O2 Huawei E169 USB modem Gentoo GNU/Linux

This post is for anyone having problems getting the O2-provided Huawei E169 USB modem to work under Linux. I’ll assumed you’ve searched elsewhere and have an idea of what is going on.

In my case, I had a Gentoo GNU/Linux desktop without internet access although I did have a Windows XP laptop to help me. The best thing to do is use the USB modem on the laptop, connect up your desktop by ethernet cable and share the Dial-up connection in order to download any packages you may need.

gentoo-sources-2.6.28 is a good enough kernel to get things to work.

emerge usbutils ppp wvdial

cd /usr/src/linux
sudo make menuconfig
(Refer to Gentoo handbook for full details of installing a new kernel.)

Device drivers --->
    Network device support --->
        <M> PPP (point-to-point protocol) support
        <M> PPP support for async serial ports 
    USB support --->
        <M> OHCI HCD support
        <M> USB Mass Storage support (provides usb-storage so it can be unloaded)
        <M> USB Serial Converter support (provides usbserial, very important)
            [*] USB Generic Serial Driver
            <M> USB driver for GSM and CDMA modems (provides 'option' module, v. important)

sudo make -j 3
(Install kernel.)
sudo make modules_install
(Which installs the kernel modules. Restart computer.)

Plug in device when you have a terminal open. /usr/sbin/lsusb
should give

Bus 004 Device 006: ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem

(**) <- marker. Read ahead to see why this is here.

lsmod

should ideally not show ‘usb-storage’

sudo rmmod usb-storage

just in case.

sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0×12d1 product=0×1001

then

ls /dev/ttyU*

should give
/dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyUSB1 /dev/ttyUSB2
if only /dev/ttyUSB0 is shown, then unload modules ‘usbserial’ and ‘option’, unplug device and try again from the marker (**).

sudo wvdialconf

to get a template /etc/wvdial.conf for editing. Refer to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DialupModemHowto/Huawei/E220/wvdial.conf and other websites to aid configuration.

APN (Access Point Name) mobile.o2.co.uk
user: o2web
pass: password
Phone number should be *99***1# otherwise try *99#

When you have your /etc/wvdial.conf set up properly, connect with

sudo wvdial

One section I have is

[Dialer internet]
Init5 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","mobile.o2.co.uk" 
Stupid Mode = 1

Try
Carrier Check = no
in your defaults if you get no carrier errors.

Good luck!

: 09 May 2009 21:50 |  Tags: Huawei O2 Usb Modem |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem