taking apart sprint 595u and using the mini PCI card!

Hp_EVDO · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 06 Apr 2007 Posts: 13

Iv'e done this hack before on a laptop. Its not an easy one to say the least!!

First off, what slot are you putting the card in? If you are replacing your wifi card with this one, chances are they pulled a fast one like HP did and didnt make the slot fully PCI Express compliant... i.e. they hooked up the PCI Express portion but left the pins for USB for backwards compatibility unhooked. My HP was this way and I had to manually jumper the solder pads to bring USB to the connector.

Second, all CDMA modems to date that use the mPCI Express form factor are actually just USB modems with the mPCI-X connector. So plugging the modem in via a USB port, or plugging it in to the mPCI-X slot has NO difference. In the future they may go to a REAL PCI-X interface but not likely since the bandwidth needed doesnt really justify re-designing the interface.

Hope this helps! I have a lot of info on the subject if you want!

Aluminum · EVDO Newbie Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 3

If you have a newer dell laptop, you could be in the clear.

The vostros for sure and many of the inspirons etc have actual dedicated WWAN slots that are wired properly. Dell has its own evdo pcie formfactor cards that are the same chipsets etc as the dongle cards, they're actually usb based as well.
(they use vendor ids and such to identify to their software though, this also usually means sprint/verizon software won't talk to them without a little "help")

You can also switch slots with the bluetooth/WPAN and WLAN cards (mine is def not usb, i3945) so all wires are connected. I did this to mess with antenna mods.

LimboMan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

I'm planning to do the same for my EeePC. Unfortunately Only the AC595U is available here in Canada via Telus so I can't take the easy way out and simply use the U720 as others have done.

LimboMan · EVDO Newbie Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

...does anybody know if Telus will allow ESN swapping? I'd want to know if Telus will enable RevA service for a laptop purchased with embedded EVDO modems (e.g. Sony Vaio, Dell).

Also, this would allow me to purchase the cradlepoint router at 3gstore with a u720 stick as another option.

socksbb · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:29 am Post subject:

sstackho · EVDO User Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 32

Can anyone confirm that the U720 is specifically has a a Mini-PCI Express card inside of it? I just learned that "Mini-PCI" is a larger size than "Mini-PCI Express".

I think when people in this thread say "mini-PCI", they are inferring that they are the smaller Express format, but I just want to make sure.

One more question - after breaking the USB enclosure open, is it possible to put the card back in the USB enclosure and re-use it as it was originally intended?

Alex · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:19 am Post subject:

read this: http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/1985/63/

Psy-Snoop · EVDO Newbie Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 1

I have a couple of questions that hopefully someone can answer.

A friend bought a new HP Tablet that has the 5725 Sprint branded module in it. I am trying to get it to work on a different provider's network but so far with no luck. I have the SWPST tool that lets me change the HA Shared Secret, AA Shared Secret, HA Addresses, etc.
I have gone through and matched up the setting the same as a 595 card. But cannot get authorized. Looking from the network side I see the module trying to logging with the proper login name but the network rejects the connection with a message invalid username/password.

Does anyone know if the Sprint FW has some special login setting that is hard coded in the FW?

If I can't resolve this we will entertain the thought of changing the Sprint module with a disassembled 595U. The obvious preference would be to be able to configure the embedded module that is already in the tablet.

Thanks

Psy

kocoman · EVDO User Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 40