Meteor broadband not connecting to the internet

McConkey

Hoping somebody here has some ideas they could share....I hope this is the right place.

I have a meteor brodband stick since June. Was working fine on my old laptop, changed to a new laptop three weeks ago and it continued to work fine after installation. I'm running Windows 7.

For the last two days however it will not connect to the internet. I have removed and reinserted the SIM card. Restarted the laptop and the meteor programme itself.

The stick says it is connected and I am online in Skype however when I start IE it says page not found/offline mode (even though its not) etc.

I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and installed it to the new laptop but it has the same issue as IE.

I have rang the tech support people in Meteor and after a 45 min conversation I am none the wiser. The stick is currently working on my old laptop-so perhaps it is a settings issue on the new laptop.

Hopefully someone here will be able to help, thanks in advance.

McConkey

Hi mods,

Is there any chance this could be moved to another area-it is probably a settings issue and maybe not suited to this area...?

I've tried the laptop on wireless since and the internet is working fine.

Hopefully someone has some ideas, thanks:o

Amalgam

You're in the correct forum.

You're not alone.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056021174

McConkey

Hi Amalgam,

thanks for your feedback, unfortunately I am currently using my meteor stick on the old laptop and it works fine so I don't think that's the issue.

I took the new laptop back to PC World today and the tech guy was able to put a few numbers in manually which allowed the stick to connect however this disappeared again once the laptop restarted. He advised me to wipe the laptop which I have since done but this has not resolved the issue

The tech guy told me the stick isn't picking up the DNS numbers or something, I tried an O2 device last night and that wouldn't work either :mad:

William Powell

McConkey wrote: »

The tech guy told me the stick isn't picking up the DNS numbers or something, I tried an O2 device last night and that wouldn't work either :mad:

Have you tried putting in your own DNS settings? Try using openDNS's DNS servers at 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. It can be a bit fiddly but there is normally a box to put the DNS server IP address in in the conection profile if you are using the supplied software.

McConkey

William Powell wrote: »

Have you tried putting in your own DNS settings? Try using openDNS's DNS servers at 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. It can be a bit fiddly but there is normally a box to put the DNS server IP address in in the conection profile if you are using the supplied software.

Sorry to be a pest, but where exactly do I put that number in?

The guy yesterday entered a no begining with 173.xxx etc and that made it work. I am not that familiar with Windows 7 but was able to see where the DNS no was missing and something else possibly called IV6... where the number is also not assigned. However it was not possible to enter any numbers in these boxes

McConkey

I've now discovered that Meteor Broadband To Go is incompatible with Windows 7 64 bit!

It will work until the first update and thats it It seems that they are waiting for a fix to come out from the stick manufacturers.....so now I wait.....

....but nobody can explain why Skype still manages to work

ScottSF

I have Windows 7 64-bit on my HP notebook and just purchased a Meteor broadband to go (pay as you go) card. It wasn't working either and I called only to find out from customer service that it does not work with "some" Windows 7 customers. I could get no other information or help other than to return for a refund. Meteor says it will work with Windows 7 on their website so this was a big waste of time, so I thought...

I found some postings on this Board about setting custom DNS settings (thanks for your help) and got it to work right away. Here is the detailed instructions in case anyone needs it.

1. Open the Network and Sharing Center which is available as a link when you click to view the broadband/wireless connection which shows up as an icon in your system tray.

2. In the Network and Internet dialog that appears, click Change Adapter Settings from the left menu.

3. Right click on "Mobile Broadband Connection" and click to view Properties.

4. Click Properties after selecting Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

5. Make sure "Obtain an IP Address automatically" is checked (it was not selected in my case).

6. Optional?: Manually enter the DNS servers which is needed to look up web addresses. I changed it to use Google DNS which was designed to be faster than many internet providers and is freely usable. Enter
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4


That should do it (I hope), though I'm not sure if the manual DNS settings are required. See for yourself and post a comment to share your experience. I'm really surprised the Meteor customer support was unable to at least provide this level of manual setup instructions to get it to work. Good luck!

McConkey

Right, I just wanted to thank you both ScottSF and William Powell. William, I couldn't find where to put in those numbers you suggested but I gave ScottSF's suggestion a blast today with no joy.

However, using Scott's directions and Williams DNS numbers I am finally able to connect to the internet again on the new laptop.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to post, I really appreciate it. Was terrible to look at the new laptop not even getting used. :D:D

ScottSF

Glad the combination of advice helped!

I've also noticed than after disconnecting the Broadband to Go and reconnecting, the network settings get reset. So I had to go back in and follow the exact same steps to get it to work the second time. So it is a solution but not a persistent one.

Now I wish Meteor customer support (who are otherwise very helpful) would follow these boards and offer similar advice to Windows 7 users until they release a real fix to their utility software.

McConkey

Same as that, but I've kept the DNS numbers on the screen on one of the Windows 7 sticky notes...so at least I have them to hand each time.

I don't really mind as long as it is working....was frustrating to see the guy in PC World get it going but not to be able to do it myself....I should have gone back and asked him how to do it but it's almost a 2 hr round trip....so thanks again.

The Meteor broadband customer service team are actually very helpful, they listen when you explain all the things you have tried etc and even though they couldn't fix my problem were still pretty sound. Hope one of them sees this fix!!

William Powell

Guys, if you dig around in the depths of the connection software that came with your modems you should find a setting where you can put in the DNS numbers and they will stay and not have to be reentered each time. If you look hard you should find you have a "profile" you use to connect and you can include the fixed DNS settings in the profile. I'd explain more fully but I don't know exactly which connection software you are using.

mixed up

Hi, my sister got a meteor e180 modem and it wont work with her laptop its is windows7 and works on mine with vista i seen this thread and tried what you guys said with no luck.The connect button is grey and says no network beside but when i put in in my laptop i have network coverage and it works.Did you guys have to connect to the internet to put in them settings as i can't on hers any help please?

William Powell

Sorry mixed up messing with DNS settings will be of no use to if you can't connect at all.

Try unistalling the dongle software from the Windows 7 system then when you reinstall DO NOT follow any prompts that windows pops up when you plug the dongle back in. Instead clear them as they appear and then go to My Computer and the virtual CD drive that the dongle creates take a look at the files in the virtual CD drive and find the setup.exe/install.exe file (it should be fairly obvious what file starts off the installation) then right click it (not left click) and chose the option to Run as Adminsitrator. Then follow the instructions on the screen. On the whole I would expect far fewer install problems with Windows 7 than Vista.

mixed up

Thanks for the reply i tried that i opened up the files and there was
disk1 file folder
promptinfo file folder
autorun application
autorun icon
autorun setup information
datacard setup application
datacard setup64 application
promptinfo application
resetdevice application
sysconfig.dat dat file

The only one of them i can run as administrator is datacard setup64 and when i try it wants to uninstall the broadband sorry i know nothing about computers at all every other modem i used installed itself no problem.

William Powell

The fact its asking if you want to unistall is because the software is still installed - you've not fully uninstalled it

So uninstall, then reinstall, but I think the problem might be that you have the Windows 7 64bit version on the computer that I read somewhere has a problem with some dongle software, I'll google and check.

mixed up

Thanks for the reply how do i fully uninstall it i went to control panel and uninstalled it there

William Powell

mixed up wrote: »

Thanks for the reply how do i fully uninstall it i went to control panel and uninstalled it there

Some installer programs check to see if the program they install or parts of it are installed already and if they see bits of the old program, like registry settings offer to uninstall the program which I think is what you reported earlier. So if then you right click and run that program as administrator and it offers to unistall the program for you let it do that then when its finished reboot and try again hopefully the second time around it will offer to do the install for you.

mixed up

Thank for the help william unfortunately i still can't get it to work :mad: has anybody got this to work with windows7 64 bit?

William Powell

Well mixed up you might want to confirm some info and check some things so we know in more detail what the problem is?

First off we know have an e180 modem.

We can't be 100% sure you have 64bit windows 7 so check Start Menu>Control Panel>System for the System Type (should say either 32 or 64 bit operating system).

Next after trying to reinstall we need to know if the problem is with the driver for the device or the Meteor software for connecting they are linked buy still quite separate for our purposes. To check the device driver with the dongle plugged in go to the device manger, thats Start Menu>Control Panel>System again then click on the link at the top right for Device Manager. Here we are looking for anything with a question mark, cross or exclamation mark next to it, if you find any then that relate to the modem that might be the start of the problem.

Then with the Meteor connection software installed you should have somewhere in it you can check the version number (normally a long number) which can be used to check if that version is supposed to work with Windows 7 or to see if there is an update anywhere.

Thats only a start, if any of the above provide useful info then you'll need to follow up and check a bit deeper.

collier

1) Download firmware from http://www.meteor.ie/rubylith/files/Broadband_to_Go_Win_1_0_71_Mac_1_0_44.B416.exe

2) Upgrade your firmware on the stick using a Windows XP machine,

3) Uninstall any old Meteor / Mobile Partner software installed.

4) Download latest driver pack from http://forum.huawei.com/jive4/thread.jspa?threadID=330350&tstart=0&orderStr=null

5) Follow installation instructions.

6) Install you Broadband ToGo software from the stick

You should now be able to connect with out issues on you Windows 7 64-bit.

Pimp Ninja

collier wrote: »

1) Download firmware from http://www.meteor.ie/rubylith/files/Broadband_to_Go_Win_1_0_71_Mac_1_0_44.B416.exe
2) Upgrade your firmware on the stick using a Windows XP machine,
3) Uninstall any old Meteor / Mobile Partner software installed.
4) Download latest driver pack from http://forum.huawei.com/jive4/thread.jspa?threadID=330350&tstart=0&orderStr=null
5) Follow installation instructions.
6) Install you Broadband ToGo software from the stick
You should now be able to connect with out issues on you Windows 7 64-bit.

Just a bump here to thank Collier and let others know that this worked for me with an Acer win 7 netbook.
My only difference was that I didnt need to upgrade the firmware from an XP machine, I did this directly from win 7.

mag123ann

hi i have just got a windows 7 laptop and my meteor stick wont work on it. i was thinging about getting a new meteor stick, i looked on line and see they have all new sticks now. has any one tryed them on windows 7 yet?
i see that the posts were for 2008/2010. its 2013 now so have they made the meteor sticks work on windows 7 yet?