In fact there are a wide variety of Huawei devices sold with the name 'E173'. Inside the sim cover this one is marked as E173u
Device ids are 12d1:1446
As is the norm these days, the USB dongle in fact is a multifunction device containing:-
A flash drive with windows driver,
micro SD card slot,
(atheros?) WiFi device,
2G (gprs) modem,
3G modem,
plus 'UI' device,
and 'API access' devices.
I can see the device(s) being detected when I insert the dongle into the USB port and tail -f /var/log/messages
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.630000] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ar71xx-ehci
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.810000] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1446
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.810000] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.820000] usb 1-1: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.830000] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.830000] scsi7 : usb-storage 1-1:1.0
Jan 1 00:17:48 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1074.860000] scsi8 : usb-storage 1-1:1.1
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1075.840000] scsi 7:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.warn kernel: [ 1075.850000] sr0: scsi-1 drive
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.debug kernel: [ 1075.850000] sr 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1075.850000] sr 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1075.870000] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access HUAWEI SD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1075.870000] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
Jan 1 00:17:49 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1075.880000] sd 8:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 1 00:18:02 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.warn kernel: [ 1088.920000] usb 1-1: usbfs: process 5539 (usb_modeswitch) did not claim interface 0 before use
Jan 1 00:18:02 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1088.940000] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 3
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.060000] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ar71xx-ehci
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.notice pppd[5616]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.info pppd[5616]: Exit.
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.390000] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=12d1, idProduct=1436
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.390000] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=4, Product=3, SerialNumber=0
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.400000] usb 1-1: Product: HUAWEI Mobile
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.400000] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: HUAWEI Technology
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.420000] option 1-1:1.0: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.420000] usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB0
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.430000] option 1-1:1.3: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.440000] usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB1
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.500000] option 1-1:1.4: GSM modem (1-port) converter detected
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.510000] usb 1-1: GSM modem (1-port) converter now attached to ttyUSB2
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.540000] scsi14 : usb-storage 1-1:1.5
Jan 1 00:18:06 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.info kernel: [ 1093.550000] scsi15 : usb-storage 1-1:1.6
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1094.540000] scsi 14:0:0:0: CD-ROM HUAWEI Mass Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1094.550000] scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access HUAWEI SD Storage 2.31 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1094.560000] sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.warn kernel: [ 1094.570000] sr0: scsi-1 drive
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.debug kernel: [ 1094.570000] sr 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1094.570000] sr 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5
Jan 1 00:18:07 WZR-HP-G300NH kern.notice kernel: [ 1094.580000] sd 15:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 1 00:18:38 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.notice pppd[5700]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0
Jan 1 00:18:42 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.info pppd[5700]: Exit.
Jan 1 00:19:10 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.notice pppd[5746]: pppd 2.4.5 started by root, uid 0
Jan 1 00:19:14 WZR-HP-G300NH daemon.info pppd[5746]: Exit.
The pppd errors keep repeating after that.
To me, It appears that modem device(s) is(are?) detected, as well as the usb-storage.
Can anybody help me with this final step of userspace configuration?
I am by no expert in this, I can't even see where the usb_modeswitch configuration is lurking.
I can provide lsusb for the dongle on Fedora17 if that would help.
Although F17 NetworkManager does seem to recognise it- I have been able to configure it using the authentication settings from the (working) windows installation.
I have not been able to get it to connect.
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:58 Post subject: Re: using USB 3G modem with Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH Huawei E1
ScottsBloke wrote:
Although F17 NetworkManager does seem to recognise it- I have been able to configure it using the authentication settings from the (working) windows installation.
I have not been able to get it to connect.
Your stick does not only have a serial modem interface for ppp, it does also have direct ethernet interface (those 2 with "Driver=(none)" ) which will create a new eth device in your OS when the correct drivers are used.
dd-wrt does currently only support the traditional serial interface for ppp.
You'll have to find out if windows uses the stick in direct ip (eth) mode or in ppp mode and if the windows authentication settings are the same in both modes.
dd-wrt has done the mode switching of the stick from 12d1:1446 to 12d1:1436 and the option driver has attached to the serial ppp interface so the problem is elsewhere.
It is probably easier for you to do the troubleshooting in Fedora where you have better logging facilities, make sure that you have a recent version of usb_modeswitch and that network manager sees the stick as 12d1:1436. _________________ Kernel panic: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 21:29 Post subject: switched to an older supported modem Huawei E160
@LOM
Thankyou for your quick, useful and informative reply.
It has provided me with enough extra information to go off and increase my understanding.
I see now that Fedora attempts to connect a usb ethernet driver 'cdc_ether' to the modem rather than a serial driver for ppp.
Since DD-WRT currently only supports serial PPP connection I have instead begun experimenting with a 4 year old USB dongle the Huawei E160
Originally this was of no use to me as it was 'locked' to a different operators network, but with a few hours googling and the use of minicom to issue some simple AT commands, I have been able to unlock it. (I hope)
For the benefit of anyone else who needs to unlock a Huawei 3g modem I shall record the 2 most useful links that I used here:
Now that I am using an unlocked 'old' modem that utilises serial connection over usb and is listed as supported, I should have some chance to get pppd connected.
BTW, I see from Fedora17 device identification
[root@lappy ~]# lsusb -d 12d1:1003
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 12d1:1003 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E220 HSDPA Modem / E230/E270 HSDPA/HSUPA Modem
Huawei E160 is a stick which should work and there is nothing wrong with the mode switching or the driver and port assignment.
You can probably not use the same authentication settings for a ppp connection as for a direct ip ethernet connection.
The dial strings ending in a number will use stick pre-stored profiles containing among others the APN.
It is probably easiest for you to install the modem under windows first and make it run there before moving it over to the router.
The connection program installed from the sticks cd-rom does sometimes have option for editing the connection profiles, I assume that the default profile still contains APN and maybe username/password/PIN for the network it was previously used on. _________________ Kernel panic: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!
@LOM
Once again I would like to say a heartfelt 'thankyou' to you for taking the time to reply, it has been very helpful to me.
I now have the Huawei E160G working under DD-WRT
For the sake of completeness, and as a breadcrumb trail for anyone else attempting to use a forum search for help with getting a 3G modem working, I shall briefly record some of what I have learned.
1) On Windows I was thwarted and hindered by the carrier provided connection software. I suggest to not waste your time with it, other than to initially prove that you can get connected with a 'stock' windows setup. It has been artificially disabled to only a work with the carrier provided devices, carrier specific SIMs and of course, only the carriers network.
Use the freely available Huawei written generic dashboard. You can freely experiment with different profiles, devices and carriers and see what actually works.
This was also very useful for distinguishing between 2g and 3g connection types available at my specific (rural) location.
As you mentioned, in fact the 'windows' mode uses a completely different login from the usb serial device mode.
I also learnt that there are 2 types of 'ethernet networking' or 'Windows mode'.
When Fedora17 NetworkManager failed to be able to connect using the usb driver cdc_ether I read up about that and attempted a step by step manual connection.
Thus I discovered that there is a bug in the E173u-2 firmware.
After modemManager has switched your device from 12d1:1446 to mode 12d1:1436 use
'#ifconfig -a'
If the reported mac address is 00:01:02:03:04:05 you probably have the bugged firmware.
Incidentally you can see that this number has been erroneously copied from the usb id seen with
'#lsusb -v -d 12d1:1436'
This does not affect the windows installation because it does not use the mode 1436 which Huawei have nicely used to provide a usb ethernet device for unix compatibility.
Windows uses mode 12d1:140c
This uses QMI.- Qualcomm Mobile Data Modem (MDM) Interface
As good fortune would have it, Linus has just released the new mainline kernel 3.7 which now includes a driver qmi_wwan
And Greg KH has added a patch to blacklist my device with the bugged firmware mode for Linux 3.7.1
