How do I make Huawei e173-s work in 11.3?

English Network/Internet
#1

Hello,
I have a 3G modem Huawei e173s-6, the usb id is 12d1:1c0b.
It’s only detected as storage, not as modem.

According to some tutorials I’ve found, I had to use usb_modeswitch and udev rules to make it automatically switch to modem mode, and usb id 12d1:1c05. I followed the tutorials, and the usb changes the id, but after the switch it is still recognized only as storage.

I have the suspicion that I have to add the driver to the kernel, since this is 11.3, but I haven’t the slightest clue what to do.

Does someone have experience making this modem work in 11.3?

tutorial: USB_ModeSwitch ~ View topic - Huawei E173s working config

#2

This udev rule seems to work with my U760’s

# Create a file named 99-novatel.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d
# Gleaned from: http://www.evdoforums.com/thread8546.html
# udev Rule to eject onload U760 modem I hope!
ENV{ID_CDROM}=="?*",ENV{ID_SERIAL}=="Novatel_Mass_Storage_091155237450000-0:0",RUN+="/usr/bin/eject /dev/%k"

usb-modeswitch is available from Index of /distribution/11.3/repo/oss/suse it looks like the Huawei E173s is included in the usb-modeswitch data package…

Good Luck!
Seems to work best for me if the device is plugged in at boot rather then hot plugged. I’ve been wondering myself if the kernel will handle this now but haven’t tried yet.

#3

Actually, the usb_modeswitch rule works as far as changing the usb id. What it doesn’t do is switch it to modem mode.

I found a thread in Russian that seems to imply some kernel driver build, but I couldn’t understand a bit. I can only deduct that due to the kernel-headers package being in the instructions.

#4
  1. create file /etc/usb_modeswitch.d/12d1:1c0b:
########################################################
# Huawei E173s

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct= 0x1c0b

TargetVendor= 0x12d1
TargetProduct= 0x1c05

CheckSuccess=20

MessageEndpoint= 0x0f
MessageContent= "55534243123456780000000000000011062000000100000000000000000000"
  1. add corresponding lines to /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

Huawei E173s
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1c0b", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

After this, make sure the SIM card on it is activated. Otherwise, it will still detect it as storage. That’s what happened to me at least. I had to call my ISP, activate the SIM card, and afterwards NM detected it as a mobile broadband.

BTW, this is with KDE 4.5 and the NetworkManager plasmoid.

#5

No, please don’t as this file would be overwritten when updating usb_modeswitch (or usb_modeswitch-data respectively).

In general, one should never add a custom (udev)-rule to a file owned by a package.

Instead, add the same content to a custom file in /etc/udev/rules.d, let’s say “/etc/udev/rules.d/40-my-usb_modeswitch.rules”.