Sierra Wireless Cards, GPS Software, and a CF-19

First, I am reading through threads like "]Adding Aftermarket GPS to CF-30[/URL]. But so far it is not directly related to my current issue.

My issue? I didn't get a new U-Blox engine, but went with my old tried and true Sierra Wireless options. No big deal I thought. Toughbook Wiki suggested long ago and I had been running Seirra Wireless AC890 express card in my CF-T7. I grabbed a 595U (or some such, will verify later) as I wanted a super quick solution that didn't involve more cables and antennas. Like the AC890.

Problem, W7 doesn't natively recognize the ac890. And Seirra Wireless sold their air cards off to Netgear, who has zero support for them. I have not dug for the 595u stuff yet, but my all day search for the ac890 has turned up empty. I lost all my software I had downloaded during my upgrading the CF-T7 to windows 7.

I just need GPS. What options do I have to get these cards working for this????

 

After hours of searching, I had given up. Then tried once more, and finally found the magic phrase. Let me tell you finding the software and drivers is NOT EASY! Supposedly, W7 "should" automatically load the drivers. It didn't for the ac890 (still waiting for my 595u to arrive). Finally found the needed software on Netgear's site. The software kinda sucks, but it did load the drivers up at least.

Testing with the AC890 I can't say I am impressed with the performance, far from it. I have had a few coldstarts take over 15 minutes... Hot starts still seem to take 1-2 minutes. Hopefully I will have better luck with the 595U, but I am ordering a UBlox based one in the next few days.

Any recommendations for a program I can use for some sort of performance benchmarking of the different options? I have googled this but "gps benchmark software" and the other searches I have tried so far don't get me anything. Likely I am not searching for the right thing.

 

try these links

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/449940-winfast-navigator.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/162184-gps-testing-software.html
GlobalSat GPS--support_download

 

That is perfect thank you Shawn! Now I can get some data about just how crappy the ac890 is, LOL! Hey I need an excuse to get a better one right???

 

NEW PROBLEM! HELP!!!

So maybe I should start a new thread for this weird one... But this one is already here, so lets try it first.

Quick updates. My 595u arrived. After much hunting and many tries, I got it to work. I think... But in the process I managed to break other things. Whenever I uninstall AT&T Communications Manager (I think this was the manager software for the ac890), it breaks my normal wireless.

Specifically, it no longer recognizes my home wireless network, or any other network. I can no longer connect to anything and get "limited connectivity" or "no internet connection" etc. What is really odd is that I can't rename the network, even though I can get that page to come up, and I can't change it to work or home. It just thinks it is an "unrecognized public network."

I couldn't go back far enough in my restore points, to completely remove the software and keep my normal wireless working. I have tried everything that is obvious to me, and spent more than a few hours googling this and trying to find a solution.

May need to resort to installing my backup clone drive, but the date on it appears to be too recent...

(I will edit this post with any further information or progress until somebody posts up any ideas and thoughts.)

 

uninstall all wireless cards from device manager..reinstall wireless drivers downloaded from intel.

 

No dice Shawn... I am seriously stumped on this one. I have revisited this 3-4 times since and spent about 3hrs on this last night.

Uninstalled all the software and drivers, reinstalled (with an upgrade even!).

For some reason uninstalling the AT&T CM s breaking what seems to be a Windows Setting. Like the computer only works on a "network" or something. I was noticing "homegroup" is also disabled. Or at least I can access it.

I dunno, it making me feel stupid.

I HAVE t be issing smething smple, but would think I would have found it by now.

Oh and I have a new keybord on this, Pretty apparent.... Not quite broken in yet t seems!

I am going to try and narrow it slightly further a rmoe another GPS program from SW. But I am pretty sure it is the AT&T CM causing the issues

 

"I have not dug for the 595u stuff yet, but my all day search for the ac890 has turned up empty. I lost all my software I had downloaded during my upgrading the CF-T7 to windows 7."
If you upgraded shouldn't there be a "Windows old" file in C you could check for your lost software?

Isn't there an "allow windows to control wireless/allow intel to control wireless" (or something like that, my memory sucks) choice available when (Proset) is installed?
If you uninstalled your software while it was the chosen option maybe you need to reinstall it and choose "allow Windows" before uninstalling?

Good luck with it!

 

It was a clean wipe and install since no drivers "exist" for this mk1 on W7. So no such file. I had my software all sorted and DL-d do a thumbdrive that got lost. No biggie there. ...except I can't fire up AT&T CM to see what version is installed so I can fix it....

That is where none of these issues make ANY SENSE!!!! AT&T CM first off is broken, and won't even initialize. I get "Could not find c:\program files\att\communication manager\attmultimode.skx" then it opens a window to find said missing file. I will likely need to reinstall the manager.

BUT, this is for the WWAN/GPS PCI-e card and NOT for my WAN anyways... So why would uninstalling this crap on my regular wireless? That card does not have WAN AFAIK. And the WWAN slot is currently powered off anyways via bios.

But yes if for some reason AT&T CM is trying to control my WAN, then I need to get in there and hand control back over to windows. I will try getting it fixed and see if that is a n option.

 

Can't be certain, too long ago.. think I remember Verizon?.. Sierra Wireless?.. connection manager on my old CF-29 wanting to manage WWAN & WLAN,.. vaguely remember a list of USA hotspots? Proset was installed at the same time, used that.
Hope you find the solution anyway!

 

You must uncheck the WAN on the setting of your WWAN control management otherwise your Wi-Fi will be control by those app.


ohlip

 

Yes good plan. But the control management software is AT&T CM, and it is broken.... I can't get it to initialize and fire up to uncheck anything. I can't open it to figure out what is in there to download it, reinstall it and fix it... Digging around in the Program Folders file didn't tell me anything useful.

Soooo if it won't even start the management program, how is it managing anything?

I am recovered back to a point where everything works (except AT&T CM), UNTIL I uninstall the AT&T manager (BTW the uninstall does not give me an option to just fix or reinstall).

I have a handful of external drives to dig through and hopefully find the needed software to reinstall. That will be a mess... There were multiple versions too and only one "almost" worked. I am not happy with these Sierra Wireless cards....

My only option might be to use the recovery clone drive. But doing that sets me back in other ways. At least 1-2 other programs to re-install that are even more problematic. Lol can't win here!

In other news, I got a legit copy of MS Streets and Trips 2008 with the MS gps dongle that has never even been opened before!

 

Ahhh.... Mercury is in retrograde. That EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! :laugh:

 

I found Revo uninstaller (free I think) did a good job of finding & removing registry entries etc. from Norton Security and some other programs that the normal uninstall process had left behind.
That despicable garbage from Symantec was preventing installation of different security software. You may have a similar issue - maybe worth a try anyway.
Hope it helps.

Unless "Mercury is in retrograde" means everything is OK now