Vodafone USB 3G keeps reconnecting the device.

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ProfK

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I have a new little Vodafone 3G modem bought from Incredible Connection yesterday, and it seems fine except sometimes it just starts disconnective the USB device and reconnecting. The problem doesn't appear to be with the 3G connection, but between the device and my laptop. I have made sure it isn't wobbling in the USB port, and have tried 3 different ports with the same results. It will work fine for hours on end, then suddenly go through a phase of random reconnects, evidenced by the 3G connection being lost and the Windows autorun popup appearing.

Is this fairly normal behaviour for this device, maybe due to overheating or something, or must I exchange it asap?
 
Sounds like power issue to me.
Try to rule out power being the problem by plugging the modem into a powered hub if you have one.
 
I had used with the "best connection" (or something like that) setting. It switched between my wifi router and the wifi adsl router that used to be connected.
I had to cancel the automatic switching to best connection setting. Might work for you but also possible that its something completely different.
 
I don't have automatic switching on, plus I try to use that crappy app as little as possible. I normally just click on the Vodacom network from the system tray popup and then click on connect.
 
Tun@ said:
Sounds like power issue to me.
Try to rule out power being the problem by plugging the modem into a powered hub if you have one.
Click to expand...
Yep, just after making my OP, I found another thread that also suggested a power problem. I'll get a powered hub next week and check it out.
 
Something else to just try - Control panel/Power options - if its set on "high performance" try dropping it back to the "balanced" setting.
Another option to the Powered hub is the "Y" cable that feeds from 2 usb ports to the modem.
 
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Make sure Usb booting is disabled in your bios. Then turn off Autorun. Next thing is to go to device manager and check what com port its using. If its A high number in the 20s try setting it to a lower one that's available like 5. I noticed with the Huawei and some other phones I had problems with connecting them when a high com port number was used.
Let me know how it goes
 
Funny, it's been very stable since about three hours after I disabled autorun yesterday after lunch. I restarted immediately after the update, so it wasn't a missing restart that delayed the stability. In the BIOS, booting was already disabled for USB, but in Device Manager the modem was on COM 21; all others but 1 and 2 are in use, so I've set it to 2 and will observe how it maintains today.

It always gets bad around midday, but it doesn't seem to be heat related. Removing it to cool down completely, and let the laptop cool down, doesn't help, and later on I can leave it on for several hours to get really hot, yet it remains stable. Very evasive fault conditions.
 
Yeah I'm not saying that it is a issue but I know I had problems with Huawei and other phones inside windows when the com port was high. Some of my flash programs won't detect the phones when the com port was above 5. Mine also had problems connecting so moved my com port to 5 as well and its been stable I must add.
If it still gives your problems then you might try uninstalling the vodacom software completely and make use of mwconn or mdma. I prefer mwconn because you don't need to install any drivers
 
ProfK said:
It always gets bad around midday, but it doesn't seem to be heat related. Removing it to cool down completely, and let the laptop cool down, doesn't help, and later on I can leave it on for several hours to get really hot, yet it remains stable. Very evasive fault conditions.
Click to expand...
Tun@ refers to power problems, it doesn't mean it there are heat related. It could be a very short peak current causing problem, not a continuous (average) current, while this cause is not ruled out. Are there other USB devices connected to USB ports simultaneously?
You can try the following test. Go to the Device Manager, select "View devices by connection", double click on the USB Root Hub (the one your modem is connected) and de-select "Allow the computer to turn off... ". It might help, but remember this setting will be restored after reboot.
On laptops there are many other vendor dependent power options you should try (turn off power saving options), some will show problems only when running on batteries, it disappeares when connecting power supply.
It is why a self-powered USB 2.0 hub is very usefull. The fact that it happens around midday also suggests faulty Polyswitch (overcurrent protection device). It is highly sensitive to the ambient temperature. So it is heat related, but not in the modem.
 
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Switch of the power saving options in windows. Check in your bios if there's a power down uart option. if that option is enabled the OS will power down Com device connected to it
 
Thanks to everyone for their help on this thread. I have now been connected without any unexpected resets since 5am today. I believe the problem was simply a high level power setting to suspend USB devices. I'm not exactly sure what setting did the trick, but I disabled everything I could find that suggested powering down USB devices/ports.
 
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