Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard and EVDO: will it blend?

Alex · Last edited by Alex on Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:18 am; edited 2 times in total

Check out our article on Snow Leopard Compatibility with Sprint/Verizon EVDO

By now all the Mac OSX fans are giddy with excitement as they anticipate the release of the latest fast cat: Snow Leopard! or "Mac OS X 10.6".

Of course, with each 'major' OSX release, everyone who uses EVDO for mobile broadband devices has to wonder if their existing device is going to keep working after an update, or for those considering mobile broadband service - which device do they need to get to ensure compatibility.

The resident Macheads @ 3GStore are curious too, and we've written an article listing results of our Snow Leopard EVDO compatibility testing for all the devices we have on hand. (link above)

Oh, and if you already have Snow Leopard and a mobile broadband device (EVDO or that other stuff), feel free to post what you know - please include config info for your Mac, carrier/device names, and what version of carrier software you are using (if applicable).
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ed · 3Gstore Employee Joined: 21 Jan 2009 Posts: 34

I am posting just so I get email updates on this as I am curious myself to see how this goes.
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BITF, PITM

patrickst1 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 6

Well it was a bit challenging, but after a little trial and error I think that I got it.

Ok, before I get started with my story ... a little background. I have the late 2008 MacBook Pro trying to connect with the Sierra Wireless Compass™ 597U. Under Leopard I connected with the original software provided with the device, never needed to upgrade (honestly didn't even think to go check the website). I typically connected through the Network control panel, not the SprintView software since I really never used the bundled tools. Because of this I had the phone icon on the menubar and just used that.

And now...

After the upgrade I connected the device and tried to connect the usual way. Got an error message saying that there was no device connected. Tried again, unplugged and tried again. Same results. It was at this point that I noticed a new icon on the menu bar looking like the signal strength icon for a cell phone (turns out it is a seperate WWAN icon now used for wireless devices, news to me). It said it was initializing so I left it alone. I then thought that I would try the Sprint software but it didn't see the modem either so the connect button was grayed out.

At this point I thought that the driver might have been corrupted from the update and uninstalled via the included uninstall app in the SprintView folder. I removed the device and plugged it back in, this time it mounted the install volume so I reinstalled the SprintView software. It requires a restart but the machine got hung up at the blue screen and the spinning gear. I eventually had to force shut it down. Restarted and the install volume mounted again, which was not a good sign. I unstalled and reinstalled the software again but before I restarted I removed the profile from the network control panel and ran Disk Utility. I reparied the permissions (which there were no errors). I then unmounted the drive and removed the modem and restarted. No problem this time, but the install volume mounted again.

When it came back up I tried again, nothing. So I checked for new software and low and behold there was new software posted in June. So I installed it, restarted again and connected the device. Well the software install volume did not mount but the phone icon on the menu bar didn't have anything listed, so I tried the WWAN icon and it connected.

OK, so this is not really steps that anyone should follow, instead I would do a couple things before you start pulling out your hair. First, check to make sure that you have the newest SprintView software, you can get it at http://www.nextel.com/en/software_downloads/mobile_broadband/sierra_compass_597.shtml,
then try connecting via the WWAN icon, or from the Network control panel. I tried to connect with the Sprint software and it told me that the drivers were too old, so it didn't work. I will have to play around with that.

I know that it was long, but I thought that it would better to be thorough, and I hope that it helps.
Patrick

Alex · Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:22 pm Post subject:

thanks for posting your experience, patrick.

here's an interesting discovery: Verizon Wireless has already updated their vzam.net site to list Mac OS X 10.6 compatible software:

http://vzam.net/download/supported.aspx
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jamus · EVDO User Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 34

Cricket kinda works, but not by using their connection software (but using their drivers). This is what I had to do from a fresh install of SL (I may be missing some steps).

Install the software. Mac OS will complain that the installer installed stuff incorrectly.

Move the CDFree* and DevGuruVsp* kexts from /System/Library/Extensions to the desktop.

Delete the panther versions

Rename the tiger versions to CDFree.kext and DevGuruVsp.kext

Copy them to /Library/Extensions

Go into terminal, and fix permissions in the the /Library/Extensions directory:

cd /Library/Extensions
sudo chown -R root:wheel *
sudo chmod -R 0644 *

Load the driver:

sudo kextload -v *

Then at some point, either by removing and inserting the USB adapter, or playing around with the Software, I got a popup saying that a new network adapter was detected.

Then, I went into System Preferences, and to the first A600 device, added #777 as the phone number, cricket as the username, and my last 7 digits of my phone number as the password. I was then able to use this device to connect.

Michael · Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:17 pm Post subject:

I have noticed that for both VZAccess Manager and Sprint Smartview, you will need to re-install in order for either to work again. Also, for those running Sierra Wireless Watcher Application, you will need to also re-install.

It "seems" like the 10.6 installer does something similar to a "archive and install", since a few other apps lost their preferences - but pretty much no big deal to get working.
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azdesertsnake01 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

I can't get the compass 597 to work with snow leopard no matter what I try including the recommended workarounds. Any advice?
Thanks!

Patrick_13 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 7

Not the same as the other Patrick....

Updating to Snow Leopard killed Smartview for me. I had been running the 2.25 release from June. Trying the other Patrick's suggestions did not work for me, nor did uninstalling and reinstalling 2.25.

But I was finally able to get it to work by uninstalling 2.25 and letting the Compass 597 present itself as a USB drive with the old default 1.81 drivers which came with the device more than a year ago.

Installed those ancient drivers, rebooted, and it came up but with the device grayed out. All I had to do then was open Network Preferences and let it sort itself out. It was more or less automatic and let me connect from the preference pane at that point. Smartview still could not see the device so I just replugged it and suddenly it's working fine. Smartview 1.81 is managing the connection, I am not using the WWAN icon (which still says 'initializing...' at this point).

Not going to retry 2.25 unless something breaks. 1.81 was my driver until just last week anyway; may not have all the frills but it does work.

azdesertsnake01 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 29 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

Patrick_13, your idea worked. For anyone with this problem, DO NOT INSTALL THE LATEST drivers for the compass 597 on Snow Leopard until they come out with an update that works. The older drivers DO WORK!

lorenzodaniels · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

I tried the following command after altering the CD extentions and it did now work can you verify please the following

cd /Library/Extensions
sudo chown -R root:wheel *
sudo chmod -R 0644 *

lorenzodaniels · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

EVDO FORUMS,

When i upgraded to Snow Leopard i lost my connect for my Cricket Wireless A600, i tried the steps to change the name extention files, and go into terminal i typed in the commands but they do not work do you know the proper commands or another step to resolve this issue?

zephyr108 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

After installing OS 10.6, my mac will not recognize my modem. I have tried reinstalling the software but still no luck. I don't feel confident about messing around with my systems library, but without some sort of fix, I will not have internet at home. Right now it looks as if 10.6 was a mistake.

jamus · EVDO User Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 34

zephyr108 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Aug 2009 Posts: 3

The error that I'm getting is system/library/extensions/cdfree_panther.kext cannot be accessed.

jamus · EVDO User Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 34