ZTE Modem USB stick not recognized with kernel 5.8

[Josue Gomes]

Description: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS
Release: 20.04

Linux ubuntu-dev 5.8.0-36-generic #40~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 6 10:15:55 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

usb-modeswitch:
  Installed: 2.5.2+repack0-2ubuntu3
  Candidate: 2.5.2+repack0-2ubuntu3
  Version table:
 *** 2.5.2+repack0-2ubuntu3 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ZTE Modem USB stick is not recognized with kernel 5.8. It works fine with kernel 5.4.
Other versions not tested.

5.8 syslog shows:

Jan 11 07:58:54 ubuntu-dev usb_modeswitch_dispatcher[2915]: Unable to open bind list file: No such file or directory
Jan 11 07:58:54 ubuntu-dev usb_modeswitch[2915]: usb_modeswitch: add device ID 19d2:1589 to driver option
Jan 11 07:58:54 ubuntu-dev usb_modeswitch[2915]: usb_modeswitch: please report the device ID to the Linux USB developers!

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for the bug report, where did you get the kernel from? The focal serie doesn't have 5.8 available neither in standard nor as an upgrade

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

That's weird. I have no sources that could provide a kernel. I'm attaching my sources.list.

See these excerpts of dpkg.log:

2021-01-04 12:05:31 install linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic:amd64 <none> 5.4.0-59.65
2021-01-04 12:05:31 status half-installed linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic:amd64 5.4.0-59.65
2021-01-04 12:05:32 status unpacked linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic:amd64 5.4.0-59.65
...
2021-01-07 06:33:17 install linux-image-5.8.0-34-generic:amd64 <none> 5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2
2021-01-07 06:33:17 status half-installed linux-image-5.8.0-34-generic:amd64 5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2
2021-01-07 06:33:17 status unpacked linux-image-5.8.0-34-generic:amd64 5.8.0-34.37~20.04.2
...
2021-01-09 12:02:45 install linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic:amd64 <none> 5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1
2021-01-09 12:02:45 status half-installed linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic:amd64 5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1
2021-01-09 12:02:45 status unpacked linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic:amd64 5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

That is, it updated to 5.8 line automatically during an apt update/apt upgrade.

That said, is there a way to revert to version 5.4 line?

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

I'm confused. Isn't 5.8 line officially available?

https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/ubuntu-updates-main-arm64/linux-image-5.8.0-36-generic_5.8.0-36.40~20.04.1_arm64.deb.html

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

Eventually I was able to install 5.4.0-62-generic and the stick is now working.
However I'm still seeing updates of 5.8 line with apt update/apt upgrade.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Sorry for the confusion about the kernel version, indeed the hwe kernel update which has been rolled out now is based on 5.8.

Could you perhaps try from a live image if 20.10 has the same issue?

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.10
Release: 20.10
Codename: groovy

Linux ubuntu 5.8.0-25-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 15 10:30:38 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Tested with the latest live image of 20.10.
Initially it didn't work (groovy-bad-syslog.log), then I removed the USB stick and inserted it again, then it worked fine (groovy-good-syslog.log).

[Josua Dietze (digidietze)]

In both the "good" and the "bad" syslog, this error sticks out:

Jan 19 18:24:06 ubuntu systemd[6325]: [e-mail]: Failed at step EXEC spawning /usr/sbin/usb_modeswitch_dispatcher: No such file or directory

[Josua Dietze (digidietze)]

To elaborate, the error means that usb_modeswitch was not run at all, so anything that happens afterwards is unrelated to the package.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

So as I understand it with the 5.8 kernel on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS the device is not recognized. Is that correct? If it is could you please test with the linux-image-5.8.0-41-generic package? Thanks in advance!

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

I'll give it a try.

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

Tried 5.8.0-41-generic.

First try:

It connects and disconnects several times:

Feb 2 17:40:18 ubuntu-dev pppd[3599]: PAP authentication succeeded
Feb 2 17:41:07 ubuntu-dev pppd[3827]: PAP authentication succeeded
Feb 2 17:42:00 ubuntu-dev pppd[4018]: PAP authentication succeeded

But it eventually works.

Second try:

Never works.

See attached syslog files.

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

Just for reference the syslog for 5.4.0-65-generic where it works fine.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Looking at the original 5.4 syslog again we can see the same error so I don't think that is the issue:

Jan 11 10:51:06 ubuntu usb_modeswitch_dispatcher[6535]: Unable to open bind list file: No such file or directory
Jan 11 10:51:06 ubuntu usb_modeswitch[6535]: usb_modeswitch: add device ID 19d2:1589 to driver option
Jan 11 10:51:06 ubuntu usb_modeswitch[6535]: usb_modeswitch: please report the device ID to the Linux USB developers!

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

Indeed it doesn't seem to be with usb_modeswitch:

5.4

Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev pppd[3132]: nm-ppp-plugin: status 6 / phase 'authenticate'
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev pppd[3132]: nm-ppp-plugin: passwd-hook, requesting credentials...
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev pppd[3132]: nm-ppp-plugin: got credentials from NetworkManager
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev pppd[3132]: PAP authentication succeeded
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev pppd[3132]: nm-ppp-plugin: status 8 / phase 'network'
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 184.332332] PPP BSD Compression module registered
Feb 2 18:18:31 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 184.341856] PPP Deflate Compression module registered
Feb 2 18:18:38 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 191.426698] sd 4:0:0:1: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
Feb 2 18:18:39 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 192.201305] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 1
Feb 2 18:18:39 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 192.206633] ISOFS: changing to secondary root

5.8

Feb 2 18:05:43 ubuntu-dev pppd[7058]: nm-ppp-plugin: status 6 / phase 'authenticate'
Feb 2 18:05:43 ubuntu-dev pppd[7058]: nm-ppp-plugin: passwd-hook, requesting credentials...
Feb 2 18:05:43 ubuntu-dev pppd[7058]: nm-ppp-plugin: got credentials from NetworkManager
Feb 2 18:05:43 ubuntu-dev pppd[7058]: PAP authentication succeeded
Feb 2 18:05:43 ubuntu-dev pppd[7058]: nm-ppp-plugin: status 8 / phase 'network'
Feb 2 18:05:54 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 1965.172744] sd 4:0:0:1: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
Feb 2 18:05:55 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 1965.757767] usb 1-3: USB disconnect, device number 33
Feb 2 18:05:55 ubuntu-dev kernel: [ 1965.757905] cdc_ether 1-3:1.0 usb0: unregister 'cdc_ether' usb-0000:00:14.0-3, ZTE CDC Ethernet Device

Could you (or someone else) please reassign to the kernel?

[Josua Dietze (digidietze)]

Josue, the first step would be to fix your usb_modeswitch package installation, maybe by re-installing it. Once you see in your logs that it runs normally when the stick is inserted, check if your problem persists.

[Josue Gomes (josuegomes-gmail)]

After reinstalling usb_modeswitch package the problem is gone. Thanks for the help and support.