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Snow Leopard: WWAN using Merlin XU870 ExpressCard

September 2, 2009 at 22:20 · Filed under apple, hardware, internet

This is the same issue I’ve posted on a couple of forums. It’s seemed detailed enough to be a blog post, so here it is. Under 10.5.8 (Leopard) I was successfully using my Merlin XU870 ExpressCard (supplied by ISP) with Three Broadband (3) in Australia. I did not use the 3 drivers, but used the Leopard WWAN built-in to connect. There was never an issue as Leopard detected the card as a “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem”, and I configured the Network Advanced settings for 3 postpaid services as:

  • Vendor: Novatel Wireless Inc.
  • Model: GSM
  • APN: 3netaccess
  • CID: 1

I installed Snow Leopard as an Upgrade (not a fresh install) after having a CCC backup and a Time machine backup in place.

When I plugged in my 3 expresscard, 10.6 detects the card, initialises and populates the WWAN icon with “Telstra 3G: Not Configured”.
Screenshot 1
It detects the card as a “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem”, and automatically configures the Network Advanced settings of the card, as shown:
Screenshot 2
The question is: Why is the APN telstra.datapack setup as default?

I am able to change the APN to 3netaccess, which results in a successful connection to 3:
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing phone: ATE0V1&F&D2&C1S0=0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing PDP context: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","3netaccess"
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Initializing with secondary command: AT$NWPDN=0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Dialing: ATD*99***1#
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Waiting for connection
Wed Sep 2 15:38:25 2009 : Connection established
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Serial connection established.
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Using interface ppp0
Wed Sep 2 15:38:28 2009 : Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/cu.wwan
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : Could not determine remote IP address: defaulting to 10.64.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : local IP address 115.130.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : remote IP address 10.64.***.***
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : primary DNS address 202.124.68.182
Wed Sep 2 15:38:32 2009 : secondary DNS address 202.124.65.22

The annoying thing is the WWAN menu still shows Telstra when connected.
Screenshot 3

Looking at the WWAN system file:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/\
Contents/PlugIns/AppleWWANSupport.kext/Contents/\
Resources/
less countryCodes.plist
it has only Telstra, Optus and Vodafone carriers listed. I think this could be the cause of the default APN being populated in the Advanced settings. I can’t find where the “Telstra 3G” in the WWAN menu item is coming from though.

I’d appreciate if anyone can give their thoughts on how to fix this.

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Hardy Jonck said,

September 5, 2009 @ 09:14

Hi,

I had the same problem. I eventually deleted all the Novatel files in: /System/Library/Extension/ as follows:
rm NovatelMerlin.kext NovatelWirelessFilter.kext NovatelWireless3G.kext

I rebooted – and everything worked fine.

Hope that helps.

lantrix said,

September 7, 2009 @ 10:25

Thanks for the response. I had none of the Novatel* drivers installed, as I had never used the ISP or mnaufacturer drivers. They are listed as 10.4+ compatabile and I had nothing but trouble with them under 10.5.

I thought I had it at least working.

After logging in with a second acocunt on the Macbook Pro, it would not even initialise. Then back on my normal account, it would no longer connect either.
I started getting console errors:

7/09/09 9:35:42 AM com.apple.kextd[10] Can't open CFBundle for /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleWWANSupport1.kext.
7/09/09 9:35:42 AM com.apple.kextd[10] Kext id com.apple.driver.AppleWWANSupport1 not found; removing personalities.

The strange thing is that the original account I got it working on was using AppleWWANSupport.kext NOT AppleWWANSupport1.kext.

I’m really not in the mood for reinstalling the whole O/S, so the way I got this working again was to:

  1. ensure I had the AppleWWANSupport1.kext and AppleWWANSupport.kext folders back in place in /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ (thanks Timemachine backup!)
  2. remove the “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem” from the Network services list
  3. and as others have said in the thread – Reboot with the card plugged in.
  4. I then logged in with my second account (that never worked with the XU870) and added the new network service, choosing the “Novatel Wireless HSDPA Modem“
  5. Under advanced settings I then removed the default telstra.datapack that was added putting the 3netaccess APN in for the ISP I use

lantrix said,

September 7, 2009 @ 10:41

I’m also discussing this issue over at the Apple Discussion Forums

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