Huawei e169 not working

English Network/Internet
#1

Hi there,

I’ve just installed openSUSE 11.2 (KDE 4.3) on my Dell 1720 lapcrusher (a fresh install - had no space to install next to my old openSUSE 11.0, so had to wipe that). I have a huawei e169 (e620) that worked fine in 11.0 (after some initial trouble/configuring, details of which I cannot remember) using knetworkmanager, but try what I might in 11.2 I cannot get this HSDPA modem to connect to my ISP (Virgin Mobile Broadband in Brisbane Australia).

I’m looking for some advice on where to start - first up the modem is detected fine in KDE 4.3, I can setup a profile with the correct APN “VirginBroadband” and “blank” inserted for username/password, and PAP enabled and CHAP disabled - thats pretty much how it was setup under openSUSE 11.0, and it will try to connect but always will not authenticate - I’m not sure at which stage of authentication the process goes pear shaped. I’ve tried different combos of turning on/off compression/echo options etc, turning on/off MSCHAP/MSCHAP2, but to no avail.

:stuck_out_tongue:

Would be much appreciated if someone could get me started on how to fix this…

Kind regards,

Chris Wilkinson, Brisbane, Australia.

#2

Chrisblob wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> I’ve just installed openSUSE 11.2 (KDE 4.3) on my Dell 1720 lapcrusher
> (a fresh install - had no space to install next to my old openSUSE 11.0,
> so had to wipe that). I have a huawei e169 (e620) that worked fine in
> 11.0 (after some initial trouble/configuring, details of which I cannot
> remember) using knetworkmanager, but try what I might in 11.2 I cannot
> get this HSDPA modem to connect to my ISP (Virgin Mobile Broadband in
> Brisbane Australia).
>
> I’m looking for some advice on where to start - first up the modem is
> detected fine in KDE 4.3, I can setup a profile with the correct APN
> “VirginBroadband” and “blank” inserted for username/password, and PAP
> enabled and CHAP disabled - thats pretty much how it was setup under
> openSUSE 11.0, and it will try to connect but always will not
> authenticate - I’m not sure at which stage of authentication the process
> goes pear shaped. I’ve tried different combos of turning on/off
> compression/echo options etc, turning on/off MSCHAP/MSCHAP2, but to no
> avail.
>
> :stuck_out_tongue:
>
> Would be much appreciated if someone could get me started on how to fix
> this…
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Chris Wilkinson, Brisbane, Australia.
Hi Chris,
I am using the E160G (with Three), which may be differently recognised,
and I had similar initial issues. After doing the mod explained below,
it now works great.

First activate your connection and see if you have any nameserver ip
numbers matching your isp in /etc/resolv.conf file. Edit and add them at
the end of the file if not present.

Example:

Please remove (at least) this line when you modify the file!

nameserver 10.176.xx.xx
nameserver 10.188.xx.xxx

Cheers

#3

Hi there,

I cannot check /etc/resolv.conf from windows (ext4 filesystem) so I’ll check later, but I don’t think I’m even getting as far as establishing nameservers etc. Certainly the modem is not establishing a link. I’ll report back after I reboot into openSUSE.

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#4

Run the following from a terminal:

su
tail -f /var/log/messages

Then, try to enable the connection from KNetworkManager and report the output in the terminal.

#5

Hi there,

I grabbed the output from tail…

Feb 8 20:57:29 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (connected -> disconnecting)

Feb 8 20:57:29 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (disconnecting -> connected)

Feb 8 20:57:29 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (connected -> disconnecting)

Feb 8 20:57:29 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/0: state changed (disconnecting -> connected)

After that it gives up, and just repeats the same 4 lines if I try again.

Without changing the profile settings I physically pulled the modem from the laptop, waited a while, plugged it in again and when everything had settled tried again. This time I got this…

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: (ttyUSB0) opening serial device…

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (disabled -> enabling)

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (enabling -> enabled)

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Registration state changed: 1

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (enabled -> registered)

Feb 8 21:00:09 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (registered -> connecting)

Feb 8 21:00:10 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (connecting -> connected)

Feb 8 21:00:10 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Plugin /usr/lib64/pppd/2.4.5/nm-pppd-plugin.so loaded.

Feb 8 21:00:10 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0

Feb 8 21:00:10 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Using interface ppp0

Feb 8 21:00:10 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Connect: ppp0 <–> /dev/ttyUSB0

Feb 8 21:00:15 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: CHAP authentication succeeded

Feb 8 21:00:15 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: CHAP authentication succeeded

Feb 8 21:00:23 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Modem hangup

Feb 8 21:00:23 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Connection terminated.

Feb 8 21:00:23 linux-2x86 modem-manager: (ttyUSB0) closing serial device…

Feb 8 21:00:23 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (connected -> disconnecting)

Feb 8 21:00:23 linux-2x86 modem-manager: Modem /org/freedesktop/ModemManager/Modems/1: state changed (disconnecting -> connected)

Feb 8 21:00:24 linux-2x86 pppd[4529]: Exit.

…which is more promising, but still no cigar. I cannot see what causes the disconnection after the CHAP authentication succeeds. It also seems strange that CHAP would succeed twice. If anyone who uses the E169 (E620) is reading and have managed to get it working under 11.2 could they please report what settings they check/uncheck in the tab with bsd/tcp comp etc…?

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane

#6

You can see that the modem is getting hung up somehow. I don’t see any apparent reason for that.

Is it getting disconnected by your service provider?

#7

Hi there,

Could be, although I cannot see why it would disconnect me in Linux when it works fine in Windows. There is no PIN or PUK required. I’ve tried setting up via the knetworkmanager dialog as similar to the Windows setup as I can, but that dialog has become more sparse since the version in openSUSE 11.0 I used. In Windows APN is “VirginBroadband”, *99# is the number and “blank” is both userid/pwd. Under the ‘advanced’ tab of the huawei supplied util IP is dynamic, PAP is checked, CHAP is unchecked, DNS is dynamic, WINS is also dynamic. Thats it for config in Windows, and it works fine (as it also did in openSUSE 11.0). The only thing I cannot see how to do is specify dynamic WINS in Linux. Any clues on a equivalent option in openSUSE 11.2?

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#8

Not a defo this but more an educated guess.

Everything seems to be pointing to this Draisberghof - Software - USB_ModeSwitch which seems to be in the OSS repo Webpin

Seems it is a hardware problem with it being a flash device first(has windows drivers at least my understanding) then a modem.

Any way hopefully that is the correct direction.

#9

On 02/07/2010 11:06 PM, Chrisblob wrote:
>
> I have a huawei e169 (e620) that worked fine in
> 11.0 but in 11.2 I cannot get this HSDPA modem to connect

Install UMTSMON from the normal repos.
Install the dependencies it may want.

Then add your user to the following groups the following way:

YaST > Security and Users > User and Group Management > Users > Edit >
Details > Additional Groups.

Here you tick groups dialout and uucp.

After this the user needs to log out and back in to make the group
changes to take effect.

Start UMTSMON (it’s a pretty intuitive GUI), read possible extra
reguirements (chmod a couple of things), act accordingly.

Stick in your modem.
Let it initialize and make a profile with your information you mentioned:

to my ISP (Virgin Mobile Broadband in
> Brisbane Australia).

Connect.

Vahis

“Sunrise 8:20am (EET), sunset 4:49pm (EET) at Espoo, FI (8:29 hours
daylight)”
http://waxborg.servepics.com
Linux 2.6.25.20-0.5-default #1 SMP 2009-08-14 01:48:11 +0200 x86_64
5:42pm up 100 days 22:43, 12 users, load average: 0.10, 0.20, 0.23

#10

Yes, you can get it installed via:

zypper install usb_modeswitch
#11

After installing usb_modeswitch, edit the file /etc/modeswitch.conf and remove comments from the lines corresponding to Huawei E169. You need to remove the semicolon from the lines:

# Huawei E169
#
# Contributor: Dale Lane

;DefaultVendor=  0x12d1;
;DefaultProduct= 0x1001

# choose one of these:
;DetachStorageOnly=1
#12

Hi there,

usb_modeswitch is already installed. The lines in the conf file were commented out, so I uncommented them as asked, then restarted. Now the modem is not recognized on boot unless I unplug it from the laptop and plug it in again. After then I still get dropped from connecting.

I did notice something different in the messages that had not appeared before…

Feb 9 07:02:28 linux-2x86 dbus-daemon: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type=“error”, sender=":1.10" (uid=0 pid=1806 comm="/usr/sbin/NetworkManager) interface="(unset)" member="(unset)" error name=“org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod” requested_reply=0 destination=":1.47" (uid=0 pid=2567 comm="/usr/sbin/pppd))

Apart from that nothing is different apart from the device failing first-up to be recognized on boot.

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#13

Great googly moogly! I’ve completely overlooked one thing… disabling chap via /etc/ppp/options

It hit me when I was thinking about it that the output from var/log/messages showed “CHAP authentication succeeded” before the modem hangs up. Since I had disabled CHAP in knetworkmanager that would be unusual. It appears disabling CHAP via knetworkmanager doesn’t do squat…

When I get home later I’ll uncomment/add -chap to /etc/ppp/options and try again…

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#14

Hi there,

…and it worked! Well, kinda worked…

The modem now authenticates and gets an active connection, but somehow the default gateway does not change to the dynamically allocated one. route -n gives…

linux-2x86:/home/chris # route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
10.64.64.64 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 ppp0

I can mouseover the knetworkmanager tray app to get the IP address then do a “route add default gw xx.xx.xx.xx”, and lo and behold apps can access the internet, but periodically the ISP will reassign the dynamic IP, and I lose internet until I repeat the “route add default gw” with the new IP addy. Annoying. :stuck_out_tongue:

Does anyone know how I can correct this behaviour?

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#15

Chrisblob wrote:
>
> Hi there,
>
> Chrisblob;2117202 Wrote:
>> Great googly moogly! I’ve completely overlooked one thing… disabling
>> chap via /etc/ppp/options
>>
>> It hit me when I was thinking about it that the output from
>> var/log/messages showed “CHAP authentication succeeded” before the modem
>> hangs up. Since I had disabled CHAP in knetworkmanager that would be
>> unusual. It appears disabling CHAP via knetworkmanager doesn’t do
>> squat…
>>
>> When I get home later I’ll uncomment/add -chap to /etc/ppp/options and
>> try again…
>
> …and it worked! Well, kinda worked…
>
> The modem now authenticates and gets an active connection, but somehow
> the default gateway does not change to the dynamically allocated one.
> route -n gives…
>
> LINUX-2X86:/HOME/CHRIS # ROUTE -N
> KERNEL IP ROUTING TABLE
> DESTINATION GATEWAY GENMASK FLAGS METRIC REF USE
> IFACE
> 10.64.64.64 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0
> PPP0
>
> I can mouseover the knetworkmanager tray app to get the IP address then
> do a “route add default gw xx.xx.xx.xx”, and lo and behold apps can
> access the internet, but periodically the ISP will reassign the dynamic
> IP, and I lose internet until I repeat the “route add default gw” with
> the new IP addy. Annoying. :stuck_out_tongue:
>
> Does anyone know how I can correct this behaviour?
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris W, Brisbane.
>
>
IMO, you should now give my previous advise a go.

Check for presence of nameserver ip numbers in /etc/resolv.conf file.
Edit and add them at the end of the file if not present.

Example:

Please remove (at least) this line when you modify the file!

nameserver 10.176.xx.xx
nameserver 10.188.xx.xxx

#16

Update knetworkmanager to the latest version. Some of the issues related to routing and DNS got fixed in later versions.

#17

Hi there,

The correct nameservers are already in /etc/resolv.conf, added by NetworkManager. Still I do not get the correct gateway and I also cannot see the modem when I reboot until I either restart networking or unplug/replug the modem. I also updated as much as I could of networkmanager and associated apps from the 11.2 updates online repo, but that seems not to have made any difference.

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.

#18

Hi there,

Not to worry, I’ve abandoned knetworkmanager and have setup nm-applet to look after my mobile broadband connection. It may not be a native plasma applet, and its dialogs look different, but it works - thats what counts the most.

Regards,

Chris W, Brisbane.