Huawei Modem E1552 not recognized

Fortunately I have an additional modem (that was my first, I bought the E1552 as a backup and to help testing the broadband modems - as there have been several related problems already). That other one is showing up as E220 / E270 in lsusb and that one works like a charm.

BTW: This bug is related to Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2, on Ubuntu 9.10 both modems work - so this is a regression!

When I attach the E-1552 to my main Ubuntu 9.10 machine it shows up as E620 (why can't those modems have printed the number on them that are built in... :-[ ) in lsusb and works (files attached)

FYI: While I needed a firmware update for the E220 on Ubuntu 9.10 until it worked (in 9.04 it worked out-of-the-box) the E620/E1552 worked out-of-the-box on 9.10. Should I anyway find again a Windows box and check for a firmware update?

I have a similar modem (a E1692) which identifies exactly the same to lsusb. The only way I could get it to work was to disable support for modem-modeswitch (edited /lib/udev/rules.d/61-option-modem-modeswitch.rules and commented the line with 1446 in it), adding a slightly edited set of rules from the huawey software, and installed the software (provided here in Italy by Alice/TIM in the original firmware of the E1692). The HWActivator included was the only thing that could switch the modem into the proper mode.

Correction - I got it to work with the usb-modeswitch package. Here are the udev rules - /etc/udev/rules.d/10-hsdpa.rules. I forgot I had installed the huawey software only to control the sms and to obtain statistics.

And of course, add the following lines to /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf

########################################################
# Huawei E1692
#
# Contributor: Jose Bernardo

DefaultVendor= 0x12d1
DefaultProduct= 0x1446

TargetVendor= 0x12d1
TargetProduct= 0x140c

MessageContent="55534243000000000000000000000011060000000000000000000000000000"

CheckSuccess=8

Thanks for posting the workaround which I will try.

But: 1. It worked on 9.10 out-of-the-box and 2. such quirks will not lead towards fixing bug #1.

I forgot to add that I am on 9.10, and for me it never worked out of the box without this workaround. Are you sure that it worked in 9.10 for your E620?

Yes. But I had another one - the E220 - running before. And it does not work with the original kernel - you need to upgrade your kernel to 2.6.31-20-generic #58-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 12 05:23:09 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux - but that update came automatically.

I've got the same problem with E1552. It works in Ubuntu 9.10 out-of-the-box but 10.04 beta2 does not recognize it.

Just wanted to say that I have the exact same problem. Would work out-of-the-box on 9.10 only if the stick was already plugged when the computer was turned on. I have tried the /lib/udev/rules.d/61-option-modem-modeswitch.rules as suggested by another website and I still didn't get it work.

What I find even weirder is that I've got it working on 10.4 a couple of times, and that only happened if the stick was already plugged when the computer was turned on (this always worked on 9.10). If I remove the stick and put it back, it won't work.

@Bernardo: For your 9.10 issue look at bug #446146 - basically saying (as far as I remember): Use the recent kernel + update your modem firmware (I had the same issue but with the different Huawei modem - the E220 - and now it works like a charm).

In 10.4 I can't get it to work - either not when already plugged in on startup.

BTW: While testing make sure you are not running into the DNS problems known from bug #498110 or bug #512225 for example.

Hi Martin,
I'm at the most recent kernel on 10.4, that should be enough, shouldn't it? But how do I upgrade the firmware on the modem?

I looked at the bug links you gave me, thank you! But I don't think I'm having DNS problems, most of the times I can't even get the mobile broadband option to show up on network manager. It's like the stick wasn't even plugged in.

Thaks

Sorry, I was thinking you have the problem also on your 9.10, that you need to have it plugged in on startup. From what you write regarding the 10.4 effect - that is the same I currently have.

Firmware upgrade must be done on a Windows machine unfortunately - more information in the bugs I linked.

I'm sorry, I have read the original posts on those bugs links but I couldn't find any instructions or reference on how to upgrade the firmware. Would you be kind enough?

Anyways, is the firmware upgrade going to fix the problem? Does anybody at least know of a solution that will always work? I don't care if I always have to type in something at terminal to get it to work... thanks in advance

The workaround by Jose Bernardo did work, I removed the stick, put it back in and ubuntu recognized it!

@Bernardo: I did not apply a firmware update to the E1552, but for the other and older modem that did not work before that update on 9.10 (on 9.04 it worked out-of-the-box either without the firmware update). For that other modem I could download updated firmware from my provider (it has been said that it is important that you use the firmware given from your provider). The Windows installation of the driver software offers an item in the menu to update the firmware - this is what I remember how it worked.

Removing and putting it (the E1552) back did not work for me on 10.04.

Thanks for the tips Martin!
Did you get the /etc/udev/rules.d/10-hsdpa.rules and /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf from Jose Bernardo?

Is that, what was posted in comment #13? - No I have not tested that yet.

Yes, exactly, I did what was mentioned on #12 and #13 and now it's working.

Don't forget what I wrote on #11, and edit /lib/udev/rules.d/61-option-modem-modeswitch.rules, or modem_modeswitch will grab the modem before usb_modeswitch does, and will mess everything up.

I did not had the time yesterday to play around with the rules, but in parallel to playing with the children I could install the nightly build from 19. - there it is still not working - just for the case you are interested.

What I did now - and that worked:
sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch
usb_modeswitch -v 0x12d1 -p 0x1001

However it does not work on every attempt when connecting.

For the attached logfile the first attempt failed (automatically after plugging it in)
and the second manual attempt worked.

Finally I had more time testing with the rules and config from comment #12 and #13.

They work like a charm and I tested with a second other modem if there are no cross-side-effects. Both work now. Thanks, Jose!

Those rules should it make into a default configuration, what do you think (if this is not already the case for the release - I am still on RC - although download of release already finished)?

Current status: Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx with latest updates just requires installation of usb-modeswitch using
sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch
No manual rules need to be changed/added.

The problem is: How to install it if you don't have internet connection?
I know people who only have the mobile internet. And I heard that for instance in spain (or countries with bad and few landlines) a lot of people can only rely on the mobile internet.

Would it be of risk including the usb-modeswitch on the CD and installing it by default?

Installing the package "usb-modeswitch" really does the trick!
I've problems with Huawei E1552, E800 and E220 with different Ubuntu versions over a few years.
After booting, the interface is ready and I can connect to my mobile internet provider without problems.

Confirmed that downloading the 'usb-modeswitch' package solves the problem on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (2.6.32-23-generic).
To keep things simple, you can even use the Ubuntu Software Centre to search for and download 'usb-modeswitch'. You will also need to go to System->Preferences->Network Connections->Mobile Broadband and configure your connection.

I filed a new bug for maverick (see Bug #634178) - installing usb-modeswitch does not help any more.
Situation getting worse and worse...

At this point usb-modeswitch gets installed by default in Maverick and later releases, and the bug 634178 in the above comment appears to have been fixed; so I'll mark this bug as Fix Released.

Please don't hesitate to reopen this bug if it's not actually fixed by installing usb-modeswitch in *Lucid*; or file new bugs for any future issues you may find.