Dell New Fingerprint Reader Owner's Must Read. Broadcom USH Issue effecting Preciosn M4400, M6400, Latitude E6400 and others

Sounds like a decent plan, even if the chances of success are not too high.

I have one further recommendation: on the one time I posted on Wave's website, they called me about a day later asking if my problem was resolved. They seem very interested in following up on people's problems (no wonder -- I bet Dell pays them a hefty amount since it's a security matter), so it might be worth it to take your complaints to them instead of Dell.

In any case, out of simple curiosity, I'll install the Control Vault and Wave's software this weekend. If I do this, will I still be able to do everything without the fingerprint reader? I.e. can I still use passwords to logon to Windows?

 

Yea, you can still use passwords and do anything as normal! And yes, we might need to work through other channels than Dell, since they dont listen to customers on this issue. All they need is a disable/enable tool to the USH and all the people who want to run with USH enabled can, even if I think it wont be many

Well, I have not done the wave software yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I have. Good luck on your testing!

 

In that second screenshot you showed, what do you get if you click on the "Why is my device not available?" link? Also, when you right-click on your biometric device in device manager, and go to the properties page, are there any settings that you could enable?

For what it's worth, installing the Wave software is extremely unlikely to give you any benefits at all. All of the drivers are in the device driver pack, which you have installed. The Wave stuff provides some clunky user interfaces to some of the functionality, which may potentially replace (and overshadow) Win7's built-in features. I also doubt that Wave tech support would be any help. On the other hand, if you're lucky, you might be able to get something out of Upek tech support. I wonder if Upek's Protector Suite would work on your system now. If they offer a trial version, I'd recommend trying that rather than installing that crummy Wave stuff.

 

I've installed the Dell Control Vault and relevant drivers, but UPEK Protector Suite is not able to recognize the fingerprint reader (it says I need to connect the FP reader to a USB port). I run Vista, but I'm guessing Win 7 would be of no use now.

I might hassle Wave saying that "my new employer" uses UPEK Protector Suite and I am unable to make it work.

 

UPEK Protector Suite does not work with this finger print sensor.

 

Two suggestions:

Modifying Device IDs?
-In hardware: more difficult.
-In drivers: very easy.

Also, has anyone attempted to connect the fingerprint reader to a different USB port?

 

Would a Broadcom USH SDK be of any use here?

Broadcom.com - Security Software Development Kit Downloads

Anyone on the forum into this level of hacking? (Unfortunately not me) :-(

Would love to see this problem solved. This is a major pain in an otherwise lovely system.

 

That's a great find. I am not into that sort of hacking, but I have hacked before. Sadly I have little time nowadays.

 

I don't mean to be aggressive, but I don't think Broadcom will give anyone without a dell.com e-mail address their SDK.

I really think the issue here revolves around drivers, as well as Vendor and Device IDs.


All Dell had to do to make Upek Protector Suite and the Authentec package not work was change the Device ID. Even if the drivers will install, the software won't recognize that the hardware is attached.

If I have time I will investigate the device IDs of some laptops' fingerprint readers at my local Best Buy. Even if they are locked down, I can usually boot Ubuntu from a thumbdrive and do an lspci -vv.

I might even try connecting the Upek reader in my Toshiba to the Broadcom USH in my Dell. I want to test the pins with a voltmeter first so that I don't fry anything.

Otherwise I am going to give up, and just replace the speaker grill and remove the fingerprint reader altogether. Maybe I'll get an Eikon since this laptop is about to become fairly stationary.

One note: I personally would prefer to have website login and Windows BioAPI support over pre-boot authentication, although I realize this is not the case for everybody.

Also: I have been having major problems with the USH lately. If I tap my laptop or type hard it disconnects and reconnects resulting in the Windows "hardware disconnected" alert noise. This is so annoying that I have now muted all Windows sounds! I will look at some point to see whether this is the fault of a bad fingerprint reader, or perhaps I used too long a screw on something and am shorting out the pins on the USH.

 

Been wondering why my fingerprint sensor sucks compared to the one in my friends Vostro 3500. Now I know. This blows. :-(