Trouble unlocking MC8755 WWAN card in X60s

[Nickolai]

Hello,

I have trouble with unlocking Sierra Aircard MC8755 in my IBM X60s laptop.

I have bought used IBM X60s laptop with a factory installed Sierra Aircard MC8755 from a person in Australia (hey thank you rek). The MC8755 module (pdf datasheet) was locked with Australian operator Vodafone and the previous owner succesfully used it. I was hoping to unlock the module to use with Russian operator Megafon with the help of the dc-unlocker service, however, it didn't work for me. Here is what I did:

1. Create an account with dc-unlocker service and buy 15 credits.
2. Run the client on my laptop, chose Sierra Wireless and press "Detect". The card detects as MC8755 and locked. Unlock and reboot.
3. Detect again and the card is seen as unlocked. Enable voice, just in casel; it doesn't cost any credits. Reboot.
4. Detect again and the card is seen as unlocked and voice enabled.
5. Turn off the laptop, install Megafon SIM card and turn on.
6. Try to connect with Vodafon dialer, it complains that I have wrong SIM card and fails. (don't have any other dialer)
7. Run the dc-unlocker client again, chose Sierra Wireless and press "Detect". The card detects as MC8755, locked but voice enabled.
8. Buy 15 more credits to try unlocking again. I press "Unlock", the process goes on but fails. The credits are not spent.

What can you recommend to make my WWAN in my laptop work?

Sincerely,
Nickolai Leschov

P.S. I have already emailed dc-unlocker. I'll notify you if they will help my situation.

[adrianaitken]

You shouldn't be trying to run the Vodaphone dialer unless you have a Vodaphone SIM. There should be a program called 'Activate WWAN' or something similar. With *your* SIM card installed (assuming that you pay to use data aswell as voice), run the Activate program. That should setup the correct dialer profile for you.
That is what I did for my 2nd hand X61 which was brought from another country. My local provider appeared with all the correct settings when my SIM card was installed.

[Nickolai]

Okay, now the dc-unlocker manager contacted me and suggested the following:
a) My card is detected as locked erroneously; it's actually been unlocked. I should try the latest version that has this bug fixed.
b) I should use non-operator-specific dialer.

I tried the new version and now my card is really shown as unlocked!

So now I need a dialer (WWAN connection program) that isn't operator-specific. I can't find it free for download on Sierra Wireless' site. Can you please point me to the download location?

There should be a program called 'Activate WWAN' or something similar.

Where do I get this program? Or do you mean it is some standard Windows' feature?

[rek]

Hi Nickolai, good to hear that the X60 is working well. I miss the SSD already!

I think the program you're looking for is called "Sierra Watcher" or "3G Watcher" (can't remember which).

[bananaman]

I believe Lenovo Access Connections does the dialer job also.

[perfecblue]

Hey Nikolai,

Try the Generic 3G Watcher program from Sierra Wireless:

http://www.sierrawireless.com/support/s ... d=20,6,1,1

This one is intended for the USB Data Cards but I've seen success with built-in modules like the MC8775. Remember to create your own dialing profile with the correct APN, Username and Password (if applicable).

[Nickolai]

Thank you for help, forum friends, now everything works fine!

DC Unlocker also seems to fullfill its promise - it just unlocks the cellular hardware and I can use any SIM card I want.

Special thanks to perfecblue for pointing me to the WAN dialer program - it works ok and boots really fast (unlike the Vodafone program)

I investigated the situation with 3G availability here in St.-Petersburg, Russia. 3G is certainly not ubiquitous; 2.5G (EDGE) is more available, but also can not be found everywhere. 2G is. Given that, plus the fact that there are no flat rate data plans I fully understand why laptops with 3G modules are not officially available in Russia. But I'm happy with my new WWAN-enabled laptop anyway because now I can be connected everywhere (I'm typing this on the bus, going back home from my job, o joy!) with high speed where available

Here you can take a look at some speed benchmarks that I did:
At MegaFon's service center (3G)
At work (2.5G=EDGE)
At home (2G=GPRS)

[peter-h]

Picking up an old thread but it is totally relevant as it helped me very much.

I have finally made it!!

Like most laptops with the built-in WAN modems, this was Voda locked.

The modem is a Sierra MC8755 GSM/GPRS/3G one.

It worked very well on Voda but at an eye watering £10/MB roaming
cost.

After a lot of work I found "DC Unlocker" which for 15 Euros does the
job.

Unfortunately one also needs a "watcher" program for the MC8755. The
Voda one works with a Virgin SIM but for SMS only; they hacked it to
not work with non-Voda SIMs.

Sierra don't have a MC8755 watcher prog on their website because this is
an OEM module and they don't want to upset their OEM customers...

So after a lot of googling I found that some people had downloaded a
"generic watcher" from the Sierra website. Apparently the one for USB
modems works. This worked but hardly ever, kept crashing, and
eventually somehow the MC8755 modem firmware got trashed. I restored
the firmware - Lenovo have updates for everything on their website
(nice).

Then I did more googling and found that the Access Connections utility
which comes on Thinkpads does the job perfectly. You configure WAN
profiles in a fairly obvious way. It works with both Voda and Virgin (T-mobile)
SIMs, so I can forget the Voda watcher program even if I did put a
Voda SIM back in there. Well, the AC utility has a buffer overflow
(crash) bug but the latest version on the Lenovo website (2009 date)
fixes that... another great google result.

One bonus of the DC Unlocker is that now the MC8755 works on FAX!! Yes
good old GSM fax, 9600 baud, with Winfax 10.02 which detects the
modem, interrogates it and auto configures correctly. So now I can
send faxes using both email2fax and directly. I think that the
unlocking process enabled what they call "voice" and actually this
also enables the fax functionality which was previously crippled.

This is a report for anybody who has one these Thinkpads and is fed up
with paying Voda ripoff data charges.

[rkan]

Do you have to keep the DC-unlocker software on while using the card? Or do you use it only once?

[Nickolai]

Do you have to keep the DC-unlocker software on while using the card?

No, you definitely only need it once.