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Redfeather20
@instantdedis.com

Redfeather20

Anon

Proper Use Of A USB Modem (Air Card)

I have a sierra 250U USB modem which is activated and which has been working well. But there are still some things I do not know for sure and I need someone who is computer savvy to help me.

I am using this sierra 250 USB Modem thing to connect to my sprint broadband.

My question is: "Should I insert the 250U USB Modem into the USB port of my computer "BEFORE" or "AFTER" I turn the power on to the computer . . . or does it matter? I sure wouldn't want to do anything that might be harmful to the device and I am so new at this computer stuff I really don't know.

Recap: "Should my computer be up, running and fully booted before I insert the device into the USB port or should it be inserted before I turn the computer on . . . or does it matter which I choose?

Thanks in advance for any advice which will be so sincerely appreciated.
wirelessdog
join:2008-07-15
Queen Anne, MD

wirelessdog

Member

You have an active working Sprint connection through Millenicom?

beck
MVM
join:2002-01-29
On The Road

beck to Redfeather20

MVM

to Redfeather20
It doesn't matter. Other than if your software doesn't look for the device except at boot time. Usb are hotswapable.

Redfeather20
@unmetered.com

Redfeather20 to wirelessdog

Anon

to wirelessdog
To: wirelessdog

I have an active working connection through Blue Mountain Internet in Walla Walla, Washington on a sierra 250U USB device they shipped to me already activated and registered.

I got this thing as a result of migrating my service to bmi.net from Millenicom.

I just wanted to know whether my computer should be turned completely on and booted all the way up before I insert the device into my computer's USB port . . . or if it would hurt anything to insert the device into my computer before I power it up.

I do not know much about these things and I want to avoid doing anything to harm my USB aircard (The 250U) so I need to ask the people who probably know and those people . . . in my opinion . . . are the members of the greater Broadband Community.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22

Member

said by Redfeather20 :

I just wanted to know whether my computer should be turned completely on and booted all the way up before I insert the device into my computer's USB port . . . or if it would hurt anything to insert the device into my computer before I power it up.

Generally I connect USB modems *after* the system is up and running... but it shouldn't hurt if you do it before.

Some of the USB modems have the driver software built in that gets presented as a virtual cd rom drive... on a couple of my laptops they would never boot (just sit at a black screen) when they came in contact with that virtual cd rom drive... while other laptops had no issues (due to the bios ignoring USB devices for boot drives).

Looking at the information at the sprint site they only warn not to insert it before installing the driver software, which won't harm the device so much as get windows confused about the drivers.

fred_3783579
@spcsdns.net

fred_3783579 to Redfeather20

Anon

to Redfeather20
sometimes if i had trouble with the u250 (like failure to recognize the device after a hibernation or accidentally hit the modem and then lost connection) i would just kill and restart the SprintSmartView process. the free and portable app SystemExplorer is useful for doing this quickly.

very rarely restarting the SprintSmartView process isn't enough and then i'd have to restart the computer. SwiApidemux (sp??) also seems to be a process related and it may be helpful to restart but only if SprintSmartView restart has already failed.

Redfeather20
@instantdedis.com

Redfeather20 to dib22

Anon

to dib22
To: dib22

Thanks for the information. I sincerely appreciate it.