Huawei e220 faliure rate

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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Of the last 6 laptops I have worked on, this modem has failed to install on 4 of them. So far its being to acers and two HP`s. All different models, and all modems are working. I can no longer recommend this product to anyone because I seriously dont know if it will work.

Anyone else having as much bad luck with this hardware as I am?
 
w1z4rd said:
Of the last 6 laptops I have worked on, this modem has failed to install on 4 of them. So far its being to acers and two HP`s. All different models, and all modems are working. I can no longer recommend this product to anyone because I seriously dont know if it will work.

Anyone else having as much bad luck with this hardware as I am?
Click to expand...

What's the common denominator? ;)

We've got a crapload in the field and I have not seen pop up on any report as problematic.

The biggest problem is the CD Drive issue.
 
Last edited:
vodacom3g said:
What's the common denominator? ;)

We've got a crapload in the diled and I have not seen pop up on any report as problematic.

The biggest problem is the CD Drive issue.
Click to expand...

There are 3 common denominators:

- all have that issue with picking up the flash/cd drive
- all use the modem
- all of them run windows XP

When I bootup off a live CD into linux, the modem works on all the laptops.
 
Why cant the USB flash drive behave like a USB mass storage device? Why does it have to pretend to be a CD ROM? Seriously, the autorun install is not worth the hassles this devices causes by trying to emulate a cd-rom.

Also, I have taken all the laptops into a Vodacom shop to see if they would have better luck than me, but they cant get it to work either.
 
Last edited:
w1z4rd said:
There are 3 common denominators:

- all have that issue with picking up the flash/cd drive
- all use the modem
- all of them run windows XP

When I bootup off a live CD into linux, the modem works on all the laptops.
Click to expand...

Well, we can narrow it down to one common denominator. ;)

I agree on the CD drive thingy. More pain than anything else.

Can you not disable autorun?

Or try the 'non-standard' version of the software. On vodacom.co.za.
 
IMHO they should give up on the flash memory completely, this can probably be done with a simple firmware update. New devices can just come with the software on a CD-ROM.
 
Okay, im dropping my number of 4 laptops to 3 and 1/2. Cause with much effort I got the modem working on the one HP laptop.

Though, it only works on the one USB port (the one I installed it on). Also, sometimes when it gets put in, it hangs the whole machine. Also, if I bootup and plug it in.. and it works... all is good. If I pull it out, wait a while and plug it in... it does not work at all. So you have to reboot :/ (I did check for hanging process`s but it looks like the USB doesnt pick it up again)
 
I think the flash idea with the software on the device is great, but the autorun cdrom emulation is a complete pain. If they could just kill that with a firmware update it would probably be much better.
 
morkhans said:
I think the flash idea with the software on the device is great, but the autorun cdrom emulation is a complete pain. If they could just kill that with a firmware update it would probably be much better.
Click to expand...

Why did they do it this way in the first place? Who's bright idea was it at Vodafone :rolleyes:

If they had made the same as just plugging it in as a normal Data Card, then there would be less problems, espceially the CD\DVD ROM issues.
 
w1z4rd said:
Okay, im dropping my number of 4 laptops to 3 and 1/2. Cause with much effort I got the modem working on the one HP laptop.

Though, it only works on the one USB port (the one I installed it on). Also, sometimes when it gets put in, it hangs the whole machine. Also, if I bootup and plug it in.. and it works... all is good. If I pull it out, wait a while and plug it in... it does not work at all. So you have to reboot :/ (I did check for hanging process`s but it looks like the USB doesnt pick it up again)
Click to expand...

w1z4rd, i have a suggestion to you. I had a similar problem last Saturday and couldnt fix(i was in a hurry), and the guy came back again and i got it working in less than 10minutes.

Uninstall the Software. Delete the directory from Program Files. Remove the Hauwei devices from Phone and Modem option. Reboot, and plug it in again.
 
Iam3G said:
w1z4rd, i have a suggestion to you. I had a similar problem last Saturday and couldnt fix(i was in a hurry), and the guy came back again and i got it working in less than 10minutes.

Uninstall the Software. Delete the directory from Program Files. Remove the Hauwei devices from Phone and Modem option. Reboot, and plug it in again.
Click to expand...

I will try that, but he also has a data card... so I am going to have to do both at the same time.

Another thing... have pcmcia slots changed? the newer HP I have here... well the data cad doesnt fit into it.
 
w1z4rd said:
I will try that, but he also has a data card... so I am going to have to do both at the same time.

Another thing... have pcmcia slots changed? the newer HP I have here... well the data cad doesnt fit into it.
Click to expand...

The new form factor is called Express and is much smaller than the PCMCIA form factor.
 
@w1z4rd, I don't want to make light of the problems you've experienced - I know how frustrating it can be - I had similar headaches trying to get my E220 working in Vista until I flashed the firmware to the Vista firmware version. Generally more forumites have had Vista issues, very few posts in this forum about heXPee issues.

Some points I think need clarification:
w1z4rd said:
When I bootup off a live CD into linux, the modem works on all the laptops.
Click to expand...
That immediately suggests that Windoze is 'unhappy' with the same E220 that Linux is happy with. Probably bcos Windoze is attempting to do the autorun from the E220 the moment it is inserted, whereas Linux obviously will not try and automatically run a file that doesn't have 'x' set.

Disabling autorun in Windoze [at least temporarily for the install] should partially resolve that issue - the other part of the problem is apps trying to hump the E220's iso image.
Iam3G said:
morkhans said:
I think the flash idea with the software on the device is great, but the autorun cdrom emulation is a complete pain. If they could just kill that with a firmware update it would probably be much better.
Click to expand...
Why did they do it this way in the first place? Who's bright idea was it at Vodafone :rolleyes:

If they had made the same as just plugging it in as a normal Data Card, then there would be less problems, espceially the CD\DVD ROM issues.
Click to expand...
IMO the autorun issue is not necessarily a firmware issue, what is required [IMO] is a change to the iso image - remove autorun.inf from the E220's iso image and theoretically Windoze should not attempt to autorun anything from the E220's emulated CDROM, still doesn't stop apps from drooling over the E220 when it is inserted and then not wanting to let go.
 
How can the autorun run... if its not really picking up the drive in the first place? Nothing runs, cause the device drops off the map.
 
w1z4rd said:
How can the autorun run... if its not really picking up the drive in the first place? Nothing runs, cause the device drops off the map.
Click to expand...
As you indicated in your other thread, the CDROM drive icon does momentarily display in Windoze but then quickly disappears, which suggests that the E220 is being picked up [as a CDROM drive] and then quickly thrown away...
 
ic said:
As you indicated in your other thread, the CDROM drive icon does momentarily display in Windoze but then quickly disappears, which suggests that the E220 is being picked up [as a CDROM drive] and then quickly thrown away...
Click to expand...

Do you know why? why would it be thrown away, and its got nothing to do with software trying to take over.. I stopped just about every service that was not critical, uninstalled every program that dealt with any kinda cd writing, there was no emulation software, the only thing i didnt remove was a copy of Pastel.
 
w1z4rd said:
Do you know why? why would it be thrown away, and its got nothing to do with software trying to take over.. I stopped just about every service that was not critical, uninstalled every program that dealt with any kinda cd writing, there was no emulation software, the only thing i didnt remove was a copy of Pastel.
Click to expand...
Nope, don't know why, and the reason is likely to differ from one installation of Windoze to the next.

You're not the first to complain about getting an E220 installed, but usually what happens is a forumite struggles and then days later finds there was some application running that was trying to hump the E220 to death - I still think that is what is happening on those notebooks you have there - some application is running momentarily when the E220 is detected and then stops running before you even see it in Task Manager, but by that time it has already interfered.
 
ic said:
Nope, don't know why, and the reason is likely to differ from one installation of Windoze to the next.

You're not the first to complain about getting an E220 installed, but usually what happens is a forumite struggles and then days later finds there was some application running that was trying to hump the E220 to death - I still think that is what is happening on those notebooks you have there - some application is running momentarily when the E220 is detected and then stops running before you even see it in Task Manager, but by that time it has already interfered.
Click to expand...

Most likely.

Wiz, what is the full version number of the E220 firmware you're using. I might want to try something.
 
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