70 replies to this topic

[fUNKUS]

ugh, well never mind it was wishful thinking.

Im in a bit of a conumdrum now, i need advice on the Compact II and stopping t-mobile mods from disabling wifi but i cant do that here, everyone at MoDaCo has been really helpful but im not allowed to discuss these 'rom' subjects here, which is fair enough.

I tried to get help on XDA developers forum, where these discussions are allowed but noone has relplied to the thread there. Dead thread....

So im kinda stuck, i think i might know a solution, but i cant discuss it with anyone to check.

Any ideas?

[I am aware that discussing illegal rom's here is frowned upon here so please be careful what you say , dont post any links to rom files ect]

[xspyda]

How very annoying that we are not allowed to discuss something that in many people's eyes should have been included in the model in the first place.

The network provider concerned is obviously consciously trying to block use of WiFi as they do not wish the (rather good) web tariff to be undermined by WiFi technology.

It's this kind of thing that encourages people to switch network provider ... and having taken out a T-Mob contract very recently, I have to say I am seriously wondering if I should take advantage of the Distance Selling Act!

Not impressed!

[fUNKUS]

[quote name='xspyda' date='Mar 8 2006, 22:33']
How very annoying that we are not allowed to discuss something that in many people's eyes should have been included in the model in the first place.

Its not that it should have been included, its a standard feature that shouldnt have been disabled, its not a special feature, its what a wm5 ppc with a fully enabled SDIO does. Thats what infuriates me so much! It worked before t-mobile got their grubby mits on it.

Heres a 'real world' example:

I went to the shop and bought a horse, when i got it home i realized it was missing its legs! I went to the farm i was born on and they assured me that all their horses have legs. So i went to the market and dicovered many other dissatisfied customers. It turns out that the horse shop had accidentally chopped all the horses legs off!

A few weeks letter i received a letter from the horse shop telling me that they are investigating the reason as to why my horse has no legs and that they will 'give me a difinite answer in a few weeks'.............

I have emailed them twice asking them if they are going to even attempt to fix it and they have replied both times with 'there will be an update, but we cant say whats in it' so as time fast runs out for me to change to a device with built in wifi, so does my patience.


Furious exausted ranting aside....i agree...sort it out t-mobile.....wifi isnt everywhere and with the short range wifi provides, we'll still use gprs most of the time. But i actually use my device constantly in a 'work network' capacity and therefore being charged per megabyte to communticate with our own servers externally through the internet sucks.....in fact its rediculous!

My horse is kinda useless...

Edited by fUNKUS, 09 March 2006 - 02:30 AM.

[Pondrew]

Guys, have you queried with the member who started this thread here?

From what he says his MDA Compact II reacted to his entering a wifi sdio card by not only showing the wifi icon but even showed available networks...

...only problem he had was being unable to get the device to actually connect.

[fUNKUS]

Er i started the thread, and i've never seen any available networks when trying to get it to work...just the icon.

Did you read that somewhere else? Im very interested!

fUNKUS

[dave106]

fUNKUS, on Mar 9 2006, 14:34, said:

Er i started the thread, and i've never seen any available networks when trying to get it to work...just the icon.

Did you read that somewhere else? Im very interested!

fUNKUS

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That thread is here

http://www.modaco.co..._2-t237419.html

[Pondrew]

Well, you've confused me Funkus. I've just followed the link in my post (clicking on the word 'here' takes you to it - maybe it wasn't obvious enough). Takes me to a thread started by a member called AaronSoup...

[fUNKUS]

hehe im good at confusing and being confused. I missed your link there, aparrently my eyes have trouble with blue and black!

I'm Persuing further help at xda so keep an eye on this thread:
XDA forum clicky

Thanks for the link it looks encouraging!

fUNKUS

Edited by fUNKUS, 17 March 2006 - 09:36 AM.

[windmillhills]

It seems some progress has been made on this problem recently.  See this thread on another forum:

XDA developer's forum - "HTC Charmer/MDA Compact II WiFi SDIO"

FUNKUS, can you update us on whether you have been successful or not?  My Spectec card which I bought a couple of months ago is still sat on my shelf gathering dust, hoping that T-mobile might finally do a ROM update.

Edited by windmillhills, 31 May 2006 - 10:27 AM.

[fUNKUS]

Major Update:

We have reports of two people sucessfully using the compact II with the Sandisk 256/wifi card using a workaround discovered by a german xda dev user named anna. By tuesday/wednesday i should have the card and will post any results and insructions.

(see the xda link above for further details)

Unfortunately the card is widely discontinued but there are always a few on ebay. I'll hang on to the spectet card untill 'march' just in case.

Others should try the workaround discussed by anna on the xda developers forum with their make/model of card, the same workaround may work for other sdio wifi cards.

Edited by fUNKUS, 05 June 2006 - 02:22 AM.

[fUNKUS]

Can everybody say the words 'Multiple wireless networks detected' ?



Anna's workaround works (with the sandisk card)
i can confirm this, we owe her many thanks.

-hard reset-('clear storage' in system settings works)
1 installed gps info,
2 installed the sandisk driver
-restarted ppc-
3 selected sandisk in network cards
4 set andvanced netwok connections to 'my work network' in both
5 Plugged it in
6 IT WORKED

(Can admin/moderators let me know if its ok to post links to the drivers here?)

Edited by fUNKUS, 08 June 2006 - 12:25 PM.

[Pondrew]

Links to the official web pages hosting the drivers are fine (basically, linking to anything that's openly available online and not infringing the forum rules is ok but we prefer you not to post direct links to the files...)

Glad to hear it works. Sounds like a driver problem then rather than nefarious work at T-Mobile/HTC...

[windmillhills]

What about the Spectec SDW820?

That's great news Funkus.  However, is your success only using the Sandisk combination card or have you tried the Spectec Card that most of us have (and I think you have or had)?  This card still seems to be the one most commonly available on eBay.  I've held onto mine (bought a few months ago) just incase the pending ROM update from T-Mobile fixed things.

Spectec SDW 820 SDIO WiFi card - manufacturer page

[pjam001]

Sounds good.  I'm guessing its the 256/wifi card that works and the normal wifi card doesn't.

[fUNKUS]

oh sorry i didnt make that clear

1. The 256/wifi card from Sandisk works with the workaround

2. Socket Wireless LAN SDIO Card Reportedly Works using the workaround (see xda link below for more info)
Socket card Link

3. The Spectec sdw820 does not, i have tried the workaround but it wont work

However, my spectec card may be faulty, as could anyones, SDIO's are infamous for being unreliable and easy to break so people should keep trying the workaround on xda with different cards, and im positive that a few more will work, hopefully some that are more readily available, and maybe smaller.

That being said the Sandisk 256/wifi may be large but it does give me extra storage space in absence of my 2gb sdio. Lots of things to consider, and how it looks should be last.

Files are available here (page3):XDA Developers Link
(i cant give official links cos it looks like the driver file used as a workaround has been updated and im not sure if the newer one will work)

'Sounds like a driver problem then rather than nefarious work at T-Mobile/HTC...' Yer looks like it, they just didnt test the wifi cos theres another version with it built in. Bit sloppy but not an intentional wifi block. Apologies for the rants :roll:

Edited by fUNKUS, 08 June 2006 - 12:28 PM.

[windmillhills]

Sorry, this is really dumb.  I have downloaded the driver files on xda-developers forum ie gpsinfo[1][1][1].2577.cab

Now what do I do?  WinRAR recognises it and extracts it into 3 files with extensions 001 and 002.  How do I get these to install on the MDAII?

[fUNKUS]

Just put 'gpsinfo[1][1][1].2577.cab' in your 'my documents' folder in your ppc and click it.  
It'll install the workaround/gpsjunk, (you might have to click 'yes')

Dont extract it on your pc first, winrar just associates itself to .cab files.

[sorry the files arent available here, you have to reg at xda to download from the forum
but i dont run an ftp server and a yousendit link wont last long enough, if someone finds
me somewhere to host it ill do so, cos backdated drivers arent available online n e where else]

Edited by fUNKUS, 10 June 2006 - 08:09 PM.

[windmillhills]

Thanks Funkus.  Now getting very close!!!  I bought a Sandisk card on eBay slightly different to the one you guys have used.

Sandisk Wifi card bought on eBay

I can now see my wireless network but am having trouble connecting when putting in the encryption key.  I used the driver for your card not mine.  How do I get the .cab file from this page ?

http://www.sandisk.c...aspx?CatID=1111

Edited by windmillhills, 10 June 2006 - 08:56 PM.

[windmillhills]

WIFI on T-mobile MDA II works with Sandisk SD card SDWSDB000

I can confirm the good news that this evening I have got my t-mobile MDA II compact to connect to my home WIFI network.  

The access point is a 3COM 3CRWE754G72-A.  It works when set on all modes (ie 11b, 11g, both and long range).

The SD WIFI card is the Sandisk SDWSDB0000 (without memory) which I picked up on eBay for £25.
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...item=8825011837

I followed the instructions given in this thread and the similar one on xda-developers http://forum.xda-dev...pic.php?t=42144
I did need to turn off the wireless encryption first to get the connection but was then able to turn it back on.

Many many thanks to FUNKUS, German Anna and everyone else for all their work here.  We now know that WIFI is possible on the MDA Compact II.  I will now follow up some earlier e-mails to Spectec (makers of the SDW820 WIFI SDIO card) to see if they can get a fix from this also.

Thank you.

Edited by windmillhills, 11 June 2006 - 07:18 AM.

[Roadhog]

I've followed this topic with much interest, but I notice that many of the wifi cards you are using are old ones. have any of you tried using newer cards which claim to be compatible with WM5? Or is the only option to buy a secondhand card?

I'm interested as i'd like to take advantage of hotspots to keep my w&w bills down, but am reluctant to spend £30+ on an old card.