7

I have a HUAWEI E173 usb stick to access the internet.

It works normally on windows but I'd like to be able to use it on my Ubuntu system as well.

I plug it in, and after 25-20 seconds the status light turns green and blinks twice every 3 seconds, which according to the manual means that the stick is activated and waiting to connect to a network.

I see no changes in my system whatsoever, nothing gets installed, I don't get prompted for my PIN, no reaction at all.

How should I proceed in order to get it working?

1
  • Turns out all I had to do was plug the device on a USB 3 port. Then after about 30 seconds the menu from the accepted answer appeared, and after setting it up, it all worked fine.
    – ppp
    Dec 31, 2012 at 6:52

6 Answers 6

6

Once it activated, click on network applet and create new connection.

See the image below, It doesn't prompt software installation probably because the software is only for windows.

enter image description here

enter image description here

If you don't see New Broadband Connection , please post result of lsusb & dmesg | tail while the usb connected and activated.

2
  • Turns out all I had to do was plug it in a USB3 port and wait for 30 seconds. Thank you for your time - the image helped me a lot to get my answer.
    – ppp
    Aug 23, 2012 at 8:44
  • Hello @Web-E, Can you check my problem here ... I am facing a similar issue. Nov 24, 2015 at 15:31
3

Just in case anyone else is having this problem, I'll post what I did.

The only thing you need to do with these kinds of modems is to switch it from "Mass storage mode" to "Modem mode". To do this, you just need to add the following line to /etc/modules

usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x14ba

Where 0x12d1 and 0x14ba is your vendor and product id obtained from lsusb

After this, restart your computer, and everything should be back to normal. You will be able to add a mobile broadband as usual.

I had this same problem, and this post got me on the right track: http://www.geekride.com/huawei-e173-on-ubuntu/

1
  • My product ID shifts around every time I reboot, so not working for me...
    – fleamour
    Nov 14, 2012 at 21:44
1

You should create the connection to connect to the internet. I prefer use New Mobile Broadband Connection.

This is the step to create the connection:
Open dash, search connections, and click network connections.
Choose mobile broadband, then click add

enter image description here

Picture of the network connections

After you click add,you can see New Mobile Broadband connection, choose continue, click on your country, click continue, and you can see a box listing some provider in your country enter image description here


Click continue and then apply
After you click apply, you should give information about the modem, like username and password enter image description here

Then click Save.
After that, connect your modem and you can use the modem.

1
  • Thank you for the quick response. I did try to do this but the laptop still does not recognize the USB mobile broadband. Sep 30, 2012 at 10:43
1

The last time I used the same Huawei USB modem, I used these instructions. Summarizing here for others to benefit:

From Ubuntu forums:

Enter the command in a terminal:

gksudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/40-usb_modeswitch.rules

Edit the following line from:

# Huawei E173
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1557", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

to

# Huawei E173
ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="14ba", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'"

i.e. Change "1557" to "14ba".

Save the file, exit it, remove and replug the Huawei stick again. It should now be recognized and work as expected.

2
  • Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. I went into the rules and made the change. This is how it now reads: # Huawei E173 ATTRS{idVendor}=="12d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1436", RUN+="usb_modeswitch '%b/%k'" I tried removing the stick and plugging it back in. I also tried restarting the laptop. Still no joy. Sep 30, 2012 at 10:50
  • Hi. Try editing to 14ba instead of 1436.
    – jokerdino
    Sep 30, 2012 at 11:29
1

The only thing you need to do with these kinds of modems is to switch it from "Mass storage mode" to "Modem mode". To do this, you just need to add the following line to /etc/modules

usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x14ba

Where 0x12d1 and 0x14ba is your vendor and product id obtained from lsusb

After this, restart your computer, and everything should be back to normal. You will be able to add a mobile broadband as usual.

I had this same problem, and this post got me on the right track: http://www.geekride.com/huawei-e173-on-ubuntu/

0

Download Driver/MobilePartner

Download the driver from the following link to your download folder and extract it:

http://www.umunthu.net/downloads/linux.zip

Install Driver/MobilePartner

Run Terminal and go to the download folder

cd Downloads

Go into the extracted folder Linux

cd Linux

Run the installation script

sudo bash install

If you get the messages "The Linux NDIS driver is installed successfully." and "Finished, press any key to exit" everything went fine.

Reboot and test

Reboot the system. Insert the data card and wait some seconds. After some seconds the the connection software "Movistar 3.5G" will open. Press "Connect" and you will be connected (you don't have to bother that it says connect to "Movistar Banda Ancha Movil", it will connect to the Operator of the inserted SIM card).

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .