How to avoid each time double "# service NetworkManager restart" to get mobile broadband connection?

English Network/Internet
1

Hi,

as I have told in another thread, I am new to this forum and pretty new to OpenSuse. And I cannot brag about being an expert in networking.

*** My system ***
Samsung notebook, tripleboot with Ubuntu 14.04.3, Windows 10, OpenSuse 42.1 LXDE
Mobile broadband: Aldi/Medion/Huawei USB Stick: Device ID 12d1:1436 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E173 3G Modem (modem-mode)

*** This is how I connect to the Internet: ***

  1. Switch Notebook on
  2. Choose OpenSuse 42.1 from boot menu
  3. Put Aldi/Medion/Huawei E173 USB stick in; no NetworkManager icon yet
  4. In Terminal:

~> sudo -i

service NetworkManager restart
  1. Answer Huawei PIN query
  2. Now the NetworkMaanger icon appears. Choose “Aldi/Medion Mobile Broadband…”
  3. No connection yet, hence repeat step 4), and voila, connection established :slight_smile:

This is awkward, especially for my ordinary users not accostomed to root commands.

Could I put this “service NetworkManager restart” thing somehow in a startup command?

Thanks,

susecub

2

Unfortunately, I don’t have a broadband mobile device to test with currently. Is ModemManager running before you connect the device?

systemctl status ModemManager

This might need a bug report submitted

https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Submitting_bug_reports
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/index.cgi

3

Now that I’ve found time to check existing bug reports, this may be describing the same…

https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=960467

You could add to this bug report.

4

Hi, I have an E173 too, but mine identifies as “idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1c07” in “modem mode” (a different rebranding?).
Using it with PIN disabled usually works OK, but occasionally I noticed timing problems when booting with the dongle connected (boot time about 6-10 s here, dongle switching time about 10 s too…); when this happens, I simply disconnect the dongle, wait a few seconds and then insert it again.
I never saw problems inserting the dongle a few seconds after NetworkManager/ModemManager were up and running.
I’m using mostly Gnome, don’t really know if LXDE adds quirks of its own.

WRT https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=960467 the reporter uses an older E220/E156 (12d1:1003) that has a different switching mechanism and never worked well with recent OpenSUSEs (I have one of those too…), so adding to that bug report might not be as useful IMHO.

Hope this helps.

5

Yes, but Network Manager is not involved with the device switching. That is all down to udev and usb_modeswitch. In any case, this does not appear to be a modeswitching problem, but some kind of issue related to NetworkManager/ModemManager. Hence, I think adding to that bug report could be useful here.

6

Hi and thanks to all here :slight_smile:

here is my procedure again, according to your suggestions:

*** 1 ***
PC off, Mobile Surfstick in, switch PC on, login
*** 2 ***
Enter requested SIM pin, enter requested root password; icon with the two bluescreen monitors (to the right of the taskbar, is it the NetwotkManager?) shows “no network connection”
*** 3 ***

systemctl status ModemManager
ModemManager.service - Modem Manager
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/ModemManager.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2016-02-01 19:08:53 CET; 7min ago
 Main PID: 812 (ModemManager)
   CGroup: /system.slice/ModemManager.service
           └─812 /usr/sbin/ModemManager

*** 4 ***
Now, “AldiMedionMobile…” visible at the “NetworkManager” (see above, *** 2 ***). Klick it: an error message appears
*** 5 ***

sudo -i
# service NetworkManager restar

t
results in mobile broadband connection! And double-monitor-icon has changed to “network connected icon”

Shall I file a bug report?

P.S. I had 42.1 Gnome before but was unable to connect to mobile broadband, despite help from an other forum. They then suggested I use LXDE, because Gnome’s networkmanager was a nightmare with this mobile Huawei surfstick.

7

Shall I file a bug report?

Yes, it’s the only way this will get resolved, and the NetworkManager restart workaround may yield useful clues.

8

Sorry, this is the error mesage I mentioned in my previous post:

Connection activation failed

  1. Creating object for path ‘/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/0’ failed in libnm-glib.
9

Confirming that managing the E173 in Gnome with PIN enabled is still sort of a nightmare, while it is as smooth as oil with no PIN.
PIN management seems to be the trickiest part of ModemManager, so I disabled PIN ages ago on my sticks…
but I’m willing to help testing / debugging if there is enough interest from other Geekos.

10

How do you disable PIN on your stick? I thought PIN is necessary.

11

I’ve never had PIN enabled on any NZ-based service provider SIM, but IIRC I’ve read of others using the Windows utility (usually provided with the device) to achieve this. Of course, one needs Windows to do this.

12

No, PIN is not necessary, its only function seems to be to protect your credit or phone bill :smiley:
The easiest way to disable it is via the Windows connection manager (Mobile Partner or whatever it is called in your market).
Inserting the SIM card in a phone and using the phone menu should also work.
It should be possible to disable it in Linux via some command line tool, but I never had to do it that way.