M14x R2 WWAN card

Hi guys,
after struggling with my new AlienWare M14x R2, I decided to join this community to get some help...

I decided to buy this laptop, because I needed some gaming laptop instead of my old Dell D630. I read lot of topics on many forums and I've chosen M14x because of its raw power and portability. One of the reasons I wanted to buy this machine was the SIM card slot (like it is in my Dell D630), so I could plug the SIM in, insert miniPCI WWAN card and be good to go. But, as always, this wasn't as easy as I expected.

Long story short, I have two WWAN cards:

1) Novatel EU870D (Dell Wireless 5520) runs perfectly in my old Dell, but in M14x I can't get it to work. The card is recognized as modem + 3 com ports (exactly as in the old laptop), I install drivers and it simply doesn't work. I cannot even get any info from modem ("Get information from modem" button in Device manager). I could simulate this behavior in my old Dell - when the SIM card is out the slot, it does exactly the same thing. But in the Alienware - SIM card is inserted the right way (cannot be inserted any other way), drivers are installed, antennas connected (had to add them, there weren't any cables), but still nothing. WWAN card thinks that there is not any SIM inserted ?...

2) Gobi2000 (Dell Wireless 5620) - didn't try this card in my old Dell, actually I bought it for the new laptop thinking, that it will work flawlessly. What a f**king mistake. After inserting (and providing drivers), the card recognizes itself only as QDLoader Device awaiting some firmware to be pushed in it. It's not original Dell card, I searched some (actually a lot of) info and it looks like the card is Acer branded (VID and PID match the Acer card type) and off course the Acer utility is not working on my system. Duh!

So what do you suggest? What's the best card, that will work with M14x perfectly?

The laptop was delivered to me yesterday and besides the WiFi (Intel 6250 famous lock-ups and system freezes, had to change it for some Atheros card, which works perfectly) it's the second major problem I'm facing.


Any help will be appreciated. And excuse my bad English language, please.



Thanks.
Best regards,
Radek

 

See this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ting-dell-5620-wwan-m11x-r3-generic-umts.html

after that, install this driver: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/72473707/3068cc2.zip

and finally install the application: Driver Details | Dell US.

 

I read this thread any many other ones. Nothing worked for me, Dell 5620 card was identified as a QDLoader port in "LPT/COM Ports", nothing was initialized even after reboot and Dell Utility wasn't able to detect this device. I think I bought wrong 5620 with non-compatible VID and PID... Anyway I ordered Dell 5530, it's the last chance that will hopefully work. Friend of mine has some Sierra card at home that he doesn't use, so maybe I'll try it if the 5530 won't be working.

 

Send us an e-mail to [email protected], they'll get you a DELL branded one and let you know if you are missing anything.

 

Just a quick update. Dell 5530 WWAN card is not working, it has almost the same issue as Dell 5520 card. It simply doesn't "see" SIM card in SIM slot. When I fire up HyperTerminal, connect to COM port of modem and type "AT+CPIN?", it freezes. A lot of other commands are working, so the modem is OK, I think. I'll try it in my old Dell D630, just to be sure. I almost gave up, but I'll try to buy Dell 5620 card with correct PID and VID (model GV33N), it should be compatible with M14x R1, so I hope it will work in R2 as well.

I had a call with Dell Tech support today, the guy on the other end couldn't tell me, which card should I buy. He said Dell 5620 and 5630 is compatible with R1 model, but he hadn't any info at all about the R2. So why the hell did they put a SIM slot there? His only suggestion was to replace the palmrest assembly (I thought the SIM slot is soldered to mainboard, isn't it?), just to be sure the SIM slot is working.

Btw I wrote an e-mail to [email protected], as L_Porras suggested. So far no answer, I guess I have to wait.

The SIM slot with possibility to insert a WWAN card in PCI-E slot was the only reason I bought M14x... I'm really dissapointed so far and hope, it wasn't the biggest mistake I ever made.

 

I know this is an old thread but THANK Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! Long story kind of short: Bought used dell 5620 WWAN on Ebay, worked in my E6510 perfectly. E6510 got dropped, so bought E6530. Standard Dell drivers/software would not validate in my E6530 but this worked!!! I love you for making it so easy! lol