Using Sprint Novatel U727 Wireless Card on Leopard
I upgraded my MacBook OS to Leopard, and everything worked pretty well until I tried to use my Sprint EVDO card. In Leopard, the “Internet Connect” utility is gone and the functionality has been moved into the regular network preferences. There was a device in the network prefs window, but it said “not connected” and it would not connect.
I tried reading some EVDO forums and apple support forums, and they were all very vague and not helpful.
I ended up randomly trying a bunch of things, and here’s what worked for me:
1. remove the novatel USB device.
2. downloaded the latest driver package for Mac OS X from Sprint. It says it is for Tiger (10.4) but it seems to work.
3. I deleted (sudo rm -rf) all the Novatel files from /System/Library/Extentions. Reboot.
4. Run the mpkg installer for the sprint drivers.
5. Reboot.
6. Open network preferences; plug in the Novatel device; click “+” and add “Novatel CDMA” device.
7. Click “Advanced” button. Change vendor to Novatel and Model to CDMA.
8. Click “Connect” and it works.
Note that I had previously activated this device when my MacBook was running Tiger, so I didn’t have to do any activation.
November 10th, 2007 at 10:55 am
You are the man
November 19th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
i tried this and it wouldn’t work — suck. it is looking like i will actually have to roll back to leopard. i can’t believe it. just got this thing — so disappointed.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
or roll back to tiger. see — so frustrated that i can’t even get my cats straight :).
November 26th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
It worked for my bosses macbook too! Now i’m worth keeping around (i hope). thanks dude!
November 26th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Yes! My new slogan will be “read EGOPOLY, and don’t get FIRED!”
Happy to help.
:-)
November 28th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
One small change you should put in is that you have to hit “okay” before you can select CDAM, at least on my 10.5.1 install.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
way to go, you are a genius. Read epology and get educated. This worked for me on the first try. Thank You, you new more than Mac Support did.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Does anybody know how I can get it to work if I loaded Leopard on a non intel based computer? as far as I can tell the update on the Apple website is only for the intel based computers. Mine is a G5 imac so it doesn’t do me any good.
December 28th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Thanks for this. I had Sprint Support talk me through this - the answer there was the same.
Next question: How do I get the phone (dialer) icon to show in the top bar of my MacBook screen, just as it did in Tiger? Or, is there another shortcut to get the U727 modem to dial out? Right now I have to go into System Preferences, then Network, and dial through the Novatel CDMA tab.
Thanks,
Kirk
February 9th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I live in a rural area, have to use wireless card to get high speed, got a new imac 10.5, loaded leopard, having trouble installing sprint/novatel u727 air card successfully. Spoke in 3-way with solutions partner from sprint and an expert tech from apple and could not resolve problem. Next I went to novatel site and found information that helped. I was able to get online and later could not. Searched novatel faq’s and found more answers, applied them and got online again. Now I’m back to device cannot connect screen every time I try to connect. Any help?
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
You need to press Apply to save the new Novatel settings before you press Connect. And these steps are documented in the Sprint guide at http://www4.sprint.com/pcsbusiness/support/downloads/items.jsp
July 8th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Weeks. I spent WEEKS toying around trying to get my card working again! (One day it stopped working for no apparent reason.) I even tried installing the Sprint drivers a couple of times! Nothing worked! Following your “magical” steps got it working again! Woohoo! Thanks a ton! :D