Huawei E169 3G dongle is not detected by Maverick

[Rykel from Singapore]

Binary package hint: usb-modeswitch

I upgraded to Maverick, but Network Manager did not recognise a Huawei E169 USB 3G dongle when I inserted it in.

usb-modeswitch and usb-modeswitch-data are already installed on the system.

[Didier Raboud (odyx)]

Hi rykel, could you please:
1) disconnect your USB 3G dongle
2) enable the logging in /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf
3) connect your device,
4) paste here any /var/log/usb_modeswitch_* files ?

Thanks in advance, cheers, OdyX

[Luca Ottaviano (blackbudda)]

I have the same problem. Fresh Maverick install, user profile recovered from a previous Karmic (or before, I can't remember) installation.

[Luca Ottaviano (blackbudda)]

Clicked the commit button too soon.

I'm attaching usb_modeswitch log. The funny thing is that by default, usb_modeswitch_dispatcher doesn't seem to be able to find my device (see first part of the log). Then, if I try to re-run the script using the same argument, it runs, but it doesn't switch the internet key.
The exact command line is:
usb_modeswitch_dispatcher /1-1:1.0

lsmod says I have usb_storage loaded, but no usbserial module. No /dev/ttyUSB* devices are created.

[Luca Ottaviano (blackbudda)]

I forgot to mention that the same hardware was working fine on lucid-1.
Not tested on lucid, does not work on maverick.

Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks.

[Luca Ottaviano (blackbudda)]

An update on the subject: there seems to be a strange interaction between kernel module usb-storage and usb-modeswitch software (http://www.draisberghof.de/usb_modeswitch/#trouble see kernel related issues).

The workaround that preserves the most features is adding the following line to /etc/modprobe.conf:

options usb-storage delay_use=10

This allows to continue to use usb-storage for usb mass storage and at the same time use the internet key for connectivity.

[Rafal-maj-it (rafal-maj-it)]

Same for me, G3 modem E169 was working on 10.04 and after doing upgrade on this computer to 10.10 it stoped working (it is no longer recognized by network applet)

Linux longway 2.6.35-22-generic #35-Ubuntu SMP Sat Oct 16 20:45:36 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# lsusb
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 011: ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
options usb-storage delay_use=10

I have installed:
ii usb-modeswitch 1.1.4-1

with above settings I reconnected the modem (delaying 20 seconds) and still it does not work.
Logs say:

dmesg:

Oct 31 23:28:03 box kernel: [457395.790105] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, address 7
Oct 31 23:31:46 box kernel: [457619.230052] usb 5-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 8
Oct 31 23:31:47 box kernel: [457619.422514] scsi25 : usb-storage 5-1:1.0
Oct 31 23:31:47 box kernel: [457619.540077] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, address 8
Oct 31 23:31:47 box kernel: [457620.330046] usb 5-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 9
Oct 31 23:31:48 box kernel: [457620.623155] scsi29 : usb-storage 5-1:1.3
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.634140] scsi 29:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.637148] scsi 29:0:0:1: Direct-Access HUAWEI SD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.662129] sr1: scsi-1 drive
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.662384] sr 29:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.662537] sd 29:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
Oct 31 23:31:49 box kernel: [457621.697134] sd 29:0:0:1: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Oct 31 23:40:02 box kernel: [458115.290081] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, address 9
Oct 31 23:40:16 box kernel: [458128.920066] usb 5-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 10
Oct 31 23:40:16 box kernel: [458129.117029] scsi30 : usb-storage 5-1:1.0
Oct 31 23:40:16 box kernel: [458129.290098] usb 5-1: USB disconnect, address 10
Oct 31 23:40:17 box kernel: [458130.070074] usb 5-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 11
Oct 31 23:40:17 box kernel: [458130.289409] scsi34 : usb-storage 5-1:1.3
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.294385] scsi 34:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.297377] scsi 34:0:0:1: Direct-Access HUAWEI SD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.324365] sr1: scsi-1 drive
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.324626] sr 34:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.324781] sd 34:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
Oct 31 23:40:18 box kernel: [458131.357490] sd 34:0:0:1: [...

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

Actually, the fix for maverick was to blacklist usb-storage module.

I've just upgraded to Natty and even the proposed workaround doesn't work. I'm still looking for a way to use the dongle.
In the logs I've seen similar messages to bug #446146, dmesg attached (start from 2343 for example).

[Manfred Hampl (m-hampl)]

There is a bug 565058 about kernel modules not loaded when plugging in Huawei USB modems. Maybe the workaround from there helps also here?

Can you plug in the devicem wait 20 seconds and try the command

lsmod | grep option

If it does not show anything, the command

sudo modprobe option

should load missing modules and maybe gets the device working.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Please make sure you give us the listing of lsusb *after* usb-modeswitch has run as well as immediately after plugging in the device, so we can check if there's just a target device missing from the configuration.

Also, please attach a copy of /var/log/syslog so we can see what happens at the network-manager level if the device has been switched. Note that for some devices you need to wait up to 2 minutes before the device is ready to be used.

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

The device is recognised as Huawei E620, however the USB vid/pid is 12d1:1001

@Manfred

The option module is automatically loaded when I insert the device. Since it was the source of the problem with maverick, I even tried to blacklist the module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf but the system ignores my request. :)

@Mathieu

Is there a precise moment I should take the output of lsusb? If I take it immediately after plugging the device, it doesn't show up, otherwise I get the attached output.

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

@Matieu

The device takes ~1 min before showing up in nm-applet, so far so good. When I try to connect, I get a few error messages from the option driver "option_instat_callback: error -71", then the device seems to disconnect from the usb bus.

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

I've also activated usb-modeswitch output, the device creates 3 USB serials. usb-modeswitch tries only ttyUSB0, which seems correct from my experience with the same device on previous versions of usb-modeswitch.

[Manfred Hampl (m-hampl)]

I have never experienced an error message like yours

kernel: [ 932.820770] option: option_instat_callback: error -71
kernel: [ 933.008135] option: option_instat_callback: error -108

Maybe it is possible to find out something more about that.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Looks to me like the device is switched properly, but still fails to scan or initialize at some point. Reassigning to modemmanager, and this bug will need to be forwarded upstream.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

rykel, it would be good if you could confirm you see similar output on your system too.

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

Created upstream report at:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=643046

[Luca Ottaviano (lcottaviano)]

I upgraded today to Natty alpha 3 and the problem is fixed.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Marking Fix Released, since it's reported to work in Natty.