All about Huawei E220 - Driver for Mac and XP, ressurection from failed firmware update

Long time from before Lebaran, I purchased Huawei USB Modem E220 from Internet marketer. The price is IDR 986,000 (incl. shipping fee). It is an unlocked Vodafone UK Version, so we can insert any GSM SIM Card to surf Internet with speed UMTS and HSDPA.

Installation for Windows

Huawei E220 Installation for Windows XP is straightforward. Perform below steps to install driver and set correct APN.

1. When I inserted into USB port, Windows will detect it immediately.
2. Notice that there is a new drive appear in your computer, as if we have inserted USB Flash disk.
3. Windows will not recognized and install correct driver. So when Windows asks about finding driver, you should point search location to new drive comes from Huawei.
4. After installation completed  we will have 3 new devices: USB, 3G Modem, and 3G Port.
5. Install Vodafone Mobile Connect from that new drive. This is optional but I believe it makes your life easier.
6. Open Mobile Connect application, choose Settings - Network Connection Settings.. from menu
7. Create a new profile. My case is Indosat 3G

8. Information to be filled

   • Number : *99***1#
   • username: indosat3g
   • password: indosat3g
   • APN Static: indosat3g

9. Save this setting and try to connect.

10. Happy surfing

E220 Installation for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5

For Mac driver, I surf all the web to find correct driver. Download everything and now I am abit confused which one is working one. Originally I follow steps explained by Evan. Hope you can follow my installation step to install Huawei E220 driver for Mac OS X.

1. First point to know: You don't have to install Mobile Connect for Mac.
2. Unplug Huawei E220. Shutdown Parallel Desktop if you have one running.
3. Download driver from here (for Mac-Intel) and here (for Mac-PPC). Extract it.
4. Run the second file: HuaweiDataCardDriver(2.6)-intel.pkg. This will install modem script for Huawei, and place it in \~/System/Library/Modem Scripts.
5. Now plug Huawei E220 to usb port.
6. Open System Preferences - Network icon.
7. If you see any additions to your network devices then you can proceed to step #9.
8. Click + sign to add new device. Select Huawei Mobile 3G for Interface.

9. Now setup as follows:

   • Telephone Number: indosat3g
   • Account name : indosat3g
   • Password: indosat3g

10. Click Advance button, then setup as follows:

    • Vendor: generic
    • Model: GPRS (GSM/3G)
    • APN: indosat3g (change it to your network APN, such as FLASH, INTERNET, XL3g, etc)
    • CID: 1

11. Save all settings

12. Now: Try to dial
13. Happy surfing

If you use IM2 Broadband, follow steps from here (http://www.indosatm2.com/index.php/support/settings/connection/3g_via_mac).

Meanwhile I am quite happy to use it together with Indosat 3.5G Broadband. Speed is acceptable with maximum I've ever reach is around 90 KB/s. Using in my home, signal is quite stable but sometimes drop or it tries to switch signal from 3G UMTS to 3.5G HSDPA vise versa. I can notice it by starring to its LED, dip Blue color for 3G dan cyan for 3.5G.

The story became different when I was in office. It kept switching signal from 3G and 3.5G all the time, so I can never get any downlink. If I inspect send and receive packet, there was only sent packages but no data received. So I tried to find solution to fix this (and this is a breathtaking experience).

I tried to update E220 firmware! (who knows it will make E220 more stable and kept from switching network all the time). I downloaded a lot firmware files from here, dunno which one is the latest firmware.

• http://www.huawei.com/mobileweb/en/doc/list.do?type=-1&id=736  (This is the manufacturer site but no helpful information at all! )
• http://www.vodafone.de/hilfe-support/technischer-support/97017_106487.html#rights
• http://www.indosatm2.com/index.php/support/settings/connection/3g_via_mac
• http://www.mobilebroadbandrocks.com/huawei-e220-72mbps-firmware-update

I run an EXE file called UTPxxx.exe or HOSTxx.exe but it stop in the middle of the process. Oh no! I didn't know that it is prohibited to run this program for those using Windows XP in virtual machine mode with Parallel Desktop. In short word: Huawei E220 firmware update failed.

What I've got: the Huawei USB Modem not detected anymore. Modem not detected, USB drive also not detected --> so I didn't have any drivers source file.

Ressurection from Bricked Huawei E220

If you also run into same problem, do not worry.

1. FInd a desktop PC running with Windows XP
2. Download Huawei E220 driver only from here (taken from http://www.nerve.org.za/mdma/)
3. Download firmware update from here (I think this can be used for all unlocked Huawei). Or places I mentioned above
4. Copy all the files to the desktop PC.
5. Plug Huawei to USB Port.
6. Windows should still be able to detect it. If not, try to plug into another USB port and wait a while.
7. When it asks for drivers, point to driver folder download from step #2.
8. After all is installed and ready to use (as Windows tells ya), now run firmware update file (I used Vodafone one).
9. And pray now...
10. If update successful, you'll see that Windows detects all drivers again.

Useful post to read (and calm you down)

• http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=67855
• http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=1839789&postcount=20
• http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=1499411#post1499411
• http://akudikampusbiru.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/update-huawei-e220-dan-telkomsel-flash-unlimited/
• http://en.wikinerds.org/index.php/Hacking_the_Huawei_E220

Wish you luck