I had some problems with WWAN after resuming from standby, dying connection after idling some time and hanging etc. Lenovos WWAN driver is horribly old, so I modified Sierra Wireless' Generic driver to also work with Lenovos customized Device-IDs.
If anyone is interested in a new driver, get mine:

ftp://ftp.kik-server.de/pub/Sierra%20Wi ... .1.6.0.zip (RECOMMENDED!)

Otherversions:
ftp://ftp.kik-server.de/pub/Sierra%20Wi ... .2.2.0.zip (Seems to drain a LOT more power, expect losing one hour of battery runtime, see warning below)

Just run the corresponding DriverInstaller .exe when unpacked. I modded all INFs for all OS, including x64.
Of course this driver is not signed anymore because of my mod so you have to acceppt the warnings on install.

WARNING: I noticed an increase of power requirement when using that driver over Lenovo's. The Notebooks needs ~3W more when using that driver - even when the WWAN card is turned off! On my X300 this cuts off more that one full hour of battery time.

Hi vpn-user

I followed your instructions... all the devices installed except the last "Sierra Wireless HSDPA Network Adapter"... when I pointed windows to the directory ..."...\WinVista\32bit" and I got this error "Invalid access to memory location".



Any ideas why?

Hi,

I didn' t get this error. Which OS do you use? Which card do you have? I actually tested it only on Vista x86-32 on my X300 with the original MC8775 from Lenovo, but I modded all INF files for the other OS too. Perhaps you have to disable the adapter first before installing the driver? Did you use the .exe?

BTW: I have another hint: Even after installing this driver, the connection often "goes to sleep" and needs several seconds to come back when you need it. This is caused by Vista' s enhanced USB Power-Management (Selective USB Power-Management). Disable it (You can do this in Lenovo Power Manager) and the card will always be ready. Shouldn' t cause a significant battery drain since XP does not even have that feature.

Thanks for responding so quickly.

I'm on Vista 32 bit. How do I disable the adapter first? Using the switch at the back of the laptop or via Device Manager in Control Panel.

When I tried to reinstall the original Lenovo drivers (the signed versions), I got the same error! It only occurs when installing the last "device"... the "network adapter". The "modem" installs fine along with all the COM port devices.

So there is not really a problem with my mod

I meant disabling using FN+F5. I edited my message, also read my hint

When using Fn+F5, the device is Off (probably because the driver isn't installed.

However, the WWAN indicator light on the laptop is lit. I guess it needs to be lit so that Windows can see the device.

Get it to not being lit. The drivers can be installed anyway using the .exe.

I've uninstalled the drivers but Windows will, of course, try to automagically install them when I reboot.

I might shutdown, go into BIOS, turn off WWAN device, then boot and install your drivers again..

As I said, I had no problems. But I can' t tell if my WWAN was turned on or off (lit or not lit) ...

Addition: Since this driver is based on the GENERIC driver, it will work with all other Sierra Wireless cards as well!

No joy... still getting the same problem "Invalid access to memory location"

Seems you have to stick with the original driver...

Actually, neither the original or your modded driver will install now...

Well then perhaps is something really wrong with your installation. Maybe reinstall OS?

How, if at all, did you solve it?

Technically, I didn't solve the problem...

Since I always backup my system (Acronis True Image) every couple of weeks, I simply restored my system to prior to applying these drivers.

Then I installed the modified drivers and they worked.

Good enough for me: It proves that its not the modded drivers that caused that specific problem (They now installed fine).

hi

after unzip the mod driver file , i saw the folder is mc8755 ,
may i know is it compatible with mc8775 ? and both sharing the same driver ?


thank for your mod driver , i do have the sierra card MC8775 , MC8755 , MC5720 (CDMA ready for my USA trip and use , may i know this 5720 come with sim card slot ? like GSM phone has a sim card inserted ). as i know ,MC5720 cant be telcomm operator LOCKED , am i right ).

Now I am usinging Sierra 3G watcher driver and application to connect on the mobile broadband , i found this software is not stable , sometime unable to found my sierra card ( shown device not found ) ,when using different operator sim card ( mean sierra card choose SIM card to run ). later i will try your mod driver and report and update to you. as you say , after stand by the sierra card , cant be found and restart , take long time to wait.


When i install this card in my samsung q1u , ( waiting to buy X200 , hopefully my 8775 can be used in x200 , off course must have our kong fung bios master ZENDER help... otherwise error 180x come out ...... )

may i ask any one who install the sierra mc card into the pci-express slot , how you solve the attenna problem , is the attanna cable is ready inside ...
as i know only x300 is ready , like other model x,t,r you need to do the attenna wire arrangement , is like very difficult job , need to dismentle all the part , and pull the cable ot the top of the lcd screen. any one know , the factory lenovo mc attenna wiring map how is go , and look it ?

i got poor reception with my mc8775 in my umpc q1u ,
because the umpc is too compact , i dont want how to arrange the wire , just put at the back off my SSD..
any hint for me..


have any one done it , or have any one just put the attenna wire in the mother board only , how is the reception wise ?

as i know , best reception is still belong to the 3g express card , unlike mc embled card..

there is a replacement for mc8775 card , by the brand name of OPTION , by using the GT connect software , is seem is better than sierra 3g watcher...any one try before ...

Updated to v2.2.2.0 (Using Telstra 3G-Watcher from Sierra Wireless which is more recent version)

Yes they share same driver. Actually, it's a GENERIC driver that works with almost any Sierra Wireless Device.

Hi Vpn-User.

I installed the new driver you posted, on X300/VistaX32/Lenovo-MC8775. Installation went smooth. I hope it will solve all issues.

Quick question - why does it still take a long time and freeze the computer while it is starting 3G-Watcher and searching/initializing the device? I had several Sierra modems in the past, 3G-Watcher was very quick to initialize the never drained CPU to do so.

I found the setting you described in Lenovo Power Manager, "Enable Always On USB", switched it on. It doesn't seem to help.

Thank you!

Why do you use 3G Watcher at all? I use ThinkVantage Access Connections for WWAN.



No thats the wrong setting. It' s called "USB selective suspend" and should be set to disabled.

Furthermore, I updated the MC8775' s Firmware. You' ll find some posts about this on this forum. I got the files by asking the person who wrote that he has access to the cisco download section. Still, the update was very tricky without the installed 3G watcher. So you should keep it for now if you want to upgrade the cards firmware.

I have to say I have ZERO problems with WWAN now that I did all this to the card and driver.

Warning added - See first post.

Did it happen even with 2.1.x?

Will check.

No, v2.1.6.0 does not seem to have that problem. So that version is recommended to use!

The same happened to me with 2.2.x and MC8755 in T60. I was pretty much shocked, because I came from using PCMCIA AirCard 850 which draws next to no power when connected/idle (say, max 0.5W) and even under heavy use it was max 4W. And now it reached 10W (around the same as the rest of the notebook...).
I thought the reason was I used drivers from developer SDK, which I'd expect to possibly contain some debugging things which could cause that. Are they now officially available?

The hungry v2.2.2.0 I published above is based on newest driver from Telstra.