[csete]

tomte: I ended up running out of time last night and didn't get back to this. At this point, it is looking like the weekend before I will get another chance to take a run at things. If you come up with anything in the meantime, please let me know.

tyroleanarcher: If you are seeing consistent positive connections, I'd love a walk through of what you are doing so I could try that as well.

[anon1928001]

Hi guys, as promised I just put together a screen capture on how I got this one to work. As you will be able to see on the vid, the connection will lock up sometimes, but after a disconnect and re-connect it usually is stable in my experience. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from my tethered connection.

A bit slow as I don't have 3G in my area, but it should do for most purposes...

Unfortunately the file is too large too post directly here.... I will upload it to my MobileMe public area and post the link as soon as it is completed, should be done until tomorrow morning (CET +1).

BTW: Fileformat is Shockwave... I can play it via Opera only...

Cheers,

Tyroleanarcher

[anon1928001]

Oh and I forgot to add that if any of you has any problems, please feel free to shoot me a BBM Message... Keep Crackin'!!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon1928001]

Sorry, took a little longer, but here it is:

http://files.me.com/rene.raggl/rx22ot

Password: Crackberry

Enjoy and I hope it helps you get this problem solved for once and for all.

Update on connection stability: consistently positive is something different, but I find it useable.

[csete]

tyroleanarcher: Thanks so much for the video. I've watched it once and will give it a try this weekend... hopefully. Unfortunately I have a looming deadline at work that has me working way too many hours right now.

Can you verify that I heard correctly the following?
- You are turning off data services
- You are not on 3G

I know I've tried turning off data services with no luck. I remember reading someone saying that 3G caused them problems. I wonder if I'm having trouble due to a combination of these things?

[anon1928001]

I turned data services off thats right. I also don't have 3G coverage at home.

Just tried the connection at work, where I do have 3G and it works just the same. Well, of course it's faster... ;-)

I doubt that this is the reason for the connection troubles, since I used to get the PPP error all the time too. For me the three main points were:

- Adding BB as a Modem in the Network panel
- Uncheck fault correction and ignore dial tone
- turn data services off

Every time I try to leave one of these options out I get this PPP error.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon1928001]

I've tried to connect the usual way (with data ON, 3G) a few times now and it's successful every time. This tethering thing is getting on my nerves, it's been only two weeks since i started using a blackberry and I feel kinda frustrated ever since by this nonsense.

Tomte: Don't give up yet. I for my part have been working with Macs since '91 and never have I experienced a flawless tethering connection with the many things I have tried since the days of my Nokia 6210. The phones that get closest to that are the simple SonyEricsson like the K770, but you still have to deal with modem scripts, INIT strings and what else not. Patient you must be, young Skywalker, yes, yes. Like Yoda used to say ;-)

Kinda makes me feel like I am back in the times where an 28,8 Supra Modem was the nonplusultra

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[tomte]

hah, ppp via btooth had been a HUGE improvement for me, thanks to the nokia 6230 . Before that i had to do very nasty things involving a a virtual Machine (due to the lack of osx usb support for the phone), windows and custom modem scripts for callback and cbcp support. And that was at 9600 bds.
Anyway, i'm totally puzzled. I've been on like 70 successful ppp connections in a row since I added refuse-pap in
/etc/ppp/options.cu.Bluetooth-Modem
I honestly don't know how this is all related, but I have to say it works for me now. But i'm still on it, i want to know what is going on..

[tomte]

oh and kudos for the video, i'm sure it'll help a lot of people out there

[2jzgze#CB]

Works for me with .266!!!

Just followed exactly what the OP wrote!

[johnnytam]

I try and try.... somehow, it doesn't connect at all, don't know why, i got the following error "could not negotiate a connection with the remote ppp server. Please verify your settings and try again."

Im from sydney, australia, i got no problem doing tethering with pc via USB....


hey hey, after i changed setting by click' show in network preference' then in network preference show an telephone icon blue tooth device, then clicking advance to select 3G CID1 setting, then it came up a funny error message "It is possible your Blacberry is an older model that does not have built in modem capability"

PS: I am using bold 247, OSX 10.5.6

[328iGuy]

Works for me with .266!!!

Just followed exactly what the OP wrote!

Are you serious, I couldn't get it to work with the steps at Blackberryforums.com on .266 but I will try agaian with these steps. Thanks!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[csete]

The failures continue for me unfortunately. I finally managed to get clear of work for a bit to try out everything that has been discussed recently with no better results.

tyroleanarcher, thanks so much for the great video. Following your steps seemed to result in a different look to things in the Network Preferences, but unfortunately didn't end up making a difference.

tomte: I was able to get options file working correctly now (forgot the cu. part of the name). I have the lcp-max-failure and refuse-pap options in there right now, but I'm getting the exact same results.

Almost forgot... I turned off data services and set the phone to 2G. Basically, I think I have every combination of settings that have helped others get going set on my end with no change in behavior.

What next? I'm attaching (hopefully) my results. If for some reason I can't attach, I will upload. Hopefully someone will have a bright idea.

Craig

[csete]

Unless I'm missing something, it seems like it ignores the ipcp-max-* settings. I now have the following in my options file and it still stops with the same number of configure attempts:

refuse-pap
lcp-max-failure 5
ipcp-max-configure 50
ipcp-max-failure 50
ipcp-max-terminate 50
dump

Am I missing an option somewhere that would force it to try more times?

[tomte]

csete :
i noticed that too. I'd like to reproduce it but as my connections are successful now i'll have to wait til it fails again .
Just to add more confusion, i commented all the lines except dump in the option file, and it's still working. I'm glad it is working now but i really want to understand why this is so flaky and WHY ?

[anon1928001]

The failures continue for me unfortunately. I finally managed to get clear of work for a bit to try out everything that has been discussed recently with no better results.

tyroleanarcher, thanks so much for the great video. Following your steps seemed to result in a different look to things in the Network Preferences, but unfortunately didn't end up making a difference.

tomte: I was able to get options file working correctly now (forgot the cu. part of the name). I have the lcp-max-failure and refuse-pap options in there right now, but I'm getting the exact same results.

Almost forgot... I turned off data services and set the phone to 2G. Basically, I think I have every combination of settings that have helped others get going set on my end with no change in behavior.

What next? I'm attaching (hopefully) my results. If for some reason I can't attach, I will upload. Hopefully someone will have a bright idea.

Craig

I doubt that 2G / 3G makes a difference. And one thing I would like to propose: try to restore the original settings as far as possible. From what I could glean from your descriptions, and with all due respect, some of you seem to have been digging deep into the original settings. I suspect that you may have changed something vital. Like I said no offense meant, but seeing that we all use the same devices and OS versions it should be pretty much like I and sam described. The only thing that's different between us is the provider, so we also should be taking a closer look at that one.

For me, the standard Vodafone GPRS APN settings are also generating the PPP error, so I called their hotline and they gave me the BB specific one and now it works. Maybe something similar for upyou in the US??

Tom: Could you please write up the status reports you get when you try to connect? With me it says "Connect" "Identify" and then connects. Earlier on I noticed that the PPP error comes in the "Identify" phase. How's that with you?.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[csete]

I should have been clearer... I did back out all of my previous changes. In reality, I hadn't made that many to the "base" installation. I was driving things through direct calls to the pppd program during a lot of my testing. When I tried your video directions, I reset things and started from scratch. Given that I am a software developer, there is no doubt the possibility that my laptop has "problem" software or configuration on it... but I believe I've removed the changes I made since trying to get this all working.

You may be right about 2G/3G. The fact of the matter is that I don't know why it isn't working. I'm trying as many combinations as I can to try to find the problem. I agree that it is likely related to the carrier at this point. Some combination of Mac, BB OS version and carrier seems likely to be the ultimate cause. The question is really whether there is anything I can do about it?

If you look at the various logs I've posted, you can see I'm well past the authentication phases of the negotiation. I'm using the well-documented access credentials for AT&T in the US, so I don't believe that is the problem. The fact that I can use those same credentials from my Linux box kind of tends to eliminate that as the issue. In addition, I've used this Mac to bluetooth tether via other phones in the past.

I will keep looking for options of different things to try, but at this point I truly don't believe it is something easy and obvious.

[anon1928001]

Ok, I think I can better just shut up, you far outdo me concerning knowledge. I'm only an experienced user and never will be able to keep up with a developer. I might be able to give you some new ideas, but I think that is about it.

I think the best way to tackle is to try and do some statistics:

we're all running Mac OS 10.5.5. or 10.5.6.
we're all on BB Bold 4.6.0.247 or higher

Some of us got a working connection, some didn't

Now, where do we differ?

Providers and coverage

If there are any additional points, do not hesitate to post.

What conclusions can you make from this information?

It can't be the devices or Mac OS X as we all use the same. And actually, it couldn't be a network problem as you state you've been able to tether via other phones.

One thing that could help us to solve this thing: ask people to post their details (OS versions, Provider, succeed or not).

Maybe with some of this background information we can finally solve this thing...

[csete]

tyroleanarcher: I certainly didn't mean to imply you should shut up! :-) Obviously, I don't have all of the answers! While I'm a software developer, I'm new to Blackberry. Between us, we likely make a pretty good pair.

I think your list of differences are right on. I was wondering one other potential difference. Is there any chance that MacBook versus MacBook Pro could make any difference? I'm still questioning the *speed* with which my negotiation fails compared in particular to the same negotiation on my Linux box. Is there some bizarre case that the laptop hardware could be slower or faster and cause a difference? It seems like a stretch, but I'm throwing it out there.

So.. I'm in agreement. For those that may visit this post, it would be great to get (at least) the following from people:

Mac Hardware
Mac OS Version
Bold OS Version
Carrier
Success/Failure

As I mentioned yesterday, there is certainly a chance that I have other software on my machine that could be getting in the way. For instance, I have Parallels installed for my Windows-based work. I have a work VPN piece of software installed (and noticed it put things into /etc/ppp/peers). So, that is another avenue where a problem could be lying, but that path could be difficult (at best) to locate an issue.

[ImGeorgeous]

MacBook Pro (Santa Rosa)
Mac OS: 10.5.6
Bold OS: 4.6.0.247
AT&T
Failure (with everything mentioned so far in this thread)

[csete]

Digging through the Apple Darwin pppd source code again. I still don't have a solution, but I at least understand why none of the configuration options I've specified to allow for extra configuration attempts have worked. Unfortunately, Apple in their infinite wisdom has decided to cap the number of configure requests at 15 and provides no way to change that. From fsm.c in the ppp source:

#ifdef __APPLE__
if (f->reqloops >= f->maxreqloops) {
warning("%s: Maximum Config-Requests exceeded\n", PROTO_NAME(f));
f->state = STOPPED;
if( (f->flags & OPT_PASSIVE) == 0 && f->callbacks->finished )
(*f->callbacks->finished)(f);
}
else
#endif

Tracking back through you can see that f->maxreqloops is defaulted to 15 with no way to change it. Thus, that is the maximum number of attempts that the Mac ppp daemon is going to make no matter what the other option settings might be.

[ImGeorgeous]

i think i may just move back to .190.

[jcturcios]

Macbook Air (1 rev)
Mac OS 10.5.6
Bold OS .247
AT&T
Succeeded 5 out of 5 times by just turning off data services

[anon1928001]

tyroleanarcher: I certainly didn't mean to imply you should shut up! :-) Obviously, I don't have all of the answers! While I'm a software developer, I'm new to Blackberry. Between us, we likely make a pretty good pair.

I think your list of differences are right on. I was wondering one other potential difference. Is there any chance that MacBook versus MacBook Pro could make any difference? I'm still questioning the *speed* with which my negotiation fails compared in particular to the same negotiation on my Linux box. Is there some bizarre case that the laptop hardware could be slower or faster and cause a difference? It seems like a stretch, but I'm throwing it out there.

So.. I'm in agreement. For those that may visit this post, it would be great to get (at least) the following from people:

Mac Hardware
Mac OS Version
Bold OS Version
Carrier
Success/Failure

As I mentioned yesterday, there is certainly a chance that I have other software on my machine that could be getting in the way. For instance, I have Parallels installed for my Windows-based work. I have a work VPN piece of software installed (and noticed it put things into /etc/ppp/peers). So, that is another avenue where a problem could be lying, but that path could be difficult (at best) to locate an issue.

Just a wild shot, but can you get it to work via parallels (Windoze BT tether)? That would exclude a hardware problem...

[anon1928001]

Oh, and....:

MacBook Pro 2,4 Ghz Core2Duo, 4GB Ram
OS X.5.6.
Bold .247
Vodafone Netherlands

Success (not consistent, though)