USB modem doesn't work -- Huawei E372 from Swisscom

[lindelof]

I recently purchased two Huawei USB modems E372 from Swisscom in Switzerland, but none of them works. When I try to activate it in Network Manager it immediately fails silently. I used to own the previous USB model proposed by Swisscom (can't remember the model and I don't have it anymore, but it was a Huawei too), and that one worked very well.

Here are the last few lines from /var/log/syslog:

Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) starting connection 'Swisscom Default'
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> (ttyUSB0): device state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none') [30 40 0]
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> Activation (ttyUSB0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB0) opening serial port...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (disabled -> enabling)
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB4) opening serial port...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <warn> (ttyUSB0): failed to enable USSD notifications.
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (enabling -> disabled)
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB0) closing serial port...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB0) serial port closed
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB4) closing serial port...
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude modem-manager[969]: <info> (ttyUSB4) serial port closed
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <warn> GSM modem enable failed: (32) Failed to find a usable modem character set
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> (ttyUSB0): device state change: prepare -> failed (reason 'modem-init-failed') [40 120 28]
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <warn> Activation (ttyUSB0) failed.
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> (ttyUSB0): device state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none') [120 30 0]
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: <info> (ttyUSB0): deactivating device (reason 'none') [0]
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: nm_system_iface_flush_routes: assertion `ifindex > 0' failed
Dec 7 21:47:06 latitude NetworkManager[1022]: nm_system_iface_flush_addresses: assertion `ifindex > 0' failed

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: network-manager 0.9.1.90-0ubuntu5
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-13.22-generic 3.0.6
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Wed Dec 7 21:51:10 2011
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
IpRoute:
 default via 92.105.112.1 dev eth0 proto static
 92.105.112.0/22 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 92.105.112.129 metric 1
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
 192.168.1.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.56 metric 2
Keyfiles: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
NetworkManager.state:
 [main]
 NetworkingEnabled=true
 WirelessEnabled=true
 WWANEnabled=true
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: network-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-15 (53 days ago)

[tellapu (tellapu)]

Did you find a solution?

[lindelof (lindelof)]

No, although the 3G modem works on some of my netbooks and not on others. Very weird.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

This modem isn't listed at either

    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkManager/Hardware/3G/

or

    https://live.gnome.org/NetworkManager/MobileBroadband

as a supported model. Please file a request upstream at

    https://bugzilla.gnome.org/browse.cgi?product=NetworkManager

asking for support to be added.