do you ever use the Windows 8 system with a non-Vodafone network connection? If so what type of connection is this?

Do any other data services work (accessing the Windows store or POP/SMTP based mail from a mail client for example)?

Can you browse to an IP address such as 74.125.132.106 (www.google.com) in your web browser?

Do you have any "?" or "!" in your device manager? If so against which components?

What kind of signal strength do you have?

Does connecting via the Vodafone Mobile Broadband software in Desktop mode make any difference?

What’s the light status of the K3770? Does this change when you try to connect? 

 

James

Dear James,

 

I have also problems with the Vodaphone dongle K3770.

I bought my laptop last Friday. When I came home, I tried to install the dongle onto my new laptop that runs on Windows 8 (my previous was windows Vista - no problem with that).

The weird thing is that, when I completed the the installation of the dongle, it says that I have "connection to the internet". The light of the dongle is blue but when I tried to go online via Internet Explorer or run my Norton update, it simply does not work. It gives me the information in IE that the page can not be displayed (Google, gmail, etc...),  Norton gives me the message that there is no internet connection.

Would you recommend me trying those steps as you mentioned in your post for Tom?

If I ping for example Google via cmd, I don't have any received packets.

 

Because of those problems, I went to the shop on Saturday and they have registered my windows 8 via their WiFi network, being convinced that the dongle worked on the Vodaphone network. Unfortunately when I came home, still no connection but still saying that connection has been made (blue dongle light is on).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.


Jenny
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

Hi Stretch,

 

Welcome to the forum! :Smiling:

 

I just want to check, is the dongle new or has this been used previously?

 

If you can follow the steps listed above by James and post your results here, we’ll be able to look into this further for you.

 

Thanks,

 

Jenny

Hey Jenny,

 

Thanks for coming back to me.

The dongle has worked on my previous laptop (windows Vista) and no problems there (still no problems when connecting via the old laptop).

Non of the steps are doing the trick and got already in touch with Vodafone Helpdesk but unfortunately, they could not help me.

They said that they would send a file through via email so I can follow the steps listed, but as of yet, still no response from them. 


I'm kinda bit running out of options now. I need it for work.

Anything you recommend for me to do next?
Sometimes the dongle light is green, sometimes blue. Yesterday I was connected, per dongle (no ! displayed)  but could not browse the web or update Northon.
I always get the following with the dongle, all resulting in the same result as - web page can not be displayed:
No internet access (when dongle light is green or blue)

Limited internet access (dongle light is blue sometimes green)
Connected (light is blue)

 

Wi-Fi via dongle does work, as this has been tested in the shop.

When I type www.google.co.uk, the page can not be displayed
Signal strengt is between 2 and 4/5 bars, so really good
Using the dongle in different USB ports does not make a difference.

 

Thank you.

headcheese
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

Hello,

 

It doesn't soudn like you have a problem with the dongle as it works in other systems.

 

To be able to browse the web via a mobile connection there are a lot of components that all need to be working. The dongle and the mobile network are 2 of these components, but there are other ones on yoru computer (DNS client, IP stack, browser settings, winsock.dll, hosts file etc etc) Think of it like a football team, and if one player fails to shot up, or has forgotten to put his contact lenses in then you get "pitch cannot be displayed".

 

So it's a little tricky to say, from the information provided, do this and it will work.To work out what is failing you might need to supply furthe rinformation and carry out some tests.

 

So first question. How did you upgrade to Windows 8. Did you buy a system with Windows 8 preinstalled or did you upgrade from a previous version of Windows. If you did the latter did you choose to save all your settings? (we're ruling out legacy information form your previous installation of Windows here)

 

And just to check, other devices can use Vodafone data services OK in the location you're experiencing this? Have you experienced this issue in more than onelocation? (we're ruling out localised network faults here)

 

Based on what you mentioned it sounds like you can't browse to IP addresses. Is this the case? (we're ruling out DNS issues here)

 

The low useage mode you mentioned is a feature fo windows 8. this stops is using a conneciton with an associated data llowance to update software etc. It might be an idea to turn this off and see if it makes a diffierence (we're rulingout low useage as a problem here):

- Have the dongle plugged in

- Access the charms,

- Click the signal strngth icon

- Right click the Vodafone conenction

- Set as non-metered connection

 

A green light means GPRS/EDGE and a blue light means 3G. The real ksy is if they are flashign or solid. A flashing state means the dongle has found a signal, but not connected a solid state means that the dongle thinks it's connected. From what you've mentioned I'm guessing your light is solid, but pelase can you confirm. (we're trying to establish the true connection status of the deivcce here)

 

Right, also, just to check, I take it youc an browse the web OK when using a non-Vodafone connection (ADSL broadband for example). (we're ruling out underlying issues with the Windows 8 OS here)

 

Also, have you tried testing with another browser (firefox or google chrome, for example) to see if the same happens? (we're ruling out browser issues here).

 

If you could let us knwo the answers to all fo the above it woudl be a great help in pointing you in the right direction.

 

If you just want to cut to the chase and getting working it might be quicker and easier to go for an extreme approach rather than answering all these questions. If you did want to follow this route I would suggest:

 

Method 1:

Back up up all the data you want to keep

Formatt your hard drive

Install Windows 8 from scratch

Install the full Vesion of Vodafone Mobile Broadband from here and then plug the USB modem in.

 

Alternatively if you don;t want to reinstall windows or if you're using a coporate image I would suggest method 2 (whihc ironically is longer):

 

Please be aware that you're wiping the slate clean from the VOdafoen Mobile Broadband and device driver sid eo f things here. It's kind of like replacing your football team of components here... or you team manager, so is a little extreme and if you're unsure about carrying this out I wouldn't. Just look at what happened to Chelsea recently.

 

Uninstall Vodafone Mobile Broadband

Remove all the network adapters and modems (even if they aren't mobile braodband orientated - they're still part of the IP stack) from the device manager

Reboot the machine

Download and install the full version of Vodafone Mobile Broadband linked to above (this will give you additional tools)

Run the WDKDI tool found in C:\Program Files\Vodafone\Vodafone Mobile Broadband\Driver (select the Huawei option in the device uninstall tab - this removes the K3770 dirvers DO NOT USE THE VID FIELD)

Uninstall Vodafone Mobile Broadband

Delete the folder C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming|Vodafone

 

This next bit, you do COMPLETELEY AT YOUR OWN RISK. I wouldn't reccomend doing this if you're not afamiliar with the registry as you can completely trash your system if you make any mistakes.

1) Back up the registry

2) Dellete any of the following keys if you find them in yoru registry (not all fo them will be there):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone\VMB
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone\WwanSdk
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone\LRU
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone\MarketSegments
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Vodafone\Common
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Vodafone\VMB
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Vodafone\VMC
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Vodafone\WwanSdk
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:ConfAppsModeStatus
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:DeviceAccess
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:DevRemoved
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:LockingCode
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:LogDirectory
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:MobileConnectStartMode
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:OemDetermined
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:ReportingCurrentToSendNumber
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:ReportingLastSentNumber
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:ReportingSent
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:SetupTime
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:UserAccount
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_COUNTRY
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_DisplayLocalNumber
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_OEMID
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_PHONE_PREFIX
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_PLMN
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vodafone:VF_TRUNK_PREFIX

 

Use the MSConfig utility to perform a selective start up:

 

Right click a tile (when in the modern UI/Metro view)

Click on “All Apps” in the bottom right hand corner

Click on Run

Type msconfig in the run prompt and press return

In the System Configuration Utility ensure the General tab is selected

Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked (You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).

Click the Services tab.

Select Hide all Microsoft Services. **Do not skip this step!**. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.

Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab by selecting “Disable All”.

Click Apply, then click OK.

Click Restart.

 

Then I'd reinstall the full version of Vodafone Mobile Broadband you obtained from the download linek dto above, then plug the K3770in and see what happens.

 

Good luck.

Oh my god! Emoticon deafualt nightmare!!!!

In the reg key bit:

:Laughing_Face: = colon D

:Socked_Face: = colon O

:Confused_face: = colon S

Colon = :