[acasta69]

Hello,

I am trying to have this E173s dongle working my Asus eee netbook.
The exact model of my dongle (the one I can read under the cover, not on the outer label) is E173s-2.

I managed to install usb-modeswitch 1.1.5 from the debian repository, run it and everything seemed to work all right: the last message from usb_modeswitch was something like "device switched to modem" (or at least that was the meaning, I can't recall the exact words now) and the product ID in lsusb list has changed from 1c0b to 1c05, which is exactly what is supposed to happen.

However, no modem becomes available in Network Manager Applet, even after some minutes.
I check the content of /dev directory and could find neither a ttyUSB device nor a gsmmodem device.
I have also checked the presence of modemmanager package on my system, and it results installed.

Any idea about what could be wrong?

I would like usb_modeswitch to do the work, if possible, because I have already tried sarkis3g without succes.
There is also some linux installation stuff in the usb storage part of the dongle, but I'd prefer not to use it: I'm afraid that, if something goes wrong, I'm not able to get it working again, as I'm not so proficient with linux configuration.

Thanks in advance for any help!
Ale

[Josh]

I assume you installed the latest data package as well, right?

Anyway, it's possible that the driver binding of 1.1.5 is sometimes unreliable. A new version is in the making, with possible release tonight. It might take annother two days or so until the package will be available at Debian.

Until then I recommend to issue these command (as superuser or with "sudo"):
# modprobe -v option
# echo "12d1 1c05" >/sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id

(After switching successfully, of course ...)

You can also put these two lines into a script and re-run it after each plug-in.

[acasta69]

Hi, I tried what suggested:

Code: Select all

acasta@acasta-eeepc:~$ sudo modprobe -v option 
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-27-generic/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/usbserial.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-27-generic/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/option.ko

Then:

Code: Select all

acasta@acasta-eeepc:~$ sudo echo "12d1 1c05" >/sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id
bash: /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id: Permission denied

Sorry if this is a really silly question, but I can't get the reason of that, since it's been done with sudo.
Could you please give me some other clue?

Thanks
Ale

[acasta69]

Just to be sure I did not misunderstand anything, I post here the result of the whole process:

Code: Select all

acasta@acasta-eeepc:~$ sudo usb_modeswitch -c 12d1:1c0b

Looking for target devices ...
 No devices in target mode or class found
Looking for default devices ...
 Found devices in default mode or class (1)
Accessing device 008 on bus 001 ...
Getting the current device configuration ...
 OK, got current device configuration (1)
Using endpoints 0x0f (out) and 0x8f (in)
Using endpoints 0x0f (out) and 0x8f (in)
Inquiring device details; driver will be detached ...
Looking for active driver ...
 OK, driver found ("usb-storage")
 OK, driver "usb-storage" detached

SCSI inquiry data (for identification)
-------------------------
  Vendor String: HUAWEI  
   Model String: Mass Storage    
Revision String: 2.31
-------------------------

USB description data (for identification)
-------------------------
Manufacturer: HUAWEI
     Product: HUAWEI Mobile
  Serial No.: not provided
-------------------------
Setting up communication with interface 0 ...
Using endpoint 0x0f for message sending ...
Trying to send message 1 to endpoint 0x0f ...
 OK, message successfully sent
Resetting response endpoint 0x8f
Resetting message endpoint 0x0f
 Error resetting endpoint: -71
 Device is gone, skipping any further commands

Checking for mode switch (max. 20 times, once per second) ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...
 Searching for target devices ...

Found target device, now opening
 Found correct target device

Mode switch succeeded. Bye.

acasta@acasta-eeepc:~$ sudo modprobe -v option
acasta@acasta-eeepc:~$ sudo echo "12d1 1c05" >/sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id 
bash: /sys/bus/usb-serial/drivers/option1/new_id: Permission denied

I'm stuck...

[Josh]

Hmm, can you check if this "new_id" file exists after loading the "option" module? It should, though.

Sometimes "sudo" is not enough for some reason. Try "sudo bash" to get a real root shell and then issue the command again.

[acasta69]

Hi, your suggestion worked just fine: from the root shell the command was issued without problems and the modem became immediately available in Network Manager.
After that I disconnected and was not able to reconnect again, but I guess this could be a NM problem. I'll try again this evening.

Thanks for your suggestions: I just couldn't have it work without them.